Denali Road Lottery 2007

As many of you know, the Moose Nuggets were very fortunate to win the Denali Road Lottery this year. We even managed to win before leaving Arkansas! The Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley) park road is closed to personal vehicles past mile 15. You have to take a tour bus or hike/backpack through the park. Each September, for one weekend, 1600 vehicles, chosen by lottery, are allowed to drive the entire park road (92 miles) taking as long as they wish. 400 cars go in each day, and our day was this last Friday!

The drive to Denali was amazing as the fall colors in central Alaska are on full display. It's a very different fall than we are used to in Arkansas and Texas. Obviously, many trees stay green all year, and the black spruce that look like tall black spires. However, the aspen and birch are both a brilliant, golden yellow, and many of the ground covering plants are crimson and purple.

We stayed the night 30 miles south of Denali's main gate in the town of Cantwell. This is a small town of 150 people who fondly reminisce the days when there were no phones (except one at the train station) and the whole town communicated with CB radios.

We arrived at Denali by 7:00 Friday morning eager to begin the trip. After the briefing about what to do if you see a bear or if there is a "wildlife jam", we began our journey of 180 miles on a dirt and gravel road with a speed limit of 35! After the first 15 miles, the forest thins down into land that is known as taiga. Taiga is between the forest and the tundra, and this had a lot more meaning to us as we drove into the tundra! On the taiga, we were able to see a lot of dall sheep, some caribou, ptarmigan, and a showshoe hare! Here is a picture of the taiga.



Showshoe hare - notice the big feet that help them walk (hop) on the snow! These hares change color with the seaons, in winter this hare will be all white.



As you can see, the colors of the taiga and tundra in the fall are spectacular!




It was very difficult to take pictures of the wildlife. Before arriving at the park, I imagined the animals being close to the road - not true! Without binoculars, we wouldn't have seen many animals. The landscape is just SO vast, even grizzly bears are tiny specks in the distance. It was very humbling to be in the presence of such grandeur. We were able to see groups of grizzly bears roaming the mountainsides, feasting on blueberries, and bull moose facing each other preparing to spar. To say we were in awe is an understatement. All that to say: I'm sorry there are not pictures of 'big' animals! Next year, when I go back with my (Christmas present) telephoto lens, I hope to have better pictures!

Mike and David at Polychrome Pass



There were blueberries everywhere! Millions and millions, and the bears were enjoying them. We stopped to pick them at the end of the road before turning around. There were also cranberries, but we didn't know what to do with those!



Here is a picture for Buddy.



This is the best view we got of The Mountain. We were on our way home, and we stopped for lunch at a restaurant with views of Denali. The longer we watched, the clearer the sky became, until finally we had a view of the entire mountain.


It was such an exciting and surreal experience. We are already making plans for entering the lottery next year!

In addition - we arrived home to a surprise. The Chugach Mountains which create the eastern border of Anchorage and are right behind our house were dusted in snow! In Alaska, they call this first dusting on the mountaintops 'termination dust'. The locals say that you can expect snow on the ground 3-4 weeks after termination dust. Winter is approaching!