Do You See Wildlife In Denali National Park???

Denali Park, Alaska (38 degrees, cloudy, rainy, sunshine, snow, repeat....)

We spent four nights in a remote campground in Denali National Park and Preserve. You cannot drive with your car in this park except for a few miles around the visitor center. All transportation is provided by these propane fueled school buses. The park take seriously the task of reducing the impact of visitors on wildlife as much as possible. This bus system was established in 1972 when it was noted cars and people in the park where pushing back the wildlife. It's not the most comfortable way to see a place but we get the importance of doing it. So, because of the parks amazing stewardship your chances of seeing wildlife up close is a resounding YES!  However, trying to get pictures of them through a school bus window can be a challenge. They do make frequent stops where you can get out but not near wildlife. If you hike the remote trails or go back country camping your chances of seeing them up close is greater.  According to some back packer we met maybe it's  just a little too close.

Our favorite driver  Bear on a very rainy day

We spent three days (over 24 hours) driving up and down the park from our campground using the bus. You buy a ticket for unlimited use of the buses. There are two option: 1) organized tours which can be informative but very expensive or 2) transportation buses for a nominal fee. We choose #2 and found the bus drivers to be, except for one, very informative and willing to stop for photos or to observe wildlife or scenery  by just yelling STOP!  The drivers were good at spotting the wildlife along with all the passengers on the bus. We learned a lot about Denali and would highly recommend this way of travel.

You can stay on the bus you board the whole time or hop on hop off. We enjoyed it very much and met lots of interesting folks on the bus. We laughed a lot with many of them and enjoyed hearing some of their stories about back packing and camping in such a remote place. If you hop on and off you may have to wait awhile for another bus. We did this several times when we wanted to stay longer in an area and only waited at the most 30 minutes. 

I tried to keep a running list of what we saw. So without further ado here is what we saw...

Grizzly Bears (brown bears)

12 adults and 10 cubs

Black Bear - 0

It's definitively a crowd pleaser when a bear is seen on the bus. I thought at times it was going to tip over when everyone came to the side where one was seen. We saw lots of mama grizzly bears with cubs and oftentimes twins. The bears here are smaller than the ones we saw on the coast. Their diet is different and they eat mostly berries and grasses here. The coastal grizzly bears eat tons of salmon. Cubs stay with their moms for about four years and she is very protective of them. Male grizzly bears are oftentimes her cubs biggest predator. We saw lots of interesting color combinations.

Look carefully for Mama and her twins

Caribou

18

When we started our journey in Canada we saw Caribou for the first time in Muncho Lake. Their antlers were very small. What a difference a few months has made. Both male and female caribous have antlers.

Red Fox

3

Moose

4

I love moose!  The male moose antlers are incredible at this time of year. I don't know how they can possibly lift their heads. Maybe this is why this big guy is resting.

Dall Sheep

32

You have to look way up high to the ridge line of the mountains to see the sheep. And then they really just look like a tip of a Q tip from the bus. We attended a ranger led walk which talked all about them. This national park was originally started to protect them. During the Gold Rush and railroad construction in Alaska the Dall Sheep were slaughtered in the thousands to feed the hungry workers. Today there are over 2500 in the park and seem to be living the good life. 

Wolf Pup

1

This little guy seems to have lost his pack. According to our bus driver there are five in the area. This is the first time we have seen one in the wild.  

Birds

We added five new ones to our life list

It was a delight to get this brief look at a Gyrfalcon. This bird is not seen in very many places. Our picture is not the best but John was a happy guy when he saw it.  We also saw some very majestic Golden Eagles and a pretty Common Loon.

Arctic Hares

12

In the winter time this hare becomes snow white. Wanna guess why??

Arctic Ground Squirrel 

Too numerous to count

I hope you enjoyed your bus tour in the comfort of your home. Our next post will be all about a very famous mountain.

The End