Denail National Park

Denail National Park was one of the highlights for all of us during Lynn's visit. The first day we drove in as far as we could which was only 15 miles and hiked the Savage River Trail. It was an easy hike, rocky and fairly fast flowing.



The next day we were on the required park shuttle for a 53 mile ride which took about 6 hours. We could get off whenever we wanted for a hike and they took frequent rest stops. After a very rainy summer, we were blessed to have a perfect sunny day. We saw two bear families. One was eating berries and didn't even notice the bus. We saw many caribou and some moose as well as reindeer. We also saw ptarmigans, Dall sheep and ground squirrels. We did get out and hike through a soft lichen type meadow. Mount McKinley or Denali as the locals call it was partially visible through the cloud cover. How could it hide at 20000 feet tall? In the end Lynn called it the Denaili Safari.

On the way home, we had a delicious dinner at 229 which is named after the road mile marker.