National Parks – Page 3 – Kevin's America

Mt. Denali!

Alaska vacation day 10

Mt. Denali (Mt. McKinley prior to 2016). This is the tallest point in North America – 23,320 feet above sea level! There are three high peaks here. Denali translates to “The Tall One”, Mt. Foraker (native name: Menlale translates to “Denali’s wife”) at 17,400 feet , and Mt. Hunter (native name: Begguya translates to “Denali’s child”) at 14,573 feet.

Behind these clouds in the distance is Mt. Denali.

Also, behind these clouds in the distance is Mt. Denali.

September 4, 2023: “The Mountain” came out in full view for us! This is a spectacular view, as seen from the deck of our lodge! This came out later in the day of our glacier landing flight. We thank God for giving us this sight and the glacier landing flight in one day.

Mt. Denali is in the center, and to the left (outside of the picture) is Mt. Foraker, the third highest peak in the USA at 17,400 feet above sea level, and the tallest point in the picture to the left of Mt. Denali is Mt. Hunter, at 14,573 feet.

Highest peak here is Mt. Silverthrone, 13,220 feet.

McKinley Princess Lodge

Alaska vacation day 10

After two nights at the Denali Princess Lodge, we took a bus for a 2 hour trip to the McKinley Princess Lodge, for one night. It poured rain the entire trip, and it was looking doubtful for any Mt. Denali sighting. Both lodges are part of the Princess Cruise Lines family.

This is the great room at McKinley Princess Lodge. All these chairs are pointing west, looking out of a large window pointed at Mt. Denali. When we arrived, we were about 2 hours from leaving for our Denali Glacier Landing airplane trip. The weather did not seem like it would cooperate. See the next post to find out how it went.

People enjoying the fire pits. There is a concession stand selling popcorn and beverages. Alaska has a law that minors are not even allowed in the same room where alcoholic beverages are sold/consumed.

More lush vegetation. Alaska has a short summer, and hence a short growing season, but when it is growing the plants are beautiful!

Mushrooms outside our door. Looks like something from Mario Brothers.

I turned on the night setting to my camera, and the Big Dipper with Northern Star became clear. This is also the state flag of Alaska.

Denali Princess Lodge

Alaska vacation days 8-9

This was our lodge for 2 nights at Denali. Since we were four hours late arriving, we didn’t get to do or see anything the first night.

If you are interested in buying a bronze sculpture of a humpback whale, the lodge has it for sale! The price is $10,495.95!

Landscaping at and around the lodge was lush and colorful!

For dinner, we went to the “Songs of Denali” Dinner Theater show.

It was an entertaining evening. They were very talented.

The cast of the show, which is a musical story about early efforts at climbing Mt. Denali.

Denali National Park and Preserve

Alaska vacation day 9

Denali National Park and Preserve is much more than Mt. McKinley (or Mt. Denali). Mt. McKinley National Park became a national park in 1917 under President Woodrow Wilson. Under President Jimmy Carter in 1980, it was expanded to become Denali National Park and Preserve.

There is abundant wildlife and wilderness. Or at least that is the rumor – haha! We took a natural history tour where we was beautiful landscapes but very little actual wildlife! From a distance we saw Dall sheep and caribou. We did not see any wildlife up close. Other people, on different tours, saw caribou, black and grizzly bears and moose very close to their buses.

Savage Cabin. Park Rangers use cabins such as this one while they patrol the park road and backcountry in the summer, and in the winter park rangers patrol the park on dog sleds from these cabins. Our tour guide gave a masterful and entertaining presentation on the life cycle of the moose mating process, called “the rut”. It involved moose urine, dirt and mud, fights, strutting and a harem. You can ask me for details when you see me, or simply use your imagination!

These moose antlers weigh about 35 pounds.

The small pinecones on these black spruce are mainly at the top of the trees.

The yellow in these pictures are willow.

Native Athabascan explaining his culture. The native cultures all but disappeared after the US outlawed many of their traditions and religions, but the cultures are starting to make a comeback. To preserve native languages, videos are being recorded for a permanent record of their language.

Mt. Denali! This is the tallest point in North America, at 20,320 feet above sea level! Only 30 percent of visitors to Denali National Park ever get to actually see the mountain, due to the prevalence of cloud cover. Here, the clouds backed off on a fairly gray day so we could see pretty much the whole mountain! We actually saw the mountain three days in a row, which is practically unheard of! We saw it from the train yesterday, but I could not get a picture, and we will see it again tomorrow – details on another post!

This is a beautiful fall scene at Denali. The yellows are willow, and the reds are fire weed and several types of red berries. Fall lasts only a few weeks here. This field should be covered in snow in 2 or 3 weeks.

Glacier Bay National Park

Alaska Cruise Day 6

Glacier Bay National Park is the highlight of all Alaska cruises. It is absolutely beautiful! There are several large glaciers in Glacier Bay. Unfortunately for us, we did not get to see Margerie Glacier, which is the tallest at the water – over 200 feet. We did get to see others, including John Hopkins Glacier and Lamplugh Glacier.

In 1680 there was no Glacier Bay, it was a broad river valley with a Tlingit village. During the Little Ice Age from 1680 to 1750, the glacier grew and covered the valley and even went out into the Icy Strait. When the glacier receded from 1750 to 1880, it had gouged out Glacier Bay. Today the glaciers are 65 miles up the bay from the Icy Strait.