Denali NP

 Hello from Alaska!  We have only been here a few days but WOW! This is exciting!

We landed in Anchorage, collected our car and headed for Wasilla for a quick overnight stay.  Friday morning we headed north to Denali National Park.  It was pretty cloudy and there was a light rain all day.  We were supposed to have a flightseeing tour by plane over the park but the weather was not good enough.... we were disappointed but hoped that Saturday would be better.

So, we had a little down time in the afternoon. When we wandered out late afternoon the sun was trying to come out and some blue sky was visible.  We hurried to the Park and drove up the Park Road as far as public cars are allowed.

Saturday we had tickets for the green bus tour.  This bus basically goes to the 43rd mile of the Park Road.  It cannot go farther because the road slid off the side of the mountain.  This happened a couple years ago.

The bus basically will let you on/off whenever you like and stops if anyone spots wildlife.  We were super lucky to spot the BIG 5 - Moose, Caribou, Bear, Wolf and Dall Sheep.  The pictures of the moose were pretty distant so I did not load - we could see them very well with our binoculars.  The sheep are really hard to spot, barely visible with binoculars and impossible to get a picture.  But here you have caribou, bear and wolf.

We did hop off the bus on the way back down and did a quick hike called Savage River Trail.  It was only a couple of miles... but that was enough to see the beauty of the river.

Next hike was Horseshoe Lake Trail.  This one (obviously) went around Horseshoe Lake.  This picture is of the beaver dam - it was an architectural marvel!

We had an 8:00 pm flightseeing tour scheduled so we grabbed some dinner at a local brewery.  The brews and the food were both excellent!

Denali Air - 8pm flight.... I think I look either nervous or suspicious here.... I thought I was neither....

I cannot come up with the words to describe the wonder and majesty of this 75 minute flight.  The mountains, glaciers, clouds and snow combined to reveal these magnificent views.



The cloud movement kept Denali shrouded and invisible.  Our pilot just did not give up and finally - there she was! Over 20,000 feet above sea level.



This is a glacier. It is miles and miles long.  We have seen the base of a glacier before in Norway and Alaska but never in such a way that the length and breadth was revealed.

Back on the ground!  This was a wonderful "excursion" ... I would highly recommend!



Today we left Denali and traveled North to Fairbanks.  More on those adventures later!

Take care,

Sheri & Carsten

















Comments

  1. ulfAugust 8, 2022 at 4:26 AM

    what a great adventure - wonderful pictures - I can immagine what kind of feeling you get when seeing such site

    ReplyDelete
  2. Albers AdventuresAugust 8, 2022 at 9:53 PM

    Just beautiful..so glad yall are experiencing the wildlife and gorgeous scenery.

    ReplyDelete

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