Today we planned to see the Denali Dog Sled Team presentation. Denali maintains a dog sled team to maintain the park and its trails. As a Wilderness Preserve no mechanized vehicles are allowed throughout most of the park. During the winter the dog-sleds are used to transport supplies used in the summer to build bridges, maintain trails, etc. The dogs are very lovable and the 30 minute presentation is informative and interesting. You get to pet a few of the dogs and see the rest up close.
After the dog sled presentation we drove the 15 mile public road again. We spend a fair amount of time at the Savage River turnaround enjoying the weather and the scenery. After completing our Park drive we drove up to the Denali Grand Lodge. We thought we might eat there but didn’t care for the menu. The view was very nice. In the end we ate at The Bake again. This time we had a barbecue hamburger and it was excellent.
A word or two about Denali National Park.
For us this National Park is not an overwhelming reason to visit Alaska. The scenery is beautiful and at times there is good wildlife viewing. You can only see the mountain Denali from a few viewpoints and visitors to Denali only see the mountain about 30% of the time due to clouds. It is not the most accessible park nor the least accessible. The 15 miles available to personal cars is nice but not spectacular in the sense of Yosemite, Glacier, or some of the other big names. On our second day we took the same bus tour as our previous visit 5 years ago in mid-May. This is the shortest tour and requires about 6 hours round trip. It is only $31 per person and takes you 52 miles into the park. We find 6 hours is pretty long on a fairly spartan bus. Our driver this time says at this time of year you see bears about 30% of the time on this tour. We saw a bear at a distance 5 years ago in mid-May but not this time. There are tours that take you to the 68 mile Eileson Visitor Center (7-8 hours round trip), and 95 miles to the Kitshna lodge (>12 hours round trip). Our guide says on these tours you see bear 80% of the time. There are also many day hikes and 4 million acres of open wilderness to explore if you are more outdoors inclined and more athletic than Donna and I. The wilderness is not heavily forested and the trees are small. Most of the terrain is tundra and shrub. There is RV camping at a variety of campgrounds in the Park but reservations may be required up to 6 months in advance. We didn’t try and chose to wimp out with full hook-ups outside the park. Most (all?) camping in the park is dry camping. Still, if you are in Alaska already you should visit this park. It is unique in many ways and is quite enjoyable.