2 bucket list items checked today! Denali National Park and seeing – not 1, but 2 – moose!
Denali National Park has been on my bucket list for only a few years now – since I started learning more about the national parks and all of the goodness in them.
Denali National Park is 6 million(!) acres of wilderness. It’s location gives it a uniqueness compared to other national parks. Although that might have more to do with me being there in the wintertime. To me it represents a happy, peaceful, still place – the forest is covered with pristine blankets of snow as far as the eye can see. It is also the home of North America’s highest peak – Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley) – which means “Great One” and stands at a whopping 20,310 feet.
We took North Alaska Tour Company’s Denali Winter Drive Adventure as driving to and through the park is pretty treacherous this time of year. If you don’t have the proper vehicle you may run into problems.
Us and 6 new friends started off from Fairbanks and headed the 80 miles towards the park. We made a couple of pit stops – the towns of Nenana and Healy.
Nenana is a rural community that sits right on the banks of the Tanana River. It feels like you’ve stepped back in time a bit when entering this city. Of course a few bars and lodges for travelers but also just 1 general store for the tiny 300+ residents. This town is well known in this region, however, for the Nenana Ice Classic. Sounds impressive doesn’t it?
The Nenana Ice Classic started in 1917 when railroad engineers decided to place a bet on when the ice in the Tanana River would break. Well, 106 years later the tradition still exists. A “tripod” is erected every year and placed 300 feet from the shore of the river. The tripod is connected to a clock which marks the exact moment the ice of the river breaks. It’s a big event! In 2014 – 9 years ago – the jackpot was over $350,000! Part of the money goes to the individual(s) that guess the correct, date, hour and minute and part goes charities around the region.
We loaded up on provisions and headed toward Healy – considered the gateway to Denali.
Along the way the mountains become more “in your face” – craggy, dense, huge, close. It was a beautiful drive. And all along the way, Mike, our guide, gave us tidbits of Alaskan history and his own experience with this area and the reasons he loves Alaska.
Finally we arrived to the national park. In winter very little of the park road – there’s only one – is plowed. Visitors can only go a few miles in until spring. And unfortunately for us since the weather was so cloudy we couldn’t see the “Great One” – Denali. It was sitting elusively in the distance behind the clouds. The darned clouds on this trip are messing with me! But I appreciated the grandeur and beauty of this place regardless.
We had a little lunch and watched a little movie about the history of people, plant life and wildlife located there. Then a few of us donned snowshoes – you didn’t need them – and set off on a boreal forest walk.
We’d been in a boreal forest already but this was completely different. Many more spruce and pine trees; very few birch trees. And of course the pristine whiteness of a winter with very limited human contact.
We saw a lot of tracks – red squirrel, snowshoe hare and of course – moose! But so many moose tracks and so little moose. Regardless it was a lovely little walk. We got back to the van and all of us got in when Mike said, “nope, we’re going back out – moose sighting”. Needless to say we all quickly got out of that van and got back on the trail. We finally found the two moose just hanging out about 20-25 feet from the trail. They were both just laying there chilling, eating some vegetation, not paying any attention to us. It was incredible!
Again, showing my ignorance here but I didn’t realize that moose lose their antlers…on a yearly basis. There was a lot I learned about moose. I was expecting those huge, super-impressive antlers. But right now they’re simply not there. See this super cool short video of a moose losing it’s antlers. The moose were so fun to see! It made up for NOT seeing Denali in all it’s glory.
On the way out of the park we stopped to see the Denali Sled Dogs. Denali is the only national park with a kennel of sled dogs and they serve as the rangers in the park. There are no vehicles allowed on the trails in Denali so the dogs help with the trails, with rescues, with carrying supplies…they serve as a mode of transportation and are extremely important to the upkeep of the park.
Most of them were sleeping but oh so cute. We got to pet the ones that were interested. Topo, with his ice blue eyes, melted my heart.
The road back to Fairbanks was uneventful and quick. On the way I made a reservation to another ethnic restaurant here – this time Greek. My husband, being Greek, knows what he likes when it comes to Greek food so the bar was high.
Bobby’s Restaurant (right?!?! Bobby’s???) was incredible. It’s my new favorite in Fairbanks. The atmosphere was fun and festive, the service spot on and the food, DAMN….Traditional Greek food that is hard to find elsewhere – Greed salad, Moussaka, Gyro, Baklava. Oh so good! And everyone in there treated you like family.
Of course, in our quest to see the Northern Lights, we loaded up the car at 9 and this time sat in the parking lot of Creamer’s Field searching for the lights for hours. A couple of times we thought we might be seeing them but on reflection I really don’t think so. Darned clouds!!!! We’ll keep looking….