Park Road Denali National Park and Preserve

... pulling a sled more than needed. The second day (first full day in Denali) we took a shuttle bus to the end of the park road.  It was cool, cloudy and rainy all day, but we saw the "big five" animals:  3 moose, 3 grizzly bears, 1 wolf, 1 ...

Denali National Park is just a three hour drive south on the Parks Highway (completed in 1971 and named after a territorial governor). Prior to this highway construction, you could come to Denali via the Alaska Railroad or the Denali Highway from the ...

... me off - I should be much better than that. After set-up, we deiced to check out what we came for - Denali National Park. It was just 6 miles down the road. We first went to the Visitors Center where we saw this great little film showing off the park on ...

Sunday, August 2 - Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska - Day 2 of 3 Some of our group awoke early this morning to go white water rafting and some were scheduled for a bus tour of Denali National Park.  Our bus tour is not until tomorrow, and ...

... us safe. I appreciated this! It wasn't long at all before we came upon three caribou that were lying down fairly close to the park road. Public cars are allowed into the park up to mile 14, Savage River, but after that only approved park buses and those ...

... ), Dall sheep, and a wolf.  The preservation of the Dall sheep was the principle reason that Denali (originally Mt. McKinley National Park) National Park and Preserve was created.  The Dall Sheep are members of the Bighorn family.  The males look like ...

... north blowing in the smoke from the forest fires we had passed driving here from Fairbanks. The Nenana River Valley and most of Denali National Park had a thick blanket of smoke.  We really were lucky to have seen the great mountain yesterday. We ...

  Denali Park Road goes 90 miles into the park. The Eleson Visitor Center is 66 miles into the park and offers one of the best views of the south peak of Mount McKinley. It's a 3 hour bus ride out to Eieson on twisty, sometimes one-lane roads. ...

... , and in the process I lost a day's worth of photos. I'm not too upset, as it was a cloudy and rainy day in the park and I don't think I had very good photos, but I did have some photos of some people I met that I do regret losing. The photos I've posted ...

... a very tired group pulled back into the Wilderness access Center some time after 7. We had heard earlier in the afternoon that the Park Road was closed because there had been a plane crash. It was opened by the time we came in but read later on the ...