Denali National Park & Preserve

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Denali National Park & Preserve is located in Interior Alaska and contains Mt. McKinley (Denali), the tallest mountain in North America. The park and preserve together cover 9,492 miles.

The word "Denali" means "the great one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself. The mountain was named after president William McKinley of Ohio in 1897 by local prospector William Dickey, although McKinley had no connection with the region.

The park was established as Mt. McKinley National Park on Feb.26, 1917. However, only a portion of Mt. McKinley was within the original park boundry, no even including the summit of the mountain. The park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976. A separate Denali National Monument was proclaimed by president Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978.

Although the U. S. Government has named the mountain Mt. McKinley, the Alaskan government calls the mountain "Denali" meaning "the great one".

Only a small fraction of the roads in the park are paved because perma-frost and freeze-thaw cycle create an enormous cost for maintaining the road. Only the first 15 miles of the road is paved and available to private vehicles and beyond this point visitors must access the interior of the park through consessionary buses. Wonder lake can be reached by a six-hour bus ride from the Wilderness Access Center.

We chose the 8 hour bus tour to the Eielson Visitor Center. One travels through the initial boreal forests through tundra to the Toklat River or Kantishna. A clear view of "the mountain" is visible only about 20% of the time as Mt. McKinley creates its own weather system.

This area is popular for hikers and bikers wishing to get away from the norm.
We saw a lot of wildlife on this tour from Dall Sheep, gray wolf, porcupine, rabbits, caribou, grizzly bear mother and two cubs, moose, birds, and other wildlife too numerous to mention. A footprint of a dinasour was found here several years ago so it is known that prehistoric animals lived in this region.

This is a wonderful place for a family visit, hiking, biking and visiting the animals in their natural environment is a joy.

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Photos

Fireweed
Fireweed this year in Alaska is tremendous. All of the roadsides in Alaska are lined with fireweed. It is said that after a fire, the fireweed is the first plant to grow providing food for the animals and nourishment to the soil. It is exceptionally beautiful this year. When the fireweed "tops out" meaning the flower is right at the top of the stem, then it means an early, severe, cold,snowy winter is coming. The fireweed is topping out now. Look out.................

A grey wolf
This was a one year old grey wolf walking on the trail toward our bus. He was not afraid of us, just kept walking right toward us.

Caribou resting in the meadow
Here is a herd of Caribou resting in the meadow. Female caribou have antlers as well as the male caribou.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh
The kissing moose. I did not take this photo but it was sent to me by a friend. It is too cute, don't you think........

The mountain view
The 66 mile road to Eielson Visitor Center was high above the river below, winding around the side of a mountain. The road was dirt and gravel with no guardrails for protection.

The road ahead
You can get a good idea of the narrowness of the road if you look through the windshield ahead. Most of the time there was not room for two buses to pass on the road. One must pull over and wait for the other to pass in a wide spot on the road.

Only room for One bus on this road
Just barely enough room for one to pull off the road to let the other one pass.

The Steep Mountain Road
This is just one of the many hairpin turns on the steep mountain road to the Eielson Center.