A painting of Denali National ParkDenali National Park is 9,500 square miles of Alaskan wilderness located just 240 miles north of Anchorage and 120 miles south of Fairbanks. It's named after the Athabaskan name for Mt. McKinley ("High One"), the tallest mountain in the United States. Mt. McKinley is so high up and so big that it has its own weather, separate from the land below. It is known as one of the coldest peaks on the planet, temperatures can plunge to 60 degrees below zero!
Origin (prehistoric)
on its "Mammoth Steppe". Around 11,000 to 35,000 years ago, woody shrubs began to appear as the grasslands shrunk. Although this area was gradually changing from a grassland, it still had little ice. It wouldn't be a tundra yet until the temperatures dropped later on.Thousands of years ago, the tundra that Denali is now was a grassland with mammoths grazing
Origin(the official kind)
On February 26,1917, the park was established as Mt. McKinley National Park at the insistence of naturalist Charles Sheldon. It was much smaller than it is now; only a portion of Mt. McKinley was included, not even its summit was within the boundaries. It was helped to its original size by President Jimmy Carter, who expanded National Parks in Alaska like Denali as well as creating nine new ones.
Land
Prairie Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKEVe-Y6Wqw&feature=player_embedded
And That Sums Up Denali!
Land
The land ranges from wide, low, plains to dark mountains, bright peaks, and granite domes. Besides Mt. McKinley, other mountains include Mt. Foraker and Mt. Silverthrone. There are also glaciers along the slope of the Alaska range. The largest one, Muldrow, comes close to the park road! A glacier
Moose
Seasonally, a year in Denali is much different than a year here in Valatie. In the summer there is still a trace of snow, and temperatures usually only reach a high around 66 degrees. The high mountain peaks still remain snowy and cold even at this time of year. Despite this, summer is equally beautiful to any tropical paradise (take that American Samoa and Hawaii Volcanoes!). Wildflowers are in full bloom and a variety of plants and animals flourish. Fall only lasts from August to September, and animals rush to prepare for a long winter. And it is long! Lasting from October to April with up to 15 inches of snow, 7 degrees below zero as its average low, and 18 hours of darkness; most animals choose to sleep through this period. Wouldn't you? Springtime is more of a month long bridge between Winter and Summer than an actual season in Denali. The interesting seasons and weather make Denali a place you ought to go to several times, as it is a different place every season.
Prairie DogAnimals
Though it is a harsh landscape, there are a variety of about 175 bird species and 40 animal species at Denali, including:
Grizzly Bear
- golden eagle
- wolf
- fox
- ground squirrel
- grizzly bears
- caribou
- moose
- Dall sheep
- the most annoying insect in the park-Mosquitoes!
Dall Sheep
A Note About Bears: During the fall bears will act sort of like the uncle who comes over for Thanksgiving, gorges himself, then falls asleep on your coach. Bears hibernate during the winter, so they have to store up enough fat for their bodies to use while they sleep. And they aren't carnivores like most people assume. They are omnivores that will eat just about anything, from grass to moose. The scary thing is that their fall feasting occurs near Thanksgiving. Weird.Plants
Denali isn't much of a jungle, but there are more than 650 species of flowering plants, and countless mosses, lichens and fungi.
Activities
Most activities in Denali are not meant for someone who likes to relax. But if you enjoy adrenaline-packed, physically exerting, up close with wildlife activities, then you have a good amount of choices:
Aurora Borealis-"Northern Lights"
Aurora Borealis-"Northern Lights"
- camping
- backpacking
- bus trip
- wildlife watching
- air tour
- atv tour
- heli-hiking/heli-tour
- tour of Iditarod
- northern lights
- whitewater rafting
- power boat tour (its heated!)
- dog sledding- within Denali's boundaries, dog sled is the only way to travel in the winter
Ice Worms
Ice worms refer to any number of species of worm that live in glacial ice. They are several centimeters long and can be black, blue, or white. They do not like the sun, and to avoid it they will tunnel under the ice. It is unknown how they do this. Some say they travel through microscopic fissures in the ice; others believe that the worms secret a chemical like an antifreeze, lowering the freezing point of the ice and melting it. They eat snow algae, which, like the ice worms, I didn't even know existed until a few days ago. If ice worms are exposed to temperatures as low as 5 degrees Celcius, their membrane structures fall apart and they appear to melt. Anyone who has gotten interested in these worms will be happy to know that they have been found in Denali! If you still don't think ice worms exist, watch this video. Just copy this link and paste it on a search engine:
Ice worms refer to any number of species of worm that live in glacial ice. They are several centimeters long and can be black, blue, or white. They do not like the sun, and to avoid it they will tunnel under the ice. It is unknown how they do this. Some say they travel through microscopic fissures in the ice; others believe that the worms secret a chemical like an antifreeze, lowering the freezing point of the ice and melting it. They eat snow algae, which, like the ice worms, I didn't even know existed until a few days ago. If ice worms are exposed to temperatures as low as 5 degrees Celcius, their membrane structures fall apart and they appear to melt. Anyone who has gotten interested in these worms will be happy to know that they have been found in Denali! If you still don't think ice worms exist, watch this video. Just copy this link and paste it on a search engine:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKEVe-Y6Wqw&feature=player_embedded
And That Sums Up Denali!