Denali National Park contain pristine wilderness, stunning vistas, incredible wildlife and a story of a man. Denali National Parkis located in Interior Alaska and contains Mount McKinley (Denali) which the tallest mountain in North America. The park and preserve together cover 24,585 km².
The word "Denali" means "the great one" in the native Athabaskan language(language of indigenous peoples of North America) and refers to the mountain itself.
The mountain was named after the 25th president William McKinley of Ohio in 1897 by local prospector William A. Dickey, although McKinley had no connection with the region.
The park was established as Mount McKinley National Park on February 26, 1917. However, only a portion of Mount McKinley (not even including the summit) was within the original park boundary. The park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976. A separate Denali National Monument was proclaimed by Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978.
Wildlife :
Dall Sheep - relatives of the bighorn sheep, graze the alpine tundra for the young shoots of mountain even.
Caribou - like the Dall Sheep, travel in groups. Both sexes sport antlers, the only deer family members to do so.
Moose - the deer family's largest members but they are not herd animals.
Wolves - they are rarely seen, but they play an important role in the natural scheme. In winter, wolves generally hunt in packs.
Grizzly bears - they are omnivores, eating small plants, berries, ground squirrels, moose or caribou calves, and occasional carrion. They are seen throughout the park.
Others mammals: Fox, Weasel, Wolverine, Lynx, Marten, Snowshoe Hare, Hoary Marmot, Red Squirrel, Pike, Porcupine, Beaver, Shrew, Vole, and Lemming.
Birds: Short-eared Owl, Northern Harries, Golden Eagles, Plovers, Gyrfalcons, Mew Gulls, Snow Buntings, Ptarmigan, Lapland Longspurs, and Various Shorebirds.
At 20,320 feet(top of mountain) , Mount McKinley is Denali National Park's biggest attraction. But many visitors to the park leave without having ever seen it. That's because it's often surrounded by clouds. On a clear day, however, it can be seen from a very long way away. It may be visible from Anchorage, 160 miles away (a good observation point there is one of the parking areas in Earthquake Park near the airport).
Story of A Man - Christopher Johnson McCandless :
Christopher Johnson McCandless (February 12, 1968 – mid-August, 1992) was an American wanderer who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with little food and equipment, hoping to live a period of solitude. He came from a long journey from Washington D.C to Alaska without money through Arizona, California and South Dakota, totals of 112 days for his journey. At last, he reach the Denali National Park in Alaska and he found a discard bus - the "Magic Bus" that he named and he lived in the bus for 113 days.
On August 12, McCandless wrote what are assumed to be his final words in his journal: "Beautiful Blueberries." He tore the final page from Louis L'Amour's memoir, Education of a Wandering Man, which contains an excerpt from a Robinson Jeffers poem titled "Wise Men in Their Bad Hours":
- Death's a fierce meadowlark: but to die having made
- Something more equal to centuries
- Than muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness.
- The mountains are dead stone, the people
- Admire or hate their stature, their insolent quietness,
- The mountains are not softened or troubled
- And a few dead men's thoughts have the same temper.
On the other side of the page, McCandless added, "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!"
His body found in his sleeping bag inside the bus on September 6, 1992, weighing an estimated 67 pounds (30 kg). He had been dead for more than two weeks. His official cause of death was starvation but they think the another factor that cause his dead is McCandless might have ingested toxic seeds.
And the "Magic Bus"
In year 1996, his autobiography was wrote into novel "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer and produce in firm in year 2007.
The Denali Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Denali National Park and Preserve. It encompasses the high heart of the Alaska Range, including Mount McKinley, the centerpiece of the wilderness, which comprises about one-third of the national park. Denali Wilderness covers the area formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park from 1917 until the park was expanded and renamed in 1980. It is 8,687 km² in area; the entire park is larger than the state of Massachusetts. Here some views of the Denali National Park:
