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Denali National Park photos

Over the years I've spent a lot of time photographing in Alaska's Denali National Park. All the images here are available for license as stock images or for purchase as fine art display pictures for home or office decor.

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Map of Denali National Park, Alaska

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denali national park photos
Denali National Park photos

The Park

Bikers and Mount McKinley
Many visitors are lured to the park to see "the mountain" legally named Mt. McKinley, but locally called by its ancient name "Denali" meaning the great one. © Patrick J. Endres
Denali National Park and Preserve covers 6 million acres. It is larger than the State of Massachusetts and exemplifies interior Alaska's character as one of the world's last great frontiers for wilderness adventure. By a long measure, it is the most popularly visited National Park in the state. Thousands come every year to see North America's largest mountain (Mount McKinley) and the wildlife that lives in its shadow.

Wildflowers
Alaska poppies flourish under the abundant summer sunshine in the alpine tundra hillside of Highway pass in the park © Patrick J. Endres

Paradoxically this expansive landscape, habitat of large caribou, moose, and grizzly bears, lies adorned with miniaturized plants. Their diminutive size contrasts with their large importance as food to the animals that live or migrate through here. These plants have long been adapted to survive northern life, but there is newness in the landscape too. The rivers are so young and so laden with pulverized rock, called rock flour, that they can wander across their broad, flat valleys to set new channels in a matter of days. The delicate beauty of the tundra points to the lofty, isolated, and often cloud-covered grandeur of the Mount McKinley massif.

The Land

Wildflowers
The alpine forget-me-not is Alaska's state flower. © Patrick J. Endres
More then 650 species of flowering plants as well as many species of mosses, lichens, fungi, algae, and others adorn the slopes and valleys of Denali. Only plants adapted to long, bitterly cold winters can survive in this sub arctic wilderness. Deep beds of intermittent permafrost - ground frozen for thousands of years - underlie portions of the park and preserve. Only the thinnest layer of the topsoil thaws each summer to support life.

Tundra and taiga
Plant life turns vibrant colors during the short autumn season in Denali. © Patrick J. Endres

After the continental glaciers retreated 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, hundreds of years were required to begin building new soils and to begin the slow process of re-vegetation. Denali's lowlands and slopes consist of two major plant associations, taiga and tundra. Taiga, a Russian word for northern evergreen forest, describes the scant tree growth here near the Arctic Circle. Much of the park and preserve's taiga lies in valleys along the rivers.

Birch and aspen trees
Paper birch and aspen trees. © Patrick J. Endres

White and black spruce, the most common trees, are interspersed with quaking aspen, paper birch, larch, and balsam poplar. Strands of deciduous trees occur along stream side gravel bars or where soils have been disturbed by fire or other action. Woods are frequently carpeted with mosses and lichens. Many open areas are filled with shrubs such as dwarf birch, blueberry, and a variety of willow species. The limit of tree growth occurs at about 2,700 feet in the park and preserve. For comparison, the elevation at the park hotel is 1,750 feet. Above the tree limit, taiga gives way to tundra.

Wildflowers on the tundra
Wildflower meadow, Narcissus-flowered anemone and Lapland rosebay, Denali National Park, Alaska © Patrick J. Endres

Tundra is a fascinating world of dwarfed shrubs and miniaturized wildflowers adapted to a short growing season. There are also two types, moist tundra and dry tundra, with myriad gradations in between. Moist tundra varies in composition: some areas contain tussocks of sedges and cotton grass; others contain dwarfed shrubs, particularly willows and alders. Plants of the dry tundra occur above shrub line. There, meadows abound. Higher up the mountain slopes close to 7,000 feet, complete plant cover yields to scattered patches amidst barren rock. These tiny highland plants grow closely matted to the ground, creating their own livable microclimate. Mountain avens, dwarf fireweed, moss campion, dwarf rhododendron, and forget-me-not (Alaska's state flower) dot the rocky landscape offering stunning summer displays of delicate blossoms. Although small in stature they loom large in importance because their nutrients provide food that sustains even the largest species of park wildlife.

Wildlife of Taiga and Tundra

Dall sheep
In early summer sheep are at lower elevations, but they will follow the snow melt higher and higher as summer progresses. © Patrick J. Endres
Spring, summer, and fall provide a compressed respite from the sub-arctic's long season of deep cold. For most animals, it is a busy time during which they must garner most of their annual food supplies. Dall sheep, relatives of the bighorn sheep, graze the alpine tundra for the young shoots of mountain avens. Ewes and rams live apart in summer, while the lambs are getting their start.

