It gets light here around 4. I was up before 5 getting ready for our Wildlife Denali adventure . Let’s hope we see something. We left at 6.40.

It’s well organised. A snack box with a map on it was sitting on each seat.

Our guide Dallen started his guide welcome and safety talk then he explained that we we’d be travelling through the Boreal forest, 3,000 ft elevation. 63.5 latitude. North. Same as being in Antartica. Lowest point of park is 223 ft above sea level.

Alaska’s coast is closer to Russia than Denali lodge is to Mt McKinley. The Baring Sea between them can freeze up. ‘You could walk there’ or so our guide said.

We started travelling above the tree line and Dallen likened the park to a 3 tier cake. The boreal is the bottom level. Land above the trees is the tundra. Animal of the tundra is a bear. Only 300-350 bears here.

The 3rd tier are the mountains.

7,000 feet and always frozen. Always covered in snow.

The Caribou found here is a summer animal. Both male & female grow antlers. As we were hearing about a caribou – we saw a caribou!

At 7.20 saw a bear then a willow ptarmigan – the state bird. All on the left hand side of the bus. Guess where I’m sitting!

There are more caribou in Alaska than people. Longest migration of any land animal. But Alaskan caribou don’t migrate. Their antler is like a calcium deposit in their head.

Glacier is a river of ice. Always moving.

As the national park became more popular they decided to pave all the road but the local park enthusiasts said no! It would destroy the park. It then took 16 years to build 90 miles of gravel road. They put it right over a rock glacier. So now they are designing a bridge.

There are 3 types of bears. Black bear is widespread, Brown or grizzly ( appearance is grizzled hair) and polar. They eat trees. 🌲 in the short green season. That’s why only 350 bears. Yellowstone has bigger green season. Salmon / but not found here as much. So more bears on coastlines. Bears long lifespan – 39 years and a very good memory.

Dallen played a Word game with National Park. Our guide named a National Park and first word that comes into your mind.

Yellowstone: Yosemite: Glacier. Answer should be the men who did so much to develop them as National Park. The names unfortunately meant nothing to me. My responses were

Yellowstone: the old Faithful Geyser

Yosemite: the sheer mountains

Glacier: I haven’t been yo that one but I’d say the ice!

Dallen posed another question……

What is wilderness. Is it different to nature? What value does it have ? To him wilderness is that everything is untouched. That is true here in Denali.

At 11.30 saw three bears. Mother and two cubs. I’m not sure who was more excited. Dallen or all the fellow travellers on the bus.

He says we were lucky. It’s rare to see what we witnessed. A mother and her two cubs. Playing, wrestling, running then walking away.

Dallen talked about beavers m. They are are keystone animals. They hold everything together. Abd mosquitoes arrive with summer birds are attracted to eat the mosquitoes. Birds migrate from. Denali to Africa. Or Australia. Arctic warblers.

Right toward yo end of our 5 hr wilderness tour we saw 5 caribou grazing. Again, a lucky spotting.

We headed back to the Park Ranger Station.

And as we got off the bus…… there was a moose. Just walking along!

Now the rule is If you encounter a noise – get out there run, hide but don’t stick around! A bear: you stand still. Make yourself tall with hands in the air. Huddle if you’re in a group. Let hope we don’t meet one up close!

We visited the Ranger Station information centre. It’s great. Of course we got a junior park ranger booklet for Leo.

The dogs here are wonderful so a visit to the dog sledding presentation is a must.

You’re able to visit these beautiful dogs as they rest. They are trained here to work in the National Park. They are gorgeous. Each one has a personality. The litters are named after something significant. The latest one was weather: so Storm Hurricane etc

A great day ending with drinks and dinner with our new Aussie friends.