Alaska: Denali National Park

 “What’s one thing that Texas has that Alaska does not? Texans!” The captain on our flight went on a flurry of brag jokes like this one once we touched down in Anchorage, the state’s largest city. He did not forget to mention that Alaska is indeed twice the size of Texas and has a huge Moose and Mosquito (jokingly called Alaska’s state bird) population.  For the uninitiated, Moose is a large species of deer inhabiting the northern parts of North America. Do not be betrayed by the meek-sounding name; they are huge and rather dangerous when hungry, just like some of us humans are. We were there to spend our long weekend at the start of September last year, still a pleasant time to visit before the temperature starts dropping significantly in the month of October.

 Typically, a first timer in Alaska has an itinerary not veering off too far away from Anchorage, settling to explore Denali and Kenai Fjords national parks and depending on the time and budget, adding in a glacier hike or helicopter tour. I had not been very adventurous while planning this trip too, which I would mildly regret later. We started for Denali national park early the next day. The drive was supposed to take nearly six hours and I was worried about having to do it all myself. I had only recently started to get confident about driving and getting a knack of it in an unfamiliar car took me time. Nevertheless, we were on our way and the busy freeways near the city gave way to beautiful roads flanked by thick foliage of fall colors. After a while, we could smell smoke at certain spots and noticed ‘Thank You’ signs all along. It is then that we realized there had been wildfires in the preceding days and the signs were for the firefighters. We had made a mistake not reading up on the prevalent conditions in our destination, but were thankfully not paying a price, yet.

 We took a break in the town of Talkeetna, a tourist’s favorite abuzz with activities including flightseeing tours promising an aerial view of Mt. Denali, the highest mountain peak in north America at 20308 ft. The Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger station is the first stop for the climbers attempting the feat of making it to the top of Denali. The short film about people’s experiences climbing up the mountain truly heightened our awe of the peak whose name means ‘the high one’ in Athabaskan, the language of the native peoples. Unfortunately, it was named Mt. McKinley after a former U.S. president and later sparked a controversy, finally ending in it being returned its rightful name in 2015 by Barack Obama. We quizzed the very helpful ranger about spots we should not miss on the rest of the way to the national park and took our leave of Talkeetna.

 Mt. Denali is so huge that it creates its own weather conditions, making it difficult for us to locate it amidst the clouds. We stopped at a viewpoint in the Denali state park, which was listed as one of the best places to catch a glimpse of the elusive mountain. Within no time, we reached the visitor center near the entrance to the park. Visitors’ vehicles are allowed only until the first fifteen miles into the park. Since we were going to go on a bus tour into the park the next day, which would take us beyond the first fifteen miles, we decided to explore the areas nearby with whatever time we had left in the day. The ranger manning the reception at the visitor center let us know about a sled dog demonstration at the kennels in the park. Denali is the only national park with canine rangers; we were excited! We were just in time to board the next shuttle that would take us there. At the kennels, we were allowed to look around and familiarize ourselves with the dogs until the demo would start. Soon, the park ranger briefed us about the dogs, why they were so important and how they helped them patrol the park of six million acres safely in the winter. They were brought into the national park to curb the poaching of wild animals. We were given a peak into what they actually do when four sled dogs named Polly, Behnti, S’more and Happy hauled a sled with the ranger at lightning speed as part of the demo. These gorgeous Alaskan huskies stole our hearts, leaving us longing to be back when there was snow in the park to see them in action.

 Back at the visitor center, we did a short hike that took us to a suspension bridge nearby on a path flanked by mushrooms of all sizes and colors. There were hardly any people around and we took our time admiring the Aspen trees, some of whose leaves had turned yellow. On our way out of the park, we stopped and hiked down to a lake. There was a Beaver dam and we were lucky enough to spot one as it swam away from us. Enough wildlife for one day!

 Our stay at a “resort” close by was amazing except for the fact that there was no free WiFi. It was a bummer, considering the amount of money we were paying. Perhaps that is what cost more, staying disconnected! It was perfect, by the riverside. We hit the bed quickly, exhausted and in anticipation of another long day on the bus.

 For most of us who do not spend more than two days in Denali, the bus tour is the best way to see as much of the park as possible, wildlife included. The one we chose left the depot at 6:15 AM. We arrived early, bought some food and were all set. The driver-naturalist, who would also be our guide for the day made quite the impression on us in a few minutes. He was witty and commanded respect. How many of us can do that without even facing others? It was the first time that I had heard someone refer to animals as critters. It made them sound too trivial and of not much consequence. The trip was going to last eleven hours; our destination was Wonder Lake, only eighty-five miles into the park! Apart from wildlife sighting, his jokes were what I would look forward to as the day advanced. One I remember is that he said they have four seasons in Alaska – early winter, winter, late winter and construction. We could get off the bus wherever we liked and hike, certain areas being off-limits and the only rule being that we should try and be safe from the wildlife. There were quite a few people doing that, but I wondered how they knew where to go and what they would do if they were too tired and would have to wait for a bus for a really long time, to get back. Within the first few hours, we had seen moose and bears. The Bull Mooses’ antlers are what gave them away in the vast expanse of land, usually white but also turning a sort of pink color as it was the time of the year that they would lose them to grow new ones.

About four hours into the drive, all of us aboard that bus made it to the 30% of park visitors who get a sight of Mt. Denali. We reached another visitor center soon where we took pictures to our heart’s content, in case the mountain goes missing again. We reached Wonder lake at or about midday. I and my friend were severely disappointed. We had seen pictures of the lake with Denali in the background. Perhaps we had to walk around? There was no mountain, and we were ravenous, releasing our frustration at each other. Had we just spent close to six hours on a bus to reach here? We took pictures of what seemed to be the peak at a distance and ate our lunch. Afterwards, we decided to hop on our bus that was still waiting rather than wait for the next bus which would be there in an hour. We had already had enough of wonder lake.

 We saw more Moose and Dall sheep, visible as white dots on a distant mountain on our way back. Our driver told us that two bears had attacked campers in the park the previous night and he thought they might even be killed. I was aghast! Why would a “Preserve” kill the wild animals, one that took pride in the fact that most of its area was not even treaded on by any human beings since ever? All this land belonged to them; we were the perpetrators. I wondered if I should start thinking about not visiting any national parks any more. Were they glorified zoos, keeping animals for us to see and enjoy? Then I realized that I simply cannot have the cake and eat it too. This was a compromise. They had to preserve our lives too. If the bears understood that they could hurt people for food and get away with it, they would get used to it and there would be no more camping in Denali. Perhaps I did not want that. If I wanted to be able to lay my eyes on the treasures of the wild, I could not do much about how the system worked. The best I could do was to follow the rules, living and letting live. We passed by a few more grizzlies in the mountains, one of their ears pricking up at the sounds in our bus and standing up to look at us.

 One other important reason that people visit Alaska is to be able to witness one of nature’s wonders, the Aurora Borealis or the Northern lights. Denali was one place where we could have tried to and succeeded, if we were fortunate. We were too exhausted on both our nights there, choosing to get some sleep instead. Maybe we would make another trip just for that. However, we would try to absorb some lessons from Denali on this trip, to quote a bookmark that I bought: stand tall; reach for new heights; weather life’s storms; rise above all; think Big; its alright to have your head in the clouds and, be magnificent!