Time Flies By, Part 2: Denali Lottery

Part 2: The Lottery
Denali National Park September 18-20, 2010

Two weeks later we went to Denali National Park, also known as Mt. McKinley National Park. It was the last weekend the Park and nearby motels were open. To get into the park that weekend you had to enter a lottery and win. I won! Normally visitors can only drive a few miles into the park and then you have to take buses but on the lottery weekend, lottery winners were able to drive the park roads. And we did. The weather was perfect: sunny and not too cold.

We left on Friday so we could get to town that evening and be able to go into the Park first thing Saturday morning. We stopped along the way to see various sites. We stopped at a memorial to the many veterans from the various services.


At one turn off, we found Devils Club. It has huge leaves and HUGE thorns.

You don't want to get into the Devils Club! Alaska may not have poison ivy but it definitely has some plants you want to stay away from!

We stopped at the South Side of Denali View Point to get our first glimpse of Denali.

This is my favorite view of Denali
taken on Friday, September 17, 2010. The park is located on the other side (north) and the pictures aren't as good.


Early morning at Denali National Park; Saturday, September 18, 2010.


































I wish I knew how to do a slide show so the pictures could be enjoyed more easily.

And the animals! We were quite fortunate to see so many. Some of our favorites:

The Bears: We saw 4 of them near the road. Of course we weren't the first ones to come across them. There was a line of cars with people outside their cars taking pictures. Now, we had all been told not to get near the bears, to stay in your car. Did we obey? Of course not. I got out of the car and did stay downwind from them and watched. They didn't want to cooperate and stay close enough together to be all in the same frame. At least my pictures of the bears are more than a dots and you can tell what they are...

We saw some cross a river. They were too far away to get a picture To see them cross the river as they has been done for generations gave me a sense of what my pioneer forefathers might have seen. I wonder if they were in awe or thought, "Where's my rifle? There's some meat for dinner tonight!"


A ranger came by shortly after we found the bears and staying in her truck, called all of us to get back in our vehicles on her bullhorn. I did obey. Then the bears came up over the slight rise, across the road and wandered on the other side of the road out of our view. Aren't they incredible? Real live bears! Not in a zoo. In their own habitat. Wow!


A Bull Moose. Usually we see the cows and calves near our house. Rarely do we see a bull moose in town so it was great to see one in the wild.







A wolf. He was eating wild blueberries.

I think this picture makes the wolf look like it's defecating but it isn't. It is just going up the hill sniffing for berries.

There was a line of cars with people all over the road, crowding around trying to get pictures. The wolf seemed to ignore all of us. The rangers were rather excited themselves as wolves are rarely seen in the day.












Dall sheep. Dall sheep are often seen on the hillsides all over Alaska. They aren't as elusive as the other animals but are still fun to see. With them, it's like searching for Waldo.






We also saw eagles, squirrels, voles and birds. We thought most of the birds would have migrated south but I guess the ones that are still here are hardy ones. You are requested, and can be fined if caught, not to feed the animals, especially the birds. We sat down for lunch and a bird flew down and landed on the table across from where Kent was sitting, looking around for food. Unfortunately I came over and he flew away. He stayed in the tree near the picnic tales and would swoop down to get the crumbs.

We saw the sun rise and set...never over Denali because it wasn't in the right position but it was so beautiful! I kept wishing Katie was there to capture it "right".









Taken at first turn off where you can finally see Denali!









Kent waited an hour for the sun to set so I could get a picture of the sun setting over Denali. Two problems, first the sun glare and two, the sun doesn't actually set over Denali at that angle and the season we were in. I took a picture of the sun beginning to set, a quick picture of Denali and then back to the sunset where the sun was slipping behind the mountains.









And then you could see the full moon rise.
It was so quiet, peaceful and oh, so beautiful.







We left early Monday morning for home. It was nice to get home on the early side so we could get the car washed and be rested for work the next day. I enjoyed going to Denali and wandering around. It's good to be free to wander.