Birch Creek

Our Tundra Wilderness tour departed at 6 am this morning, no time for breakfast just time to grab our lunch boxes and one last visit to the restrooms as comfort breaks are limited. We boarded our school bus style vehicle and 'were on our way' (a phrase frequently used by tour guides!).

Our very knowledgeable guide, Brian from Kentucky, has been in Alaska for 15 years and really loves the wilderness. Our journey would take us 62 miles into the park (and 62 miles back) and take approximately 7 hours. There is only general admission to the first 15 miles, then entry is strictly by tour bus or by foot. A maximum of 160 buses per day are allowed into the park. The park covers 6 million acres and has been a national park for 101 years. The park has remained relatively pristine, and has not been invaded by non native plants and animals, it is a haven, not only for individual species but for intact ecosystems.

Charles Sheldon, a conservationist, fought to create Denali as a national park as he was greatly concerned about the hunting of the Dall sheep and was anxious to protect them and the imposing mountains and rugged landscape of Denali.

Our journey took us through Igloo Forest, Sable Pass, Polychrome Pass and over several rivers to Stoney Croft Overlook at mile 62. The gravel road in its entirety is 90 miles to Kantishna.

Our first spot of the day was a moose (at last a good view and picture of a moose). We then saw Caribou, a ptarmigan bird (Alaska's national bird), a beautiful red fox, then, sat on a hill next to the road were some female Dall sheep with babies. Then our prize spot, a mama grizzly bear with a last year's cub. The pair were golden brown and right alongside our bus, we could take pictures out of the open window and it was very exciting and maybe a little scary to be so close to a 300 - 400 pound grizzly!!!! We also saw some artic ground squirrels nicknamed cheese pizzas because that is what they look like if they don't cross the road carefully. Hopping around were many snowshoe rabbits which, at this time of year, have white lower half and grey top half bodies, I think we have been told they are all white in winter and grey in summer to blend in with their surroundings.

The scenery is just magnificent, majestic mountains, glacial rivers, fresh green shoots on trees and shrubs, mountain flowers, water running out from underneath patches of snow, animal tracks in the snow and sightings of animals and birds in this vast wilderness, the air feels so fresh and clean. We reached an elevation of 4000 feet and were above the tree line for some of the journey. On the return journey we had a further sighting of our 2 grizzlies and an example of how quickly the weather changes, the blue skies disappeared, it started to rain, then hail, then sleet. The only thing we didn't see was a view of Mount Denali but, as we have been told before, only 30% of all visitors see any of the mountain and half of those get to see all the mountain, we were so lucky, as when we were in the lodge near Talkeenta, we saw the whole of Mount McKinley and the entire mountain range.

This tour was another great highlight of the trip.

We returned to the hotel for a snooze before the evenings activity which was a trip to the Golden Nugget Saloon to attend a dinner show. We walked down to the Denali Square were seated by Miss Molly and introduced to Miss Kitty our server. We had a good meal followed by an excellent show which told the story of the first climbers to reach the top of Mount McKinley. Walter Harper was the first, with Harry Karstens, Hudson Stuck and Ribera Tatum. It was appropriate that Harper was the first to stand on top of the mountain as he was half Athabaskan and the Athabaskan believe the mythical Raven created the mountain by throwing his spear so it is a spiritual place for them.Read more