Alana's Adventures: August 2008

Now to continue with the trip I took last week to Denali National Park. This is the view we had the day we took the shuttle bus deeper into the park. The little brown dot on the hill is a bear and there were two cubs with her, although you can't see them in the picture.

It looks like a fuzzy picture but it's not. There was actually a blizzard that day that caused the roads to be closed and all the busses had to turn around and go back. Though one good thing was that in addition to the bears we also saw some foxes on the road that day. But the snow made for a cold and wet beginning to our trip - and there's only one type of dryer when you're camping . . . .

The park employees were good enough to give us another pass to go up the next day since we didn't get to see or do anything. So we waited for the bus to take us once again . . . .

It turned out to be a good thing we went the next day because even the employees said that this day was one of the clearest days of the summer - which meant we had a good chance of seeing Mt. McKinley. Only 20% of the visitors see the mountain.

Some interesting Wikipedia information about the mountain:

Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest. Even though the summit of Everest is about 9,000 feet (2,700 m) higher as measured from sea level, its base sits on the Tibetan Plateau at about 17,000 feet (5,200 m), giving it a real vertical rise of a little more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000-foot plateau, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet (5,500 m).

The mountain is also characterized by extremely cold weather. A thermometer left exposed at an elevation of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) on Mount McKinley over 19 years recorded a temperature of −100 °F (−73.3 °C) at some point during its exposure. There is also an unusually severe risk of altitude illness for climbers, due to not only its high elevation but also its high latitude. At the equator, a mountain as high as Mount McKinley would have 47% as much oxygen available on its summit as there is at sea level, but because of its latitude, the pressure on the summit of McKinley is even lower (42%).

Mount McKinley is commonly referred to by its native name Denali, which is the name currently recognized by the State of Alaska. When Denali National Park and Preserve was established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, December 2, 1980, the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain back to Denali. However, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names maintains the name McKinley, ostensibly to help visitors avoid confusion between the mountain and the park. Use of the name "McKinley" remains common, particularly in the Lower 48; however, Alaskans and mountaineers generally use the name "Denali" to refer both to the park and to the mountain.

The first ascent of the main summit of McKinley came on June 7, 1913 by a party led by Hudson Stuck. The first man to reach the summit was Walter Harper, an Alaska Native. Harry Karstens and Robert Tatum also made the summit. Tatum later commented, "The view from the top of Mount McKinley is like looking out the windows of Heaven!"

The mountain is regularly climbed today, with just over 50% of the expeditions successful, although it is still a dangerous undertaking. By 2003, the mountain had claimed the lives of nearly 100 mountaineers.

I was more than happy to view it from down below. At the bus stop just before the main viewing visitors center the boys decided to get off the bus to go hiking to get a different view of the peak.

I was glad they would get a chance to do a more difficult hike without me slowing them down. I stayed on the bus and went to the new viewing center (opened this past April). I didn't worry about them despite the sign we had seen earlier on the road:

For those who need to get their glasses out to read the sign it says: "Warning - Restricted Wildlife Area - No Hiking Off Road" and the edges are chewed off. I guess it is used as a scratching post for bears. Don't worry, nobody got out to hike in this area. We all got amazing views of the mountain that day . . . .

Oh beautiful for spacious skies . . . . .

I also saw some more wildlife on the ride both going and coming.

Caribou grazing . . .

A moose foraging next to the road . . . .

Ptarmigan (the state bird of Alaska) . . . . .

A bald eagle in a tree (these are common in Seward but not in Denali because they feed on fish) . . . .

We also saw a wolf walking down the road, but I wasn't fast enough with my camera to get a shot of it. It was a good day for seeing things as the tallest mountain in North America faded from view . . .

The next morning we did some shopping and went out to eat after 5 days of eating oatmeal, sandwiches and noodles. I also snuck away to grab a shower at the campground just outside the park. On the drive home I got to be the DJ. We took a little detour through some more mountains and I couldn't help but put on some Lord of the Rings soundtrack as we went over Hatcher Pass . . . .

I could imagine the Riders of Rohan passing through . . . .

All in all it was a beautiful and amazing trip. I was lucky to see so much and have good company. I have one more month here in Alaska and I'm not sure what else I'll be able to see.
Until then, I'll see you further on down the road . . . .

This past week I managed to get 6 days off of work to go to Denali National Park with some friends. Matt, who I know from church (and 5th grade, coincidentally), his friend Will, who came up to visit from Utah, and Matt's Forest Service coworker, Wade(who sneezed right as we took the picture). I felt privileged to be invited on a camping trip with 'the guys' and did my best not to be too concerned with the various sounds, odors and conversation topics that come up whenever guys get together.

The first night we camped at Nancy Lake state park and left early the next morning to get up to the park. We stopped at the south summitt overlook but Mt. McKinley was covered in clouds (as usual). Mt. McKinley was originally named Denali, meaning "The Great One." More about that to come . . . .

We continued on into the park where we had a reservation for Savage River campground. That night I kept wondering why I was so cold. I thought I was just weak and hadn't been camping in a while and that maybe I'd just forgotton the hardships of camping. But when I woke up in the middle of the night I looked out under my tent cover and saw snow.

(This was in the morning after most of it had melted.)