Denali National Park

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I know most of you know that I am no longer in Alaska but I couldn't move on without a blog on Denali National Park. My sister, Sherry, my neice, Natalie, nephew, Brennen, Morgan and I visited Denali in July. Denali, "High One" named by the local Athabascan native Alaskans was formerly named McKinley National Park. It was renamed Denali by Carter in 1980.

It is a 6 million acre sub-arctic park, larger than the state of Massachusetts. It remains mostly wild and unspoiled. Most surprising is how small the trees are. According to the park guides, the permafrost (the thin layer of topsoil that thaws each summer) leaves the spruce trees small and spindly. While the mountains are large the fauna is minature and dwarfed. Mt. McKinley is usually cloud-covered and rarely able to be seen. Moose, grizzly bears, sheep, caribou and 37 other mammals survive in this arctic wilderness. Although I saw many moose (mostly in Anchorage), can you believe I was never able to get a picture of one. I guess I'll just have to make another trip.

For those of you that know of my fear of the water and my lifetime struggle to overcome it, the highlight of Denali for me was white-water rafting with a smile on my face. We started on level 1 rapids which turned out to be a piece of cake so Morgan, Natalie and I graduated to level 4. It was was such a natural high.

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Photos

Arctic Mountains
How foreboding!