The Big Five

Monday, July 13, 2009 – Denali National Park

Denali is big. The namesake mountain is big, the other mountains are big, and the park itself is big. It is 66 miles from the Riley Creek Campground near the park entrance to the Eielson Visitor Center, and another 23 miles from there to the end of the road. During the summer the road is only accessible by shuttle bus, which is a procedure that has been put in place at other parks we have visited too. It seems a bit annoying at first, but it keeps hundreds or even thousands of cars from jamming the roads in these beautiful but popular places. For me, it is a completely acceptable tradeoff.

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We rode the 66 miles to Eielson and took in the spectacular views from there. There were forest fires burning in Alaska that summer and the view had often been obscured by smoke, but the wind conditions on that day gave us spectacular clear skies. Not being satisfied with visitor center views and with a wanderlust for hiking, Chrissy, Delaney, Aaron, and I split off from the rest of our group and set out on the Thorofare Ridge Trail. The trail is only one mile, but fairly steep. We climbed over 1,000 feet in that mile and were rewarded with spectacular views of Denali and the valley all around.

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The only wildlife we encountered on our hike was an arctic ground squirrel, but on the ride back to Riley Creek we saw all of the Denali “Big Five” – Grizzly Bear, Caribou, Moose, Dall Sheep, and Wolf. Chrissy was especially excited for the moose, especially one that was right by the road. It was collared for tracking and seemed completely oblivious to the bus just a few feet away, which was good for us but probably not so good for the moose. Fortunately, most of the wildlife is truly wild.

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After a long day of bus riding, hiking, and wildlife watching it was time for a relaxing evening around the campground. We rendezvoused with the rest of the group back at Riley Creek and traded stories about a great day.