Dinali National Park

We arrived at Dinali National Park! After we checked out the visitor center, we found that we could drive our personal vehicle 15 miles into the park for free before we needed a permit. As we came to one of many viewing areas, we looked to the left and saw all 20,320' of Mt. McKinley, 60 miles away.



It took my breath away and it was very emotional. One of the people we talked to told us that he had been here 3 times before and this was the first time he had seen the mountain, so we were pretty lucky.



Next we picked up our special camping permit that allowed us to drive the coach 29 miles into the park, which is as far as the Park Service lets anyone drive. We stayed at Teklanika campground for 3 days. The tour bus came almost to our door and we took the trip to mile 85. The bus is only way you can get that far unless you hike. We saw lots of moose and grizzly bear.



Doll sheep were at 7000' and hard to see, even with field glasses. We saw Golden Eagles in flight as well as one sitting on a rock about 30' from the bus, as well as ptarmigan on the ground.



There were also lots of mosquitoes and anything you have heard about them is not true. They are bigger and there are more of them!




As you can see, the scenery was fabulous!