| Daylight
in Denali National Park is almost 24 hours long
during most of June and July. Flashlights are therefore seldom
needed. |
| The main park visitor
centers and bus stops may be
crowded; the park in general is not. Reservations at
campgrounds and for park bus seats help insure a good wilderness
experience. |
| Deep
in the park, wildlife viewing and photography of "the
big
5" (moose, Dall sheep, caribou, wolf, grizzly bear)are highly probable.
Marine mammals (Beluga whale and Harbor seal) have been sighted in the
Kenai Peninsula. |
| All animals are wild and
should be treated with a healthy
respect, at a distance. |
| Ryley
Creek campground is
at an elevation of 1800 feet, and
63
degrees,43'49.1" north latitude. |
| Most hiking is done at
fairly low elevations - under 5000
feet.
Trails for the most part do not exist for people; animal trails can be
common and should be avoided by hikers. |
| Temperatures
can be in the
80's and 90's, though not that
often, and morning temps can start in the 40's. And the weather
in summer can bring crystal clear skies, rain or even snow.
Thunderstorms are rare. |
| Ryley Creek and Grizzly
Bear campgrounds are wooded -
mainly
spruces. Wonder Lake campground and most of the park are above tree
line. |
| A
river crossing in the AM
is far safer than crossing the
same
river in the PM when glacier melt can raise water levels considerably;
crossing can become very cold and very dangerous. |
| Glacier streams are too
silty for fish to survive.
Bald
eagles usually stay south of the park for this reason, and grizzly
bears in the park do not get as big as their southern cousins who have
a heavy fish diet. |
| A
park program will
educate all of us about dealing safely
with
bear and moose encounters. |
| You have seen bugs like
this before in New Hampshire.
And if
you haven't, you will see them in Alaska. Breezes usually keep
mosquitoes down
except near wetter areas, like Wonder Lake. |
| Alaska
is the largest
state you will ever visit; the
grizzly is the
largest bear you will ever see; Mount McKinley, the largest mountain in
North America, is so massive it makes its own weather. |
| When the wind picks up, on
socked-in days, clearing
skies
usually follow (park ranger wisdom). It can be foggy in the
mornings. |
| You
may get off park buses
at any time (except near
wildlife) to
hike (except Sable Pass - high bear activity), or get on another bus
that will slow down when you flag it (except if full). Then you
must wait for another bus. |
| In case of accident or
sickness, medical facilities are in
nearby
town of Healy. |
| There
are usually more
than 100 wolves in the park - 16 to
18
packs, and the largest wolf is 150 to 160 pounds...a big boy.
Different color phases occur, from silver to sable and in between. |
| Older grizzly bears can be
very "blond"; the largest in the
park is
over 600 pounds. "Spring cubs" are this year's newborn bears;
rarely are there more than 2 per sow. (We witnessed the only
triplet cubs born in the park in 1995 and 2003!) |
| Losing
track of time
during days that seem to have no
beginning and
no end makes a watch handy. A good compass and altimeter, 2-way
radios, GPS unit and even a cell phone (very limited use near towns)
can be put to good use while in camp and in the backcountry. |
| The Muldrow glacier, along
the base of Mount McKinley, is
over 30
miles long; glaciers form where snowfall exceeds the rate of
melting, and slowly flow like frozen rivers; 100,000 may exist in
Alaska, and many (because glacial ice does not absorb blue color, it
reflects it) are an intense blue, especially on cloudy days |