Summer Solstice at Denali

It never got dark!

Left: Solstice sunset 10:44 p.m. Saturday, June 21

So far, weather-wise, I’ve been quite lucky when it comes to my trips to Denali. This was my third trip this year and fourth overall. The skies and roads have been clear, I’ve had some great glimpses of wildlife and there is spectacular beauty as far as the eye can see.

This time, spent two and 1/2 days at Denali.. On the first day (Saturday) I took dinner to Elizabeth and a number of the people I know, through Austin, who are back working at the park again this year. We ate tofu tacos while we caught up a little on each other’s comings and goings since last summer. Tofu tacos, you say! Yes, even I, a non-vegetarian, think they’re really good.

Before dinner Elizabeth and I went for a short walk and took pictures of plants, rocks and Alaska’s State bird, the Willow Ptarmigan. We also sampled a few wild flowers. Bluebells are sweet right where the flower cup meets the stem and Valerian (pictured to the right above) is used medicinally for many purposes from stress reduction to digestive health. http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbValerianMed.htm. We tasted wild rose petals, too. They are sweet and grow quite abundantly here.

This picture of a Ptarmigan family reminds me of the children’s magazine “Highlights”…see if you can find the (1) the male. (hint, he has red eyebrow pencil on) (2) the female and (3) at least one baby. Ptarmigan are equally as difficult in the winter as their feathers turn white so they are camouflaged in the snow.

I headed to camp at 8:30 p.m. but as soon as I got there realized that I really wanted to be out in the park taking pictures. I found a turn-out area on the park road, set up my canvas chair, put on my snow hat, mittens and heavy coat, wrapped up in my wool blanket and sat. I don’t know what I think I might have seen, maybe a moose or a bear lumbering across my path but I saw what I’d not seen at all last year…snowshoe hare. There were several poking their heads up over the bank maybe as curious about me as I was about them. One was very intent on digging at a root or something and another came within 3 inches of the leg of my chair. I hope it's seeming fearlessness doesn’t mean that they’re being fed people-food and are becoming accustomed to people.

From the vantage point of my chair, I took this sunset picture at 11:44 p.m. and from just down the road “a piece” I took the one of Denali at the opening of this blog.

Mountains of the size of Mt. McKinley make their own weather and it is very rare to get the clear views I've been so lucky to see. All three days, there were great view of the mountain.

I stayed up past my normal bedtime to witness official solstice time in Alaska, which was 9:46 p.m. Actually, I stayed up until 12:30 a.m and the sky looked like it would at maybe… 8:00 p.m. in Seattle. I really wanted to stay up all night but was tired from the several hour drive to Denali and couldn’t stay awake much beyond midnight. I did, though, wake up several times during the night and, if I didn't have a watch to verify the time (2:30, 3:30, 4:20, etc.) I would swear, each time I woke up, that it was at least 8 or 9 in the morning. Both nights, it never got dark! It was so light I could have very comfortably reading a book without a flashlight or a headlamp. It’s a phenomenon that cannot be explained, it has to be witnessed and experienced to understand.

Left: Sunday sunrise on Denali. Sunday, June 21, 2009 5:49 a.m.

Right: Sunrise across the valley. Caribou are often seen in the river beds.

The second day (Sunday) I took a shuttle bus ride further into the park and saw more wildlife and beautiful views. Most of the wildlife was too far away to get good pictures but I could see quite well through binoculars.

The shuttle bus driver’s main purpose is to drive the one-lane, sometimes precarious compact dirt roads. Often, though, they share information about the park. As the driver drives, passengers look for wildlife and yell “STOP” if they see something they want to get a better look at. We saw, caribou, moose, Dahl sheep, hare, Willow Ptarmigan, a falcon, a badger (rare find), many golden eagle and two sets of mother grizzly bears with cubs. Grizzly are quite blonde this time of year so were difficult to spot until we realized that fact. We watched the second set for quite some time. The mom eventually laid down on her stomach with her paws out in front of her and while one baby was romping around the other was between her paws reaching up for her face. It was something you’d see in a movie…it was too cute!

There was one point when the bus was on a cliff side hair-pin curve and a golden eagle was seemingly stationary in flight right outside my window, just beyond the cliff edge. It’s wings were partially extended when suddenly it trust it’s wings to their full 6-7 foot length and caught an air current that raised it swiftly higher into the air. It was breathtaking to witness and was, by far, the best wildlife part of the trip! I’ve never had a favorite bird but I do now. Learn more: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/bird/eagles.php . It's a beautiful bird!

I’m fairly sure this is a gull of some type. Double-click on it to see the color around it's eye.


Until last week, when I saw a moose crossing the road at Elmendorf less than 40 feet from the front of my car, the one pictured here was the largest moose I'd ever seen. They really can be taller than a horse!

Ahhh, Alaska…no picture will ever do it justice. You'll have to see it first hand!