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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Caribou in Denali

We arrived in Denali in the afternoon and after seeing the visitors’ center we drove on the one road that is open to cars. Because we were just ahead of the ‘summer’ season, cars were allowed thirty miles into the park. Normally, they can only go fifteen miles and visitors must takes buses to see more. As we approached the Savage River area, Ken said “I sure hope we see a caribou.” Around the next corner, there they were – five of them waiting to cross the road. And then there were a few more! I said, “I sure hope we see a wolverine.” But that didn’t work.

According to the park literature, the Denali herd once numbered over 20,000 animals. Currently there are less than 2,000. We saw them each time we went into the park and once we saw one next to the highway outside of the park. They reminded me of white-tailed deer because the underside of their tails is white and sometimes when they run, the tail stands up straight like the deer.

I felt pretty lucky to see them!

More Denali Wildlife

We enjoyed lots of wildlife watching while in Denali. Here are a few of the smaller animals.

Wilson’s Warbler. This tiny bird weighs a quarter of an ounce and migrates from Mexico and Central America to Alaska. Amazing.
White-crowned Sparrow
Arctic ground squirrel
I think ground squirrels are some of the cutest little animals.
Always on alert
Snowshoe hare. Like the ptarmigan, this rabbit is pure white in the winter.
More Mew Gulls
I think this bird wanted Ken’s lunch.
And this one wanted my lunch.

Rock Ptarmigan in Denali

A lot of images of one type of bird, I know. You should see all the ones I left out. It was a new bird for my life list and being a grouse, it was very amenable to having its photo made. We saw only one female and several males and all of them on the edge of the roads. And aren’t they just the cutest? This is their breeding plumage. In the winter, they are pure white.

Look at how his eyebrows went up when those last two flew into his territory. He chased them away.

Moose in Denali

We saw several moose while in Denali and in fact, had also seen them in Homer. They seem to be comfortable around people. The ones we saw in the park were near the road, the rv dump station and the visitors’ center. We were told to get away from moose if they pinned their ears back and looked at us. I thought they moved their ears back and forth quite a bit so am not sure I saw any angry moose or just twitchy moose (meese?). They are incredibly big and if I felt threatened by one, I would move out of the way as quickly as possible

One ear forward, one ear back. What does that mean?
This yearling is growing his first set of antlers.
We forgot to ask why it had blue paint on its side.

Denali Sled Dogs

The sled dogs are one of the more popular attractions at Denali National Park. Since much of the park is wilderness and off limits to motorized travel, they use sled dogs to get to the more remote areas in the winter. It was almost the beginning of the summer season when we were there and they were starting the daily programs, showing the dogs pulling a wheeled cart around a track. It was a short program and we were late. Something about a bear as I recall. We enjoyed walking around and getting to know the dogs. Some were open to being petted too. Did you know sled dogs are especially bred to have long fluffy tails so they can keep warm when sleeping outside in the winter? I was surprised at the diversity of appearances in the individual dogs.

60° is kind of warm for sled dogs.