All about Alaska Part 5 - Denali

By Carol Watts Alaska & Small Ship Specialist

Approximately 400,000 visitors go to Denali National Park and Preserve every year, most between late May and early September. The park can be reached by car or tour bus on the George Parks Highway, or by the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage or Fairbanks. There is a park entrance fee as well as a fee for park buses and tours, camping and mountaineering permits. As far as weather, you can expect, rain, sun, clouds, and wind, and all on the same day. Summer temperatures average around 55- 60 degrees, with the record being 91 degrees. Winter temps average around 2 degrees, with the coldest being minus 54. And yes, the park is open during the winter.

The park has one road, and only the first 15 miles are paved and open to private vehicles. Visitors are recommended to take the park buses, which are school buses, without facilities. The dirt road winds along cliffs and mountain passes, so driving is best left to the professional guides and drivers. Mt. McKinley can be seen as early as mile 9, weather permitting. Guides tell you that the mountain creates its own weather system, and can be seen only 25 - 33 percent of the time. The park offers both shuttle and tour buses that make several scheduled stops, and always stop for photo ops if wildlife is spotted. The shuttles go all the way to the end of the 92 mile road, with stops at Wonder Lake and Eielson Visitors Center, where you have great views of the Alaska Range and Mt. McKinley, weather permitting. You can get off the shuttle buses any where along the way to go hiking, then flag down a returning green bus for a ride back to the entrance. Wonder Lake at mile 85 is approximately a 11 hour round trip, and offers full base to summit views of Mt. McKinley. Last on the road is Kantishna, once a gold mining town, that offers exhibits on early settlers, and air strip, and 4 private properties. This trip is about 13 hours long, round trip.

The park also offers tour buses with narration by a certified driver-naturalist on its tan school buses. The Denali Natural History Tour, approximately 5 hours long, is the one that is included in most cruise tour packages. It stops along the way at Savage Cabin, a ranger cabin that is still used today, and that provides a living history on park ranger encounters with poachers. At Primrose Ridge, a Native Alaskan does a presentation on the 10,000 year history of land use in Denali. The Tundra Wilderness Tour is an 8 hour excursion that goes 53 miles to Toklat River and provides a more in depth history of the park with opportunities for wildlife viewing and photography. The Kantishna Tour goes the full length of the park road, leaving around 7 am and returning at 7 or 7:30 pm. Park buses and facilities are wheelchair accessible. Prices for shuttles and tours vary according to destination.

The park offers FREE courtesy shuttles from the Visitors Center to 3 different destinations. The Savage River courtesy shuttle is a 2 hour round trip and great for people short on time, wishing to hike, or for access to the Savage River Campground. The Riley Creek Loop courtesy shuttle goes to the Riley Creek Campground. The Sled Dog Demonstration courtesy shuttle goes between the Visitors Center and the kennels. There is no private vehicle parking at the kennels, so this is the only way to see them. You can pet and visit with friendly sled dogs, and see a demonstration of their speed. The Park sled dogs are still used in winter by rangers patrolling the park.

Every bus trip into the park offers views of Mt. McKinley, weather permitting. It may be clear and sunny on the ground, but the summit can be shrouded in clouds. The most photographed image of Mt. McKinley is from Reflection Pond, just beyond mile 85. You will need the Kantishna shuttle or tour bus for this photo op. Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America. From its 2,000 foot lowlands to its 20,320 foot summit, the mountain’s vertical relief of 18,000 feet is greater than that of Mt. Everest.

Mt. McKinley National Park was established in 1917. In 1980 the park size was increased to 9,410 sq. miles and renamed Denali National Park and Preserve. For comparison, Denali is larger than either Massachusetts or New Hampshire, and just slightly smaller than Vermont. It’s wildlife consists of one amphibian (the wood frog), 14 fish (including 3 salmon species), 166 birds (including the endangered Peregrine Falcon and the ptarmigan, the Alaska State bird), and 39 mammals (including Dall sheep, grizzly and black bear, moose, caribou, wolves, lynx, red foxes, and hoary marmots). Black bears live in the taiga, forested areas, and grizzly, or brown bear, inhabit the open tundra. Ninety percent of a grizzly’s diet is vegetation. Any bears seen by park visitors are most always grizzlies.

Glaciers cover 17% of Denali’s land area. Ruth Glacier is the deepest at over 3,800 feet, and it moves approximately 3 feet every day. The park also includes 12,000 lakes and ponds, and 18,600 miles of streams. In 2005 a dinosaur footprint was found in Denali. It belonged to a Cretaceous Theropod.