Denali State Park and Preserve: Day 2

Well, our family has come and gone.
Our 10 days we spent with them was one filled with laughter, fun, wildlife, and the enjoyment of each other's company. Oh and did I mention a lot of good food??  What a neat experience for them to come up and see our new home in Seward, but to also experience parts of Alaska with them that we had yet to see ourselves!

I mentioned that I was going to post our trip together in increments, so today's post is about

Denali National Park and Preserve: Day Two

The second day of Denali we decided to do our own thing. 
If you missed what we did on our first day, check it out here.

We started out the morning with a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs.
After breakfast, we decided to check out Denali's Visitor Center that we missed the day before. 

Here in the Visitor Center, it talks about the wildlife of Denali, how each season effects the wildlife/plant growth of Denali, Denali's first settlers, and the first people to climb Mt. McKinley. It gave us some background information of the National Park that we had yet to hear.

After visiting their center, we decided to make our way outside and hike one of their trails.
You can't just leave Denali without a hike through it!

 

 

As you can see, Denali is just gorgeous! The best part was that it ran into a skybridge at the midway point of the hike. Very cool!

 

 

^^ I seriously cannot get over the Panoramic option on the iPhone 5! ^^

 

On our way back:

 

 

This hike was only about an hour. Very do-able and so worth it to see more of Denali National Park and Preserve!

 

Unfortunately, after this hike meant it was time for Joshua to leave. He had to drive the 6 hours back to Seward by himself. The RV was staying one more night then we would head to Seward the next day. He couldn't leave until after lunch though! We found a really good restaurant near our campground called The Salmon Bake - different than the one Seward offers.

 

I do have to say that my Grandma really ventured out this trip with what she ordered - starting at this restaurant. For lunch, we shared the Yak Wrap. Throughout the trip, she tried yak, elk, and reindeer. Such an adventurist!

 

Like I mentioned above, this restaurant was near our RV park - Rainbow Village. It wasn't the normal campground we were used to. We weren't in the forest or trees, but it was one of gravel and was situated behind a long street of small shops - cafes, bakeries, tourist shops, etc. But it still was nice and close enough to places to walk around and enjoy this part of Denali.

 

 

 

And finally it was time to load up and head out of Denali. Such a fun trip to share with our family, but so ready for them to experience Seward and our new home!

 

 

// Stay tuned for posts about our wildlife tour and our experience at Exit Glacier! //

Denali State Park and Preserve: Day One

What a great seven days it has been!

My family has been here since the 4th, and since then, we have driven four hours to and from Denali State Park, went on a Kenai Fjords water cruise tour, viewed much of the wildlife Alaska has to offer, played too many rounds of Double Euchre, and even reorganized our house!
We have done so much and we still have 3 days left!

But really, I think my family has seen almost all of the big wildlife that there is to see in The Last Frontier. They have been so lucky!

I am going to write about our adventures in increments, so today's post will be part one of our trip to

 

Denali State Park and Preserve

 

My mom, step-dad, and grandma arrived late Friday night. The next day we got everything packed up and ready to go, picked up the RV, and headed to Denali State Park and Preserve.

Mom, Kenny, and Grandma rode in the RV and Joshua and I rode in our Subaru. Of course, we would have loved to ride with them, but Joshua had to leave early from Denali Monday night to work Tuesday, so we drove the four hours separately.

 

 

Our first views of Mt. McKinley from the road:

 

 

^^ You'll see Grandma on a rock basically in every picture to try to be as tall as us!

^^ 82 degrees as we headed to Denali! // Igloo hotel ^^

 

^^ Made it to the Denali meridian // Most expensive gas, yet ^^

We were in Denali for two whole days - Sunday and Monday.
(We arrived Saturday evening and left Tuesday morning).

By "in" Denali, I meant on the outskirts of the actual park. There is only one road that goes in Denali Park. The two main ways to view Denali is to book a tour or take a chance and use their green shuttle buses that travel around the park. The green buses are used as transportation into the park and to transfer passengers while in the park. If you decide to take the green bus, don't guarantee to use the same green bus every time. Pretty simple but you really are on your own if you decide to do it this way.  They only allow these two ways because they only allow a certain number of cars into the park per day. They do this because it is designated a wilderness, hence the "preserve" part of Denali State Park and Preserve. They try to keep it as "wild" as they can.

Our first full day there we decided to book a Tundra Wilderness tour. We figured this would be the easiest and best way to see as much of Denali as we could. This tour lasted eight hours and included a boxed lunch snack. It allowed us to go into the park 62 miles - some of the road paved and some not.

And just like the names suggests, we saw a ton of wilderness (plants and animals) on this tour. Like I mentioned before, my family has been super lucky with all the wildlife they have seen! On this tour, we saw arctic ground squirrels, multiple birds, a fox, caribou, moose, and even a grizzly.

^^ Birds // Arctic Ground Squirrel ^^

 ^^ Caribou shedding it's winter coat // Fox ^^

^^ Mama moose and 2 calves // Grizzly bear getting ready to munch on some moose carcass ^^

 

I mean I don't know if they could have seen anything else on this tour!

Well, one thing. We have yet to see a Dall Sheep.

 

 And not just the animals, but on this tour, we saw the prettiest flowers. And thanks to my grandma, I can study all about the flowers of Alaska with the book she bought me right after we got off this tour.

^^ Bluebells ^^

^^ Fireweed ^^

^^ Frigid Arnica ^^

And then the main part of the tour: Mt. McKinley.
Mt. McKinley's south peak is the tallest peak in North America at 20,320 feet.
Here is a fun fact: Only 33% of people that visit Denali see Mt. McKinley.
Usually, the weather is cloudy or foggy where the view is hard to see.
But we had the best views of Mt. McKinley the entire tour. We were part of the 33%!

^^ There's that rock again! ^^

 

 

Have you all tried the Panoramic option on the iPhone 5? It is way cool!

 

 

Although, Mt. McKinley was clear as day the entire tour, not every bend and turn in the road allowed the view. But that didn't stop the beautiful scenery! Alaska is beautiful, and Denali is no different!

 

 

Thanks for a fun tour day, Denali!