Denali National Park

Denali National Park is over six million acres of wild land which is larger than the state of New Hampshire. The centerpiece is North America’s tallest peak, 20,310′ Mount McKinley. Wild animals large and small roam un-fenced lands. The word Denali means “the high one” in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself.

Fairbanks to Denali

Pipeline: On the drive from Fairbanks to Denali National Park, we made a quick stop to see the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The 48-inch-diameter oil pipeline is 800-mile-long to connect the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska, U.S., with the harbour at Valdez, to the south.

Husky Homestead: We also stopped to listen to a talk by Jeff King, a four-time Iditarod champion. I found it fascinating to hear about the preparation, planning and execution of the Iditarod. I found this short clip from the early part of the 2014 race when Jeff wore a helmet cam. Mushers were battered and bruised on snowless ground.

Denali National Park

We spent three nights in Denali. Most of the time it was damp and cloudy but that did not slow us down. We kept right on schedule.

Rafting Trip

After lunch we met with our rafting guides who got us fitting out with dry suits. Then they shuttled us to the starting location of our raft field trip.

We then enjoyed an 11-mile journey along the boundary of Denali National Park on the Nenana River. We floated through glacially carved valleys and enjoys wonderful views of Mount Fellows and the Nenana Canyon.

Denali Wilderness

On our rafting trip, we did see a moose and her two cub lounging around one of the little pools by the side of the river. Unfortunately no-one was able to get a photo of it.