"the High One"

One of my favorite views in Anchorage is looking north on a clear day when you can see Denali overlooking the city (the mountain that used to be called Mt McKinley), so I was very excited to take a trip north last weekend to see the mountain in the national park. Visitors to Denali National Park usually have to ride a bus once inside the park to get around because the park road is closed to private cars. One weekend a year they let 100 cars a day drive through the park on their own. We were one of the lucky winners of the road lotto this year so we got to see the park at our own pace and not mess with the other tourists.

We were hoping to see the changing colors of the leaves but fall had come and gone by the time we got there.Luckily all the animals were still out and we were able to see all the wildlife we wanted.  We saw grizzly bears, caribu, moose, dall sheep, arctic fox, and people seeing a wolf pack (we were minutes too late to see it ourselves...).  And of course Denali itself was very cool to see. Here are shots from the trip:

Views of the mountain on the drive up.

One of the mountain sheep.  We saw lots of groups of sheep all through the park, one group had several babies running among them.

This little arctic fox was running on the road along side the truck.  Very pretty little guy.

We see lots of moose around Anchorage, but they were still fun to see in the park.  This guy had a great rack.

And the bears.  They were the best part.  It was neat to see them up close and watch them move and interact with eachother. 

We saw 14 bears in different parts of the park.  Some eating, some traveling across the valley, some resting in the sun, some checking out the tourists.

Most of the bears were in groups of three - one mama and two cubs.  Most of the cubs were fairly large and looked like they were all ready to hibernate for the winter.

One group of three was hanging out right by the road and we were able to get very close to them.  Aaron was actually within 30 yards of them as they walked towards him.   I stayed with Ethan near the car...I was a little worried the baby might look a little too tasty to the bear.

 

By the time we made it to the back of the park, the sun was high in the sky and it washed out the white mountain in the pictures.  Sadly the picture doesn't pick up how gorgeous it was!

Wonder Lake was a great place to sit and view the mountain range.

Ethan had a great time playing with GG and Dad in the car as we watched the wildlife. 

And when they got boring, he entertained himself with his feet. 

During the long day in the car, he was ready for every chance he could get to be out in the sun.

We snuck in one family shot in the park.  Wish we would have gotten one with Denali in the background, but I think Ethan was sleeping during some of the good shots. 

To see more pictures from our trip, check out the album here.