Located in the interior of Alaska, and built around the
tallest mountain in North America, it is twenty four thousand five hundred
square kilometers (or six million acres) of beauty. At the lower elevations you will see forests with a mix of
tree species. This gives way to tundra at the middle areas, and the higher
elevations are mostly rock and snow. There are a number of glaciers in the
park, with the largest being the Kahiltna Glacier.
The National Park and Preserve encompasses the Alaskan
Mountain Range along with glacier valleys and glaciers running out of the
National Park and Preserve. The park and preserve are home to the Forakler
river, the Toklat River, and the Mckinley river as well as rolling hills named
the Wyoming and Kantishna. On the West side of the park are preserve lands.
These areas allow hunting by permit, but in the park, hunting is limited to
local residents that are allowed to hunt for food. Eleven miles South of Healy
is the entrance to the Park and Preserve. You will find, just inside the
entrance a visitors center along with headquarters of the park.
Grizzly bears and Black bears abound in the park along with
a large variety of mammals and birds. Moose can be seen around the lakes and
other water features and mountain sheep are quite plentiful. Caribou roam
through the park and are known to saunter on the roads so be aware when coming
around curves in the roadway. The park is also home to a number of smaller
mammals such as lynxes, marmots, ground squirrels, beavers, Red foxes, and
pikas. These animals are quite wary and are good at hiding so consider yourself
lucky if you see one.
Late summer brings many migratory birds to the park
including a variety of wheaters and raptors.
If you are looking for a great family vacation that will awe
young and old alike, you can’t do any better than Denali.
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