26/27JUN15 - Denali National Park, AK

Friday, 26JUN, after fueling up we headed to our next RV park next door to Denali National Park.  After setting up camp we headed to the park arriving just in time to catch their excellent film at their visitor center.   Then we checked out their educational exhibits, before a very interesting Ranger presentation on the rodents of Denali.  Then we jumped on a park bus to catch the Ranger sled dog presentation at the park’s kennels. This is a fantastic presentation about the historical use of sled dogs since the park was created.  In fact in the winter Rangers patrol the park by air & sled (no snow machines).  After all that it was back to the RV.  (Note - the area just outside the Park entrance is just one big tourist strip unfortunately.  We spent no time there.)

Denali National Park facts:

-the National Parks in Alaska are directed to “provide opportunity for rural residents engaged in a subsistence way of life to continue to do so.”

-the first men (four men total) to successfully climb Denali had no climbing experience.  The first man to summit was part Athabaskan.  One of the climbers, dog musher Harry Karstens, became the first Superintendent of the soon to be created McKinley National Park.

-the first seven visitors arrived at the park in 1922, five years after it was created.  You couldn’t drive to the park until 1957.

http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm

Early Saturday morning it was back into Denali National Park to catch a tour bus at the Wilderness Access Center.  There are two types of tours – concession tour buses, & visitor transportation system (VTS) shuttle buses.  Concession buses are brown, more comfortable, provide a narration, & provide either a snack or lunch; VTS buses are green, basic school bus comfort, any narration is up to the driver, & no food provided.  Since there is only one road in the park, all buses travel the same route.  BUT the VTS bus fare is one third of the concession bus fareJ!  Hikers who have paid the proper fare, can flag down any VTS bus to see if there are any empty seats to get back to their parked cars and/or campsite.

Once you choose your bus line, you then need to choose your “tour”.  The shortest is a four hour round trip, & the longest is a 12 hour round trip.  So we booked seats on the 9:30 VTS Toklat Shuttle.  Our Toklat Shuttle was a seven hour round trip.  It was fantastic!!! Our driver, Kevin, talked non-stop & we saw everything that most people come to Denali hoping to see.

First we saw the big four mammals – caribou, moose, grizzly & dall sheep.  Seeing all four on a tour is called “a grand slam”.  Not only did we see them, but we saw them up close!

The sheep were on a ridge about quarter mile from the bus, they came down the ridge & popped out right in front of the bus & stood on the road.  The grizzly started about a quarter a mile away & slowly ambled down the hill continuously eating before turning away about 100 feet from the bus.  The caribou was in the middle of the road as we rounded a corner & proceeded to slowly walk in front of the bus for about ten minutes before departing.  The moose were down slope from the road & about 200 feet away; never moving as cow & calf grazed.  We did see others, but they were off in the distance.

We traveled 54 miles of the 92 mile park road & the scenery was fantastic.  Every now & then we caught glimpses of Denali’s south peak & north peak thru the clouds (unfortunately our camera couldn’t capture them clearly).  When you see Denali along with the grand slam, it is called “a clean sweep”.  Very few visitors to Denali National Park accomplish this; in fact, 70% of the park visitors never even see Denali.  That is why they sell t-shirts labeled “I’m one of the 30%”.  A truly fantastic, but exhausting, day!