July 13 -- Denali

.

Denali National Park is huge. Enormous. Bigger than several states.






There is one road into the park, and it only goes part way. We rode on what seemed to be an old school bus for our quickie taste of the park.

Denali is home to a huge variety of life, including the Big Five -- caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, moose, and grizzly bears. The park is not a zoo. Should you see any of the Big Five, it is very likely to be at a huge distance.

This handsome fellow was the first animal we saw.






Feeding any animals is strictly forbidden, but clearly happens. He was incensed when we left without forking over any edibles. He may not look mad, but he surely sounded mad, as we drove away.






Plants are easier to spot than animals. They don't go high-tailing it out of sight at the sound of a busload of Outsiders. I like the teeny flower inside the bigger "flower."






Potentilla.






Found under shrubby beeches, this whitish lichen is a favorite of caribou. Raindeer moss.






Of course the fact that we had seen no wild mammals did not mean an absence of wildlife. I admit it, I killed a park denizen.











We moved to another spot within the park. On a clear day, we might have seen Denali itself from this location. The highest mountain in North America, Denali makes its own weather, and prefers to be shrouded in clouds most of the time. We were not lucky enough to see it.

I *think* this shot might have captured it, if it had been visible. We were told where it was, but somehow I couldn't tell. "See those two pointy mountains? Well, between those"......

Alaska strikes an Outsider as Very Big, and Very Empty of humans and their touch. Denali is likewise Very Big, and Very Empty.






We did spot a park mammal at the lookout. Not as close up as the gull, but close enough to see pretty well.

Snowshoe hare. We saw several of these, mostly as a tail and hind legs disappearing into the vegetation.






Then the cry rang out -- "DALL SHEEP!"

"Where? Where?"

A generous fellow traveler let us look through his telescope, at sheep that were, by his estimation, over a mile away. Even with a telescope, they were white ants on the rock....

I took pics of the mountainside, anywhere I could see white spots.

It wasn't until I got home and could see my pics on "the big screen" at home that I realized I had captured some sheep. Here's one.

See?

No? That rounded-top white dot, pretty much in the very middle?

No?






I'll blow it up for you. Now you can see it.






Pretty exciting, no? Well, yes and no. I am very glad that there are places that allow Dall sheep and grizzlies and wolves and moose to live out their lives without too much bother from people.

For me, it's not a substitute for seeing them up close and personal, as I can at a zoo.......

Our guide asked us to consider whether we thought it was a good thing to preserve wild places, even if we couldn't see bears there. Well, of course it is. I am happy to preserve wild places I will never visit, allowing wildlife I will never see to thrive.

I am so glad I got to see the park, and I guess seeing sheep a mile away is better than not seeing any sheep at all. But not by much, imh.

On our way out of the park, someone spotted some caribou. One of them was pretty close to the road. My swimmer daughter estimated "under 50 meters!" He was in the trees, though, and hard to spot. Then another appeared. The estimate was "under 100 meters" and this one was out in the open.






It was cool to get to see one of the Big Five close enough to see his winter coat falling out. Of course we had seen caribou up close enough to actually touch the day before....... It's different when they are wild and living their own lives, that's for sure. But I so appreciate being close enough to really SEE them, the way one can only safely do when they are in captivity........


This was surely one of the days I wished we had more time. To whisk into Denali, and whisk out, was tantalizing indeed. Not that I would be camping in the back country, mind. But if you have more time, you can take a much longer bus ride into the park.....


Before we leave Denali, I will share one more observation. Us Outsiders said "den ah li." Alaskans said "denalley." (Everyone puts the emphasis on the second syllable.)

When the Athabaskan woman who shared the story of her son's potlatch with us sang a song in her own language for us, it was "denalley."

I conclude it is "denalley," not "den ah li."

I always thought the "a" sound in "hat" was a harsh and rather uncommon sound, used in American English but not usual in other languages where everyone prounounces "a" as "ah." Guess I was wrong.



In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, a link to the next one is here.

.