15 – Denali National Park – Phil and Carolynn's travel adventures

Amateur pictures cannot convey the enormity of this National Park which stretches over six million acres or its raw beauty.

From the variety of landscape and vegetation to the perfection of the natural living environment for the indigenous species that call this great place their home.

Visitors’ access to the park is managed in a way that presents different opportunities dependent upon your desired experience. There is one entry point on one road towards the north end of the park boundary which then runs in west/south west direction for approximately 90 miles. Currently a large landslide at milepost 43 means the road is closed from that point.

All visitor vehicles are permitted to drive as far as mile 15. we opted to camp inside the park boundaries, necessitating a three night stay at Teklanika campground at milepost 29. An entry and exit pass is provided for vehicle movement along the road to the camp from mile 15 but once parked the vehicle must remain in situ until the day of departure. This allows control of movement along the park road and on which wildlife is often found. For anyone visiting for the day , they must ride one of the bus tours that runs the length of the road and back.

This is no zoo tour. Being in the park for 3 days increased our chances of viewing local wildlife especially later in the day when the day trip buses had left and it was quieter. Our sense is that many people arrive with high expectations of the day tour that are too often than not disappointed. There are no staged appearances possible.

We also quickly worked out that these encounters happen when least expected and are fleeting. Frustratingly, by the time we grabbed our camera, the subject had moved on or was too far away to capture without a telephoto lense. No original stunning wildlife pics from us but we did encounter the following;