Denali Wildlife

July 31, 2024 – Wednesday – Day 38

Today was our Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali National Park.  This bus tour will take us 43 miles into the Wilderness area of the park.  It used to go 93 miles, but in 2021 a landslide destroyed a section of road at mile 45.  The soil there is so unstable that they are building a bridge over the destroyed highway.  It will not open for guests until 2026 or 2027.

Our tour started at 6:20 am, so we were up early so we could meet at the bus depot.  The first 20 miles of the trip we did not see any wildlife.  We finally saw 3 grizzly bears, then caribou, moose and Dall sheep.  Some of the animals were far away, but we could see them with our binoculars.  

The tour was about 5 hours.  We then went to the visitor center and took another shuttle bus to the dog sled kennels.  We were able to see the 30+ sled dogs that the park rangers use in the winter to get around the park.  They also gave a short presentation on the history of dogs in the park.  It was a nice day today.

Aug 1, 2024 – Thursday – Day 39

Last night was a little cold, but it warmed up a little during the day.  We rode the shuttle bus from the campground to the Horseshoe Lake Trailhead.  This hike was only two miles, but we saw a pretty lake and the Nenana River.  

Later in the evening we went to the Gold Nugget Saloon for the “Music of Denali” dinner show.  This was just outside the park and the served a meal of salmon, brisket, potatoes and vegetables.  Both the food and the show were okay.  It was raining a bit when we got out of the show so we drove back to camp for the night.