Denali National Park - Bears, Moose, and a Clear Mt. McKinley

04.09.2014 Denali National Park / Healy

Quick shower and a yogurt on the edge of the bed, that should be enough this morning. Our neighbor's car is completely icy, ours is quickly cleared of frost. It's below zero at 25°F (-4°C).

At 6:40 am we are at the Wilderness Access Center and have lost two tickets in the depths of our car. Fortunately, they issue new ones for us and we stand outside in line in the freezing cold, waiting for the cold (school) bus that will take us through Denali National Park. In front of us is a family from Oregon, whose baby is in a onesie “We didn’t know, that it would be this cold in Alaska” - well. We were able to find that out in Germany, apparently the people from Oregon didn't. The seats on the school bus are not very comfortable, opening the windows requires years of school experience from the USA and a certain dexterity, which does not want to set in due to the freezing cold on the bus. Because without open windows, there will be no good photos today.

Soon the first moose is standing on the left side, then another one with his wife on the right. Very pretty amidst the red bushes.

Although we cannot get off, the driver explains the whole time - which is more than annoying after 3 hours, because at some point we also know his family history. We see snow chickens that are called Ptarmigan, which is unpronounceable. They are snow-white in winter and now they are starting to change their feathers on their pant legs.

Ptarmigan / Snow Chicken

We see a Spruce Grouse, a Spruce Chicken. Nothing epoch-making, but still. Denali is as big as Massachussets and most of it is inaccessible. Even the road, which is only driven by the park buses, is only 90 miles long and ends in Kantishna. The wildlife is accordingly diverse, but brown bears here are not as big as in Katmai or in the Yukon, because they mainly live on berries and roots in Denali, not getting as much fat as their buddies who eat the fat salmon.

For tourists, there is already a lot to explore here, but the brown bear population should not be underestimated and I can't really understand why people would like to hike here. There aren't many hiking trails. Most of it is really off-road, you have to make your own way.

The day goes bearly well. We see about 7 grizzlies, some close to the bus, others in the distance. It's the time of extreme feeding before hibernation, and the bears we see mostly have their noses in the berries and eat as much as they can. One crosses the road in front of our bus and doesn't really find it exciting that he is being stared at by what feels like 100 camera lenses.

The road is not paved and often quite curvy along steep slopes, and it's a narrow path. It's not very pleasant to drive on the side of the slope, especially when another bus is coming. The landscape is breathtaking and the wide valleys, high plains, mountain slopes, and the unobstructed view of Mount McKinley are burned into the hard drive in my mind. This huge mountain with two peaks is about 35 miles away, and yet you can see it. We now belong to the 30% Club - because that's how many people actually experience Mt. McKinley cloudless, most people don't see it at all.

Mount McKinley and the lonely road through Denali NP

The Polychrome Pass in particular is gigantic. What a panorama, what a panoramic view, what a vastness, what impressions - it remains indescribable.

Polychrome Pass

Mt. McKinley with a cap of clouds

The drive, especially the approach up here, is quite nerve-wracking because it's curvy, narrow, and with the occasional bus coming in the opposite direction. I don't need to do that again.

And during the drive, the thought grows in me that I don't really need the planned drive on this route tomorrow.

We reach the Eielson Visitor Center after 3 bathroom breaks and several photo stops. The sun is shining, a grizzly is wandering on the slope behind us, and we quickly unpack our packed food and eat in the sun on cold benches.

In front of the Eielson Visitor Center

Actually, we wanted to spend some time here. But it's cold here, clouds are covering the sun, and it's uncertain whether we will catch the next shuttle bus because they have limited space. So we decide to drive back with our bus after 30 minutes. The guide keeps babbling, we pick up some hikers who have heard about the grizzly around the next curve and because of the baby on their arm, they prefer to continue by bus. The grizzly actually shows up.

At 3:45 pm, after more bear sightings, we are back at the departure point and I'm pretty happy to get out of the stupid bus for a change. We have decided not to drive tomorrow and we find a couple in front of the Wilderness Access Center to whom we can sell our tickets for $30 (instead of $34) each. Hooray! Tomorrow we have a "day off" and will simply drive the allowed 15 miles into the park ourselves and look for some animals. The weather is supposed to be worse tomorrow, and who wants to sit on a bus for another 8 hours then? It can't be any better than today.

We drive to the larger Visitor Center and watch a movie, get a coffee next door, and then take a little detour to the town next to the park entrance. Hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants, and tour agencies.

Healy is 2 miles away. The local pub has the (or a replica) bus from the story/movie “Into the Wild” standing in the garden. With photos and letter prints of the guy who lived here as a dropout and died within a few months.

Back to the hotel. Downloading pictures, researching animals on the Internet, and checking if we have a chance to see the Northern Lights. Writing in the diary and off to bed. We still have food from yesterday, which is enough for a hearty dinner on the edge of the bed. Outside, there is an evening sky rising behind the fir trees that looks like you would imagine it in the Nordic countries.

Here are a few facts about Denali:

There are apparently 51 wolves, more grizzlies than black bears.

Mount McKinley is one of the Seven Summits, which are the tallest mountains on the 5 continents.

About 1,200 people try to climb it every year.

About 700 succeed.

On average, there is 1 fatality per year on the mountain. In 2013, however, there were 6, of which 3 were buried by an avalanche.

Distance traveled today: about 50km self-driven and about 120km by bus in Denali.