Denali

I have been back in D.C. for nearly a month now and as a result this blog hasn't seen much in the way of updates.  I do have one last update from Alaska though, my trip to Denali. My friend Jim, who I originally met in Ecuador,was up in Alaska working with Fish and Game this past summer.  He entered the Denali road lottery for a chance to drive into Denali national park and was fortunate enough to win a spot.  He invited me to go along and I jumped at the opportunity.
 

A view of Denali as we approached the park.
  (Denali is just visible on the right side of the frame.)

Normally, to see Denali during the summer, you must use the park's bus system to move along the 90 mile dirt road in the park.  However, during a brief 4 day period in September a limited number of private vehicles are allowed to enter the park. Out of 16,000 entrants maybe 1,600 will be given passes for one of the four days.

I flew up to Anchorage, from Homer, to meet Jim and his friends and we got the cars packed and ready to go.  The drive up to Denali from Anchorage takes several hours but the scenery is stunning and the weather was flawless. The clear day afforded us incredible views of the surrounding mountains and we were able to see Denali from nearly a hundred miles away. The leaves were just beginning to turn and the birches and cottonwoods that lined the road glowed golden in the sun.  It was strange driving North at that time of year, as the seasons change, because our six hour drive effected a change of six weeks in the surrounding country.  As we drew closer to the park and gained in latitude and elevation, the trees and shrubs correspondingly lost their leaves.  By the time we'd arrived in the park, most plants were bare.

There are coyotes on the foremost ridge line
if you enlarge the picture and look closely.

Our lottery ticket was good for the second day from six am until midnight.  To take full advantage of our time we booked a spot in a campground at the edge of the park.  It was a fairly cold night, getting down below 30 degrees, but fortunately we all had warm bags.  Like the day before, we had wonderful weather in the park and were able to see the mountain for most of the morning which is fairly unusual.  Many people go to Denali and never get to see the mountain itself due to the climate produced by its sheer size.

Lichen growing in the tundra

 The terrain in the park itself was not what I'd expected.  The entrance to the park brought us past stands of stunted spruce trees that struggled to grow to their normal size; none of these trees were much more than 30 feet tall.  Once we'd passed through the spruce trees the ground opened up into tundra with tiny lichens growing amongst stunted plants and trees.  A glacially active area, much of the terrain had been carved out during previous ice ages, leaving behind glacial washes and ragged mountains.  The color of this rocky terrain varied greatly with the type of rock and ranged from deep reds to sulfurous yellows and at times felt more like something out of the American South West than interior Alaska.

As we drove down the road it was fairly common to see other cars pulled to the side which was a great indicator that there was something interesting nearby and also made it easy to see wildlife you might otherwise have missed.   Park rangers were often be present at the mass pullovers to make sure people behaved themselves around the animals.  This was especially important when the animals decided to cross the road as it would bring the visitors and animals extremely close together.

That guy in red moved to safety after setting up his camera
directly in front of the moose.

In one instance a Bull Moose decided to cross the road exactly where we were all lined up and watching it.  People stayed close to their cars as the thousand pound animal passed through.  However, one man foolishly set up his camera directly in front of the moose and had to scramble out of the way to avoid being trampled.  Moose are often considered more dangerous than bears because of their lack of intelligence and inclination to panic.  If the moose had so chosen, he could have easily crushed the man instead of skittishly walking around him.

Sow with two cubs

Usually, such events were a little more controlled.  At one point on our way back we encountered a Sow and two cubs that were grazing and slowly moving towards the line of cars parked by the road.  They eventually turned away but the rangers did an excellent job of keeping everyone in their cars (especially the over-eager photographers) when the bears started to get close.

The bear approaching our car

Our closest encounter with wildlife occurred near sunset on our way out of the park.  As we had done several times before, we were pulled over and watching a bear grazing when it became apparent that he was headed directly towards us.  The bear passed within six feet of our open windows and unconcernedly passed behind our car and into the brush on the other side of the road.  Its immense size and powerful frame would have made short work of any car door.  Watching the bear's muscles ripple under its silvery fur was an excellent reminder to respect these animals and the environment in which they live.

The same bear passing behind the car