Visiting Denali Park

Hi, it’s Leslie Harris. I really like being in nature, but I also like sightseeing. I always tell people I love being a tourist in my own city, so it surprises even mean that my favorite parts of our recent Alaska journey was being in nature.

\We spent a few days just outside of Denali Park. You might remember the Denali used to be called Mount McKinley, and it is quite majestic. We were really lucky with having warm sunny days, and got lots of good looks at the mountain. We spent several hours on a tour of Denali Park, and of course the best parts were seeing all the animals. We saw several moose, porcupines, ravens, eagles, and caribou. Did you know that a domesticated Caribou is called a reindeer?

We also saw one bear, but he was on the move. We’re pretty sure he was hunting something and ran quickly into the brush. Most of the animals ran away from us, but this one particular moose was completely unfazed and stood there, eating his tasty leaves while we were about 10 feet away.

I also loved just going for walks. We stayed right outside the park, and I spent quite a bit of time at a stream, with mountains and trees all around me. It was glorious.

We got an even better look at Denali after we left, but I’ll write more about that later.