Denali National Park
Sean and I have been to Denali three times now. This was our first trip there with Autumn and the first time we camped rather than stay in a hotel. This is our adventure.
Stopping to take a break and stretch our legs during the 4.5 hour trip to Denali.
You can really tell it is fall. Autumn walked through this part, but for some weird reason, it really scared her. Maybe it was because the grasses blocked her view, maybe she knew there was some wild Alaskan animal stalking her. I don't know, but nonetheless, there was crying.
Sean and crying Autumn.
Why does Autumn always have a weird expression on her face in pictures of her and I?
Once we arrived at Denali, we checked in at the Wilderness Access Center. Autumn and I roamed around while Sean took care of checking in.
Autumn LOVES bears. Here she is giving the bear a kiss. Sean got our road lottery pass (which gives us permission to drive into Denali National Park past Savage River- you would normally have to take a guided bus tour to go any further into the park).
Since we were checking in a day before, we headed over to Riley Creek Campground, located just inside the park and set up camp.
I had to get Autumn layered up. It was a little chilly, rainy, and windy.
After we had dinner (Mountain House beef Stroganoff) we drove around the free part of the park. This is what it looked like.
We bumped into a large bull moose and just a few feet away was this female moose (all my bull moose photos are blurry because it was so dark).
After a horrible night of sleep for everyone, we woke up bright and early at 6 am. Had coffee and breakfast, then headed into the park. There was a lot of fog. It was COLD!! I was starting to worry. If it stayed like this, we wouldn't be able to see any animals.
Within an hour or so, it started clearing up, just like Sean said it would.
It was so orange out there (red too).
Those specks of white below the snow line, dall sheep. Made me hungry.
Mr Moose. I swear we have seen this moose every time we've been there. He is always in the same spot.
Right after we saw this guy, we stopped at Wonder Lake Campground. We ate lunch (Mountain House Chicken Teryaki and Rice--- mmmmmmmm!). It was cut throat out there with the birds. Autumn and I walked down to the lake and on our way back, a bird swooped down and stole Autumn's cracker right out of her hand. Autumn was freaked out! Sean and I couldn't stop laughing!!
This was our view of Mount McKinley on the way back. I think out of the three times we have been there, this was the best view we have had. Many people go to the park and never see Mt McKinley because of all the clouds. Here are some facts for you.
Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest, although the summit of Everest is higher measured from sea level 29,028 feet. Everest's base sits at about 17,000 feet, giving it a real vertical rise of a little more than 12,000 feet. The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000-foot (610 meter) elevation, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet. Source: Wikipedia
Now back to our adventure. On our way back to the beginning of the park, we encountered two bears. They were pretty far away, but we knew immediately it was bears because like a hundred people were stopped on the side of the road looking. We hoped they would come closer to give us a good photo, but they were pretty happy out there on the tundra.
After seeing the bears, we drove through an area called Polychrome. Polychrome is not for the weak hearted. It has scary, death defying turns.
Don't look over the edge on this one lane road when someone is passing you.
Way on out there are Caribou (check back tomorrow-I'm going to blow this picture up so you can see them better).
Look at this awesome guy!! He walked right among our cars.
Ram Dall sheep at Polychrome.
My two favorite humans.
We stayed at the park until about 4 pm. We headed into town and found a restaurant that was still open and had dinner (most places were closed or closing down for the season). We had elk sliders and buffalo chili. It was delicious.
Everybody slept well this night (strange because it was colder, rainier and windier than the night before). I guess we were all just really tired. We woke up at 7 am, had coffee and pastries, packed up camp, visited the Visitor Center and went home. Overall, a long weekend. A COLD weekend. A beautiful weekend. Looking forward to more family adventures. A big thanks to Cindy and Travis for giving us their road lottery ticket!
Stopping to take a break and stretch our legs during the 4.5 hour trip to Denali.
You can really tell it is fall. Autumn walked through this part, but for some weird reason, it really scared her. Maybe it was because the grasses blocked her view, maybe she knew there was some wild Alaskan animal stalking her. I don't know, but nonetheless, there was crying.
Sean and crying Autumn.
Why does Autumn always have a weird expression on her face in pictures of her and I?
Once we arrived at Denali, we checked in at the Wilderness Access Center. Autumn and I roamed around while Sean took care of checking in.
Autumn LOVES bears. Here she is giving the bear a kiss. Sean got our road lottery pass (which gives us permission to drive into Denali National Park past Savage River- you would normally have to take a guided bus tour to go any further into the park).
Since we were checking in a day before, we headed over to Riley Creek Campground, located just inside the park and set up camp.
I had to get Autumn layered up. It was a little chilly, rainy, and windy.
After we had dinner (Mountain House beef Stroganoff) we drove around the free part of the park. This is what it looked like.
We bumped into a large bull moose and just a few feet away was this female moose (all my bull moose photos are blurry because it was so dark).
After a horrible night of sleep for everyone, we woke up bright and early at 6 am. Had coffee and breakfast, then headed into the park. There was a lot of fog. It was COLD!! I was starting to worry. If it stayed like this, we wouldn't be able to see any animals.
Within an hour or so, it started clearing up, just like Sean said it would.
It was so orange out there (red too).
Those specks of white below the snow line, dall sheep. Made me hungry.
Mr Moose. I swear we have seen this moose every time we've been there. He is always in the same spot.
Right after we saw this guy, we stopped at Wonder Lake Campground. We ate lunch (Mountain House Chicken Teryaki and Rice--- mmmmmmmm!). It was cut throat out there with the birds. Autumn and I walked down to the lake and on our way back, a bird swooped down and stole Autumn's cracker right out of her hand. Autumn was freaked out! Sean and I couldn't stop laughing!!
This was our view of Mount McKinley on the way back. I think out of the three times we have been there, this was the best view we have had. Many people go to the park and never see Mt McKinley because of all the clouds. Here are some facts for you.
Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest, although the summit of Everest is higher measured from sea level 29,028 feet. Everest's base sits at about 17,000 feet, giving it a real vertical rise of a little more than 12,000 feet. The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000-foot (610 meter) elevation, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet. Source: Wikipedia
Now back to our adventure. On our way back to the beginning of the park, we encountered two bears. They were pretty far away, but we knew immediately it was bears because like a hundred people were stopped on the side of the road looking. We hoped they would come closer to give us a good photo, but they were pretty happy out there on the tundra.
After seeing the bears, we drove through an area called Polychrome. Polychrome is not for the weak hearted. It has scary, death defying turns.
Don't look over the edge on this one lane road when someone is passing you.
Way on out there are Caribou (check back tomorrow-I'm going to blow this picture up so you can see them better).
Look at this awesome guy!! He walked right among our cars.
Ram Dall sheep at Polychrome.
My two favorite humans.
We stayed at the park until about 4 pm. We headed into town and found a restaurant that was still open and had dinner (most places were closed or closing down for the season). We had elk sliders and buffalo chili. It was delicious.
Everybody slept well this night (strange because it was colder, rainier and windier than the night before). I guess we were all just really tired. We woke up at 7 am, had coffee and pastries, packed up camp, visited the Visitor Center and went home. Overall, a long weekend. A COLD weekend. A beautiful weekend. Looking forward to more family adventures. A big thanks to Cindy and Travis for giving us their road lottery ticket!
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