Gone Birding July 18, 2011 Bargain Hunter
Bruce Glick is traveling in Alaska. You can follow his travels by checking out the Gone Birding column.
Denali National Park
As anyone knows who has visited Denali National Park in July, only about 30% of the visitors actually get to see the peak during their visit. We knew this before we made our reservations at the Riley Campground for July 9, 10 and 11. However, we had already had one good day of seeing North Americas tallest mountain several weeks ago – from a distance. A second look would be a bonus.
After a wonderful two weeks on the Kenai Peninsula, it was back to Anchorage and on up the Parks Highway to Denali. As expected, clouds were covering the mountain but we had several enjoyable days reaching the park entrance and getting set up in the campground. However, the next morning the weather cleared and we quickly drove up to mile 9 on the Denali Highway, the first location where the peak is visible. Sure enough, it was cloud-free, so we spent most of the day in the area, just soaking up the incredible views.
The following day we had reservations to ride the park bus to Eielson Visitor Center, 66 miles into the park. Again, the peak was open as we drove by mile 9 but clouds soon built up and that was it for seeing the mountain that day. Since the focus of the bus ride is seeing wildlife, everybody on the bus helped make that happen. Everyone had lots of looks at Caribou and Dall Sheep, plus 6 or 7 Grizzly Bears kept people happy. At one point a wolf appeared along the road, paying no attention at all to the intruders.
At the Eielson Visitor Center, visitors can stay as long as they want, eat lunch, hike, etc, and then catch a ride back to the park entrance on a later bus. We chose to eat lunch while looking toward the area where we knew Denali loomed 20,000 feet high behind the clouds. My attention was soon drawn to a circling raptor which turned out to be an adult Golden Eagle. A few minutes later the eagle appeared again, this time taking off nearby with a ground squirrel in its talons, heading toward a tree 100 yards away. Nice!
After lunch we joined a naturalist and a small group of hikers for a climb up the mountain right behind the visitor center. It was only a one mile hike but gained 1000 feet in altitude in that mile. From the top, the views were amazing in all directions. While we were on the top, three Common Ravens called and put on a show for us. It seemed they were just having fun. Coming down the trail was a bit tricky, very steep indeed.
I had hoped to see Willow Ptarmigan in the tundra but didnt succeed. Hopefully there will be some other chances before we head home. The Willow Ptarmigan is the state bird of Alaska. The story goes that the town of Chicken, Alaska was supposed to be called Ptarmigan, but not knowing the spelling, folks just decided to call it Chicken..
Good birding!
Bruce Glick
birderbruce@yahoo.com
