Tag : Alaska

 

Here we are. This post is the last one about our last summer trip in Alaska, with 5 more pictures of Denali National Park’s wildlife. Soon I will create two dedicated galleries for this journey : the first one for the landscapes, the second one for the animals. Images will be full size.

Next posts will talk about my every day « photo trips » in Normandie as well as our 4 days trip scheduled at the end of the month …

 

We had the chance to see a lot of wildlife in the Denali National Park. Some from the bus, the others near the Wonder Lake campground. But the first ones we met were the beavers, when we hiked the short trail called « Beaver loop » not far from the park entrance. We watched them carrying big branches from the forest to their pond, working hard to build their dam : serious and concentrated!

[ Wild wolf with GPS collar / …

 

If I had to choose only one place from our trip to Alaska, no doubt it would be the Denali National Park. In this park Northern travelers can find everything they dream about : amazing and wild landscapes, huge mountains and a really important wildlife. From grizzlies to wolves, among moose, caribous, Dall sheeps and beavers, we saw in Denali more wild animals than anywhere else in the world.

[ View of Mt. McKinley from Reflexion Pond / Vue …

 

Peavine Bar is a wild valley in the Wrangell St Elias National Park situated 20 minutes by air from McCarthy. It is one of the few places within the park where a public cabin is available. Most of them work on the « first arrived first serve » basis, and all of them can only be reached by air. We chose this place to be sure to be able to enjoy a trip under a roof, as two cabins are available …

 

From 1908 to 1938, the town of Kennicott was home to the biggest copper ore mine in the world, with more than $200 millions of ore extracted from the river and the mountain. During all these years, drinking and gambling were forbidden in the town, making the nearest town around, McCarthy, the place were all workers went to have a good time after working hours with saloons, restaurants and hotels.

[ Kennicott old copper mine / Ancienne mine de …

 

The towns of McCarthy and Kennicott are home to the Kennicott glacier and river, and are also the two most visited places of the Wrangell St Elias National Park. The glacier pours down from Mount Blackburn, absorbs the Root Glacier and passes the old copper-mining town of Kennicott until McCarthy. It has collected centuries of moraine that covered few miles of ice at his end, as you can see on the first picture of this post. Impressive !

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Going to the McCarthy entrance of the Wrangell St Elias National Park from Anchorage means having a very long drive through the Glennallen & Richardson highways and then through the « famous » McCarthy road. Unlike the southern ones, these roads are not busy at all, so anybody who wants to drive and feel alone in the middle of nowhere in Alaska has to drive through it. The landscapes are really great as you can see huge rivers and canyons, glaciers, …