By Joseph Robertia
Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. A wolf with an obviously full belly carries away a Dall sheep leg to snack on later, or perhaps to feed young pups. While wolves are a rare sight, even in Denali National Park and Preserve, several were spotted by winners of the fall road lottery, to spend a day driving the park road in a private vehicle.
Redoubt Reporter
Even without the Dall sheep’s hind leg locked in its jaws, it was clear from the tight and heavily distended stomach that the wolf had just gorged on a fresh meal. It was a healthy-looking animal, with a light gray to nearly white coat.
The wolf trotted by quickly, only stopping occasionally to mark its territory as it went. It was not dissuaded in the least by the dozens of vehicles parked just yards away, all filled with camera-carrying spectators click, click, clicking away to photographically preserve this rare sight.
“Looking at the pictures, I still can’t believe I was there,” said Mindee Morning, of Soldotna, who, accompanied by her husband and two friends, saw wolves and numerous other wildlife species in the 6-million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve earlier this month after being picked as one of the park’s “road lottery” winners.
Each September the park hosts the four-day event in which 1,600 lottery-drawing winners are given a single, daylong permit, allowing them to drive as much of the 92-mile Denali Park Road as weather allows.
This year’s lottery dates were Sept. 17 to Sept. 20. Each day 400 winners, who had applied online for a $10 fee, were allocated to one of the four days after their names were picked randomly by a computer.
“This was my first time trying for the lottery and my first time getting it,” Morning said. “I put in for it because I run sled dogs and I’m planning a trip with them through the park this winter, so I wanted to go up and scout it out.”
The first 15 miles of the road are always open to private vehicles, but to travel deeper into the backcountry the typical mode of transportation is by way of one of the park’s often-crowded shuttle buses, which slow or only briefly stop for wildlife viewing. Lottery winners, however, can pull over whenever, wherever and for however long as they’d like to take in some of the most splendid scenery Alaska has to offer.
Morning’s reconnaissance mission quickly turned into a wildlife-watching expedition.
Since the road lottery typically takes place in fall, any grizzly bears spotted — such as this subadult — look fat and healthy from packing on pounds and growing a winter coat to prepare for the cold weather season.
“We saw just about everything except for lynx and pika,” she said.
Morning is no newcomer to Alaska, and she regularly embarks on outdoor excursions around the Kenai Peninsula, but she said that the wildlife she saw in Denali was — figuratively and at times literally — head and shoulders above anything she had witnessed previously.
“I’ve been in Alaska for 30 years and in that time I’ve seen maybe three bull moose with their antlers,” she said. Compared to these spike-forked juveniles or subadult males, the moose she saw from the park road were undoubtedly full-grown.
The first was a huge, dark chocolate-colored male that could have tipped the scale at 1,500 pounds, even by a conservative estimate. The muscles of his neck, haunch and shoulders rippled with every step. He was clearly in rut. Atop his head were two enormous antlers, each with as many as 15 points to them, and no less than a 60-inch spread between them.
“The sun glinted off of them,” Morning said. “They looked like two shiny disks out in the grass.”
Dea Leslie, of Soldotna, also was picked as a road lottery winner. She, too, saw bull moose during her drive, and they were squabbling with each other over a cow moose. It was like a scene from a Discovery Channel special, she said.
“One came over to the other to explain he had to leave,” she said. “They were gorgeous animals with huge racks, just shaking their heads and pawing the ground. It was amazing to witness.”
Leslie said she had wanted to get in on the road lottery for years but had always missed the deadline. This summer she remembered, and, like Morning, had first-timer’s luck. She traveled to the park with her husband, daughter and her daughter’s friend.
“I don’t like regular buses, so I knew I didn’t want to ride one of the shuttle buses for my first time to the park,” she said. “I wanted to drive in and be able to pull over and take pictures, rather than be shuffled around.”
Road lottery winners can walk far from their vehicles to get the shots they are looking for.
Like Morning, Leslie saw scores of wildlife species, including the elusive lynx. It came at dusk at the end of the day. The sky had already turned to pastel colors and light was fading fast. Leslie was just about out of the park when she encountered the shy night prowler, likely hunting for its favorite prey, a snowshoe hare.
“We only got a brief glimpse,” she said. “It was right in the road, but as soon as it saw us it moved pretty quick and jumped into the tree line.”
While Morning may not have seen a lynx, she did see a caribou, which had eluded Leslie’s party. All the caribou in the park belong to the Denali herd, which fluctuates between 2,500 and 3,000 animals.
“I only saw one,” she said, “but like the moose, it was much larger than the ones I’d seen here on the peninsula. It was running up a mountain, but I could see it had a silvery cape color extending over its shoulders. It was just beautiful.”
In Polychrome Pass — appropriately named for the brilliantly colored rocks and mountains — Dall sheep are frequently encountered standing on the
One of the advantages of winning the road lottery is being able to stop at will and get out of a vehicle to observe and photograph wildlife.
steep slopes, grazing on grasses and stunted willow and sedge. The snow-white coat color is so contrasting to the rock and scree, which ranges from burnt orange to silvery-gray shades, they are easy to spot even from great distances.
“We saw them out, just doing what sheep do,” Morning said. “One was a ram with a partial curl.”
A trip to Denali doesn’t seem complete without getting a glimpse of a brown bear. The bruins are known as grizzlies when they are encountered in the Interior of the state where, far from salmon-rich streams, the bears may be smaller in size from living on a diet primarily of vegetable material.
Leslie saw eight bears during her drive, with coats ranging from light blond to very dark. She saw several sets of sows with their cubs, while Morning had an up-close experience with a large, lone boar.
“It was fairly late in the day, but dawn and dusk is when most animals are moving,” she said. “It was a big, blackish-brown bear with a few reddish streaks. He just flopped over not far from the car and scratched his back, kicking up all four feet in the air. It was amazing to see one so close. We could even see the pads of his paws. They looked just like the soles of sandals or moccasins.”
While Lesie said that she thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many large mammals, it was one of the smaller ones that won her heart. Standing at only about a foot tall, what the ground squirrel lacks in size, it more than makes up for in charisma.
“It was so cute and animated,” she said. “It had a little hole that it would run in and out of. It would come out and chatter at us and wiggle its tail. It
While many lottery winners hope to see one of large species of mammals in the park, several smaller species abound at ground level.
was very playful and put on a great show.”
Standing at 20,320 feet tall, called Denali by some and Mount McKinley by others, the highest peak in North America is also a highlight of any trip tothe park. But, as “30 percent club” shirts in the visitors center attest, clouds often obscure the view, so as much as 70 percent of those who come to see the mountain go home disappointed.
“We did get to see the mountain. We had perfect weather. It was 60 degrees, sunny and with no wind the whole time, so we got multiple views,” Morning said.
“It was impressive,” said Leslie. “You can see it from Kenai on a really nice day, but it doesn’t compare to seeing it there on a clear day in all its majesty. I can definitely understand why it has the reputation it does.”
Leslie enjoyed her experience of driving the park road so much that she hopes to make it an annual event.
“It was just a spectacular trip, everything we hoped it would be, and there’s so much there to see that I plan on putting in for the lottery every year,” she said.
Lifelong memories were made and scores of photos were taken to remember the experience. Leslie said that she had only a single regret, and it was one she’d rectify before her next trip north.
- While Mount McKinley is often obscured by clouds, skies were clear during this year’s road lottery event, which allowed for some spectacular views of the mountain.
“If I ever go again,” she said, “I’m going to buy a bigger lens for my camera.”
