AlaskaDay 5 (July 14). Denali national Park

Learned a lot about Alaska and it 's wilderness today.   We started the day with a guided Natural History tour in the park, and then saw a sleigh dog exhibit, the railroad trestle bridge, and walked the McKinley Station Trail. 

Denali park system is actually made up of 4 different parks.   There is a Denali National Park Wilderness, Denali National Preserve, Denali National Park, and a Denali State Park.   We were focused in the Wilderness Park today, which was designated in 1917 to preserve the Dall sheep.  (Unfortunately, we didn't see any of them today.). 

 We  entered the park in the upper right corner in the map below - south of the town of Healy, at the Visitor center.  There is only 1 road into the park, and only 15 miles are paved.  

We took a bus into the park - which consists of 6.2 million acres of wilderness.  Bordered on the east by the Nenana river and on the south by the Alaskan range of mountains.  Home to grizzly bears (350), moose, and caribou as the larger animals.  We got to see some caribou today - but due to the high temperatures we've been enjoying, the animals are trying to stay cool and are not as active.  But the scenery was incredible.

Nenana River:  12 hours ago, the water was the Nenana Glacier!  It is very silty because it is glacier- meaning it carries all the rocks and rock flour that is within the glacier, as it melts.  And it is very, very cold.    The river heads west and then goes north through the Alaska Range into the Tanana River.

We did see one caribou -  in an area that had a nice breeze coming through -- which would keep the Mosquitos away from him!  

Interesting facts: 

Mosquitos are critical to the existence of grizzly bears.   Because mosquitos are a key pollinator of the blueberries, and grizzlies consume huge amounts of blueberries in the fall - to provide them with enough fat to live through the winter.   The bears here do not dine on salmon.  The rivers are too silty from the glaciers to allow the salmon to live there, so they consume a lot of plants (Eskimo Potato in the spring) and berries.   

Grizzlys are distinguished by the hump on their back, which developed from the intense digging they need to do to get through the frozen ground here in Alaska.

Will finish Monday , as we travel from Denali Wilderness Lodge to our ship, the Island Princess