our alaskan trOTT: Day 3 Denali - Part 1 the scenery

Our third day in Alaska we took a bus tour of Denali National Park.  This park is 6.6 million acres and is actually the third largest in the state of Alaska.  There is one road that is 90 miles long that goes into the park, and takes you through the Taiga Alpine Tundra wilderness.  The majority of this road is gravel, narrow, washboard like and twists and turns along the sides of mountains and ravines.  At the same time it was by far the most beautiful scenery Ott, E and I had seen and was by far the highlight of our trip. 

Also in this park is Mt. McKinley.  It is so large you can see it right after you enter the park even though it is still 50 miles away.  The Mountain is 4 miles high and we lucked out that morning as there were no clouds around it.  By lunchtime the clouds had rolled in so we felt fortunate seeing it as much as we did.  (They say 70% of the time it is covered with clouds as the mountain is so large when cold air mass hit the side it can create its own weather.)

Here Mt. McKinley is only 30 miles away, but with the cloud cover it is barely visible.

Later that day we panned for gold.  I had panned before but this was Ott, E's first time.  And you will be happy to know I did strike it rich.....well lets just say I found a flake of gold.  Eureka!!! 

Lastly I wanted to show you this pics of the Polychrome Mountains.  The colors of these mountains were so beautiful with different shades of brown, gold and grey.

We also saw lots of amazing wildlife (like bears, caribou and wolves while we in the park, but I am saving those pictures for tomorrow's post.  To view Day 2 photos of the train ride, click here.