An early start for our 8 hour “Tundra Wilderness Tour” of Denali. We were loaded into an old Blue Bird school bus. We fortunately got one of the upgraded buses- complete with a bit of padding on the seats and small video screens that were used to project the image from the guides’ video camera – helpful when trying to view wildlife at a distance.
Our guide, Josh, was absolutely wonderful. Married to an Athabascan woman, he had an amazing knowledge of native culture, park history and wildlife. He made the 8 hours in a school bus fly by. Although, Mom did avoid the views over “Poison Point” – a frightening drive up a very narrow road with no guard rail. The name’s origin – “one drop will kill you”.A Bit of History:
A man named Charles Sheldon first came to Denali in 1906 to hunt Dall sheep. He was so taken with the park and its wilderness that he came back the following year. He saw the mass slaughter of sheep by commercial hungers and had the vision of a refuge to protect the wildlife and the land. He went to Washington and in 1917, Congress passed a bill to establish Mount McKinley National Park. It was renamed Denali National Park in 1980 and the park was tripled in size.
Interesting facts:
* The park is 6 million acres- larger than the state of Massachusetts.
* The park is home to more than 650 species of flowering plants. Most of what we saw was “Fireweed” –with bright pink flowers. Alaskans believe that once the fireweed bloom reaches the top of the plant, winter is only six weeks away.
* The “town” of Denali has 1 gas station and 1 traffic light.
*There is only one road- 91 miles- into and out of the park.
* The park is patrolled in the winter by dog sleds.
* Winter temperatures on Mount McKinley can reach 95 below. Permanent snowfields cover 75% of the mountain.
Wildlife Sightings:
* Of the “Big 5” Grizzly Bear, Dall Sheep, Moose, Caribou, and Gray Wolf, we saw all but the wolf.
* Our only Moose sighting was dramatic – the huge moose ran directly in front of our bus. Males weigh up to 1600 pounds, females 1300 pounds. This was definitely a male!
* We saw a Grizzly (brown) Bear and her cubs on a hillside next to our bus. (In the summer, when the bears are getting ready for their winter hibernation, they can eat up to 200,000 berries per day. How do they know this? Naturalists (usually the new ones) have to count the seeds from the bear poop!)
* Other Bear facts: Females can be 375-500 pounds. They have 1-3 cubs. The cubs stay with the mother for 3 years. Since the female will not mate during those three years, males often try to kill the cubs.
* Caribou – we saw them grazing in the treeless tundras and saw a huge male just outside our bus. (Although, with 950,000 wild caribou in Alaska, we thought we’d see herds of them)
* Dall Sheep – we can claim to have seen them, but they looked like little cotton balls high up on the ridges
* Multiple sightings of Tarmigans, the Alaska state bird. In the summer, its plumage is brown, in the winter it turns snow white. They are arctic grouse.
* Countless Snowshoe Hares and Ground Squirrels
* Eagles…everywhere
We got back to the Visitor’s Center in time for the Sled Dog demonstration. Getting to see these adorable dogs – and see a sled dog team in action was great. We also did a walk through the new Denali Visitor’s Center – a chance to see a display of the various animals in the park (carved out of epoxy resin and very realistic). From there, we caught the bus back to the hotel, had our happy hour and found a new restaurant, the “Roadhouse “, just a short walk from the hotel. It was much better and MUCH cheaper. We also discovered that they serve breakfast – a real, not buffet- breakfast.
No comments:
Post a Comment