The hush of silence was indeed mesmerising. The swath of the 600-mile Alaska Range glistened in the landscape. Yellow specks mottled the trees in the boreal forests —  nature was readying herself in choicest finery for the approaching fall.

It was an early August morning and life in the tundra was nonchalantly uneventful. A safe 300 feet ahead of me atop a knoll, a pair of female grizzlies ravenously chomped away at a soapberry patch. They needed to get those 20,000 calories for the day— their young ones would soon arrive into the world. Within a couple of months, the family would closet themselves in torpid slumber through the following April.

Far below to my left across the gulch of a ravine stream surrounded by impassable walls of rock and shrubbery, a herd of caribou scoured in search of a grassy lea. An arctic squirrel ambled by around our bus, fearful of its nemesis – that brown bear or a prowling wolf.

The Denali National Park and Preserve held infinite secrets within its six million acres, preserved pristinely over the centuries. Far away from the plunder of marauding civilisation, in here existed an entire ecosystem – from those lush forests and sullen tundra to those snow-laden mountains that smiled down from above. For a chunk of land larger than the state of Massachusetts, it was only a 91-mile ribbon of a gravel road that had penetrated into its womb. More interestingly, only the park-operated shuttle buses could penetrate past the first 15 miles from the Visitor Center all the way to the mining town of Kantishna that lay on the west end of this road.

Tourist attraction

One of the main attractions within this park is majestic Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America towering at over 20,320 feet. Native Athabascan Indians call this mountain ‘Denali’ or “The Great One” - to them this was divinity in stone and snow. The park today shares the same name. Geologists claim that this mountain has a vertical rise 6000 feet more than Mount Everest. They argue that technically the Himalayan colossus sits atop the Tibetan plateau which itself is located at a height of 17,000 feet – unlike Denali’s lower 2000-foot table. The moody mountain seems to always be cloaked in clouds. Paradoxically, most visitors to the park return without ever sighting this peak!

It was just the day before that we had left the town of Fairbanks, famous for those surreal Northern Lights that light up the winter skies. Three driving hours and about 125 miles later, we reached our lodge in Denali, waking up in the wee hours of the following morning for the park’s eight-hour Arctic Tundra Wilderness tour. Leaving our lodge at around 6:00 a.m, the bus would wind its way into the park’s entrance all the way west to Mile 62 (as measured from the entrance) looping back to our lodge later that afternoon.

“Charles Sheldon a hunter-ecologist visited this area in 1907,” Lisa Frederic, our driver-naturalist intoned. Fearing the encroachment of hunters and trappers and the harmful impact on the wildlife he campaigned for a national park. In 1917, his dream became a reality with the establishment of what was then called Mount McKinley National Park – named after a US senator, later president William McKinley. Over the years, the present Denali Park Road system was created and several hundred-thousand acres have since been added.

The park itself was renamed to what it is known by now. Abundant in wildlife, Denali was designated as a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve in 1976. At different altitudes, the taiga— evergreen boreal forests gave way to the harsh sub-arctic tundra — stubbly plants and shrubs that had adapted themselves to the frozen climes.

Twenty-nine miles into the park, the Teklanika overlook commanded a good view of the Alaska Range with the Double Mountain and the Igloo Mountain jutting in the landscape. Upon the crags we could see specks of white — the tenacious Dall sheep, maneuvering ledge and stone. This animal was named after the explorer William Healy Dall, who had initially come here to hunt for trophy, but turned into a committed conservationist.

About 40 species of mammals and 150 species of birds thrive within the park. Some migrants like the arctic tern journey 12,000 miles each year from cold Antarctica to breed here.

We reached Polychrome Pass at Mile 47, named after the brilliant hues that this landscape presents typically in the late morning. Eons of glacial activity had carved and moved huge rocks that lay incongruously along the Plains of Murie. The bus would soon turn around at Mile 63 back to the Visitor Center. Past Highway Pass, the highest point in the park, we reached Stony Hill Outlook – and there it loomed – Mount McKinley – the Denali of the Ancient Ones – towering in all its glory.

True or false?

Legend runs of a famous explorer Frederick Cook, who claimed to have ascended to the South Peak of the mountain in 1906. Though his claim was never disproved, it was largely suspected that the legendary explorer had taken his mug shot upon a peak 19 miles away and 15,000 feet below that the real mountain that he had claimed to have conquered!

To prove that locals could outdo ‘Easterner’ Cook, another expedition to the mountain was made in 1910 by what was called the ‘Sourdough Expedition’ — a bunch of rural gold miners who armed only with doughnuts, hot chocolate and a huge American Flag mounted on a spruce pole, climbed up to what they thought was the summit.
Of course, people disbelievingly scoffed at their accounts. Eventually, in 1913 an expedition led by one Hudson Stuck managed the first successful ascent to the South Peak. And yes, he did spot the Sourdoughs’ flag fluttering below on the North Peak 300 feet below the taller South Peak which the Sourdoughs had missed!
 Almost eight hours later since we had started that morning, our tour ended back at the lodge. After relishing nature along several more hikes it was time to head back. Our train chugged past the familiar landscape towards Anchorage. 

 Denali had truly been a humbling experience. Under those tall mountains or the endless yawn of the deep forests and the stretch of grassy meadows, one realises that man is but a helpless mammal in nature’s eternal playground. Mountains are born and rivers die merely with the restless growls of the earth below and the howl of the elements above. The Wise Athabascans understood all this only too well. Denali was truly divine…

FACT FILE

How to get there: Denali National Park is situated 125 miles south of Fairbanks (a 3 hour drive) or 236 miles north of Anchorage (6 hour drive). I found the international airport in Minneapolis and Denver convenient bases respectively for flights to these cities. If coming from Anchorage, I would recommend taking an Alaska Railroad train which leads up right to Denali National Park – an experience not to be missed – albeit 3 hours longer.

Season: End of May – August are the best months  to visit.

More information is available at the National Park Service website- www.nps.gov/dena.