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Alaska 2003: Days 2 & 3 - Denali National Park
Denali

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These first two pictures show a panaromic view of Mt. McKinley as it sits in the Alaskan Range. Originally named, Denali (The Great One), by Native Americans, it was named Mt. McKinley in 1917 by President Woodrow Wilson. The United Nations designated Denali an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976. In 1980, President Carter enlarged the park from 1.9 million acres to more than 6 million acres.

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At 20,320 ft (6,194m), it is the highest mountain in North America. What is really amazing, though, is that the land around the Alaskan Range is only at about 2,000 feet above sea level. This 18,000 foot ascent, together with the high latitude and daytime temperatures routinely in the -20 to -40 degrees fahrenheit range, makes McKinley one of the most challenging mountains to climb. I love the clouds mirroring McKinley mirroring the lower range in this picture.

By comparison, Everest is considered tropical. In October of 1981, one report put the lowest temperature on the South Col of Everest (26,200 feet) at 17 degrees below zero. As the highest point near the Artic Circle, Denali's altitude is harsher than more equatorial mountains. Storms from the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea routinely punish the mountain and the weather changes more frequently and precipitously than most other high peaks in the world.

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We started early on the Tundra Wilderness tour. A 6 to 8 hour bus ride 50 miles or so into the park through northern boreal forest, tundra and volcanic outcroppings. Here, overlooking the snowy Savage River, you see the tundra. Tundra has a frozen subsoil that prevents water from draining. While few trees can exist in the shallow usable soil, white and black spruce are able to grow on alpine tundra.

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Climbing through Polychrome Pass, we see bold examples of the two forces creating this landscape: volcanic and glacial. Polychrome Pass is named for the colorful bands of rock created and exposed by the meeting of the Pacific and North American plates. From Polychrome, we look across a large glacial valley at the snowy Alaskan Range. A short video gives some perspective to the vista as well as giving you the feeling of 1950's vintage home movies. :o)

We saw plenty of wildlife, though most of it just dots on a ridge. However, we had the extraordinary fortune of having six Dall rams amble by us. Here are some of them uphill from us before they cross the road in front of our bus.

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Oh, look. There's an arctic squirrel coming out to look at the lookers.

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So extraordinary was our luck, that a grizzly and her cub also came down the slope in front of our bus. If only I could have snapped a shot of her calmly strolling in front of the bus with her cub rearing up against her in wonder.

On our return, we spotted the mother grizzly and her offspring out on the glacial plain. I zoomed in as much as I could with my little digital camera. We saw lots of Caribou from a distance, a few willow ptarmigan and even a fox carrying lunch in his mouth; but none of the moose, snowshoe hare, lynx or many other animals that live in Denali.

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As we left Denali in the late afternoon, we approached a rainstorm. However, I was able to get this river meandering down from the mountains in the distance.

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But of course, the rain was inevitable. Here, I was hoping to show the mixture of spruce and alder that was so prevalent. Unfortunately, the heavy downpour darken that part of the picture.

We returned halfway to Denali the next day after collecting Kathy with the hopes of seeing McKinley close up from a small plane that would circle the mountain at 20,000 feet. Unfortunately, the weather refused to cooperate cancelling our flight plans.