Caribou
Bull caribou travel across the tundra in Denali National Park. © Patrick J. Endres
Caribou, like the Dall sheep, travel in groups. Both sexes sport antlers, the only deer family members to do so. Caribou migrate great distances from their calving grounds south of the Alaska Range and northwest of Mount McKinley to their winter range in the northern reaches of the park and preserve. The Denali Herd has fluctuated greatly in number over the last 30 years. Today groups of 20 or more may be seen from the park road, quite different from the thousands seen many years ago.

Bull moose
Bull moose do not bugle like elk but during the rut raise their neck to scent the air for receptive females. © Patrick J. Endres
Moose are a popular and commonly viewed animal through the park region, with densities increasing around the forested regions of the park. This includes the areas near the park entrance and wonder lake area. Bull moose are huge animals and become active in sparring and fighting other competing males as the breeding season begins in late August to early October. Cow moose generally give birth to twin calves in late May, but predation by wolves and bears takes a heavy toll on the calf survival rate.

Wolf
Wolves are elusive animals and rarely seen, but denning activity near the park road has increased wolf sightings over the past few years. © Patrick J. Endres
Wolves are rarely seen, but they plan an important role in the nature scheme. In winter, wolves generally hunt in packs. Individuals, however, can be sighted as well. Pack organization is strongest during the whelping (pupping) season in spring. The presence of wolves in Denali is an indication of the quality of this wilderness. If you are lucky enough to see a wolf, consider it a rare and privileged experience.

Grizzly bear
Grizzly bears are omnivores but are predominantly vegetarians in the interior. © Patrick J. Endres
Grizzly bears are omnivores, eating small plants, berries, ground squirrels, moose or caribou calves, and occasional carrion. They are seen throughout the park. Sows generally bear two cubs, sometimes one and rarely three. They too are fiercely protective of their offspring. Wolves and grizzly bears play an important role as predators. Ever ready to take advantage of an opportunity, they cull old, newborn, and sick animals from the caribou, moose and sheep population. Smaller mammals abound within the limits of this harsh, northern environment: fox, weasel, wolverine, lynx, marten, snowshoe hare, hoary marmot, red squirrel, ground squirrel, pika, porcupine, beaver, shrew, vole and the lemming. There are 37 mammal species recorded in the park and preserve.

Long-tailed Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaegers nest on the tundra. © Patrick J. Endres

Bird life is varied and interesting. Most birds migrate long distances between their nesting grounds here in the park and their wintering areas. Wheatears winter in Africa; arctic terns in Antarctica and southern South America; jaegers take to life at sea in the southern oceans. On the open tundra, you may easily see ptarmigan, Lapland longspurs, and various shorebirds.

Long-tailed Jaeger
American golden plover on the flowering spring tundra in Denali National Park, Alaska. © Patrick J. Endres

Short-eared owls and northern harriers can be seen soaring low in search of rodents. Golden eagles patrol the higher elevations and ridge tops. Raptors - birds of prey - of the spruce forest are the hawk owl and goshawk. In these forests, you may also see the spruce grouse and varied thrush. Plovers, gyrfalcons, mew gulls, and snow buntings are among the 156 species of birds recorded at Denali. Raven, ptarmigan, magpie, and gray jay are some of the species that winter in the park and preserve.

Long-tailed Jaeger
Willow Ptarmigan, autumn, Denali National Park, Alaska. © Patrick J. Endres

Winter challenges wildlife with frigid temperatures and the cessation of plant growth. Food is scarce. Grizzlies fatten up in the summer and remain in a torpor or deep sleep most of the winter. Adult males, on the other hand, appear to enter dens later and emerge earlier than most other bears. Ground squirrels and marmots hibernate, their body functions virtually halted. Beavers and red squirrels hole up and subsist on food caches. Weasels, snowshoe hare, and ptarmigan, however, turn white and continue the struggle to survive above ground against extreme conditions.

Establishment

Mount McKinely
The park was originally established to protect its large mammals, not because of majestic Mount McKinley. © Patrick J. Endres
Charles Sheldon conceived the plan to conserve the region as a national park. Naturalist, hunter, and conservationist, Sheldon first traveled here in 1906 and again in 1907 with a packer and guide named Harry Karstens. (Karstens later made the first ascent of Mt. McKinley's south peak and would serve as the park's first superintendent.) Sheldon devoted much of his 1907 travels to studying boundaries for the proposed national park that would include territories suitable for a game refuge. When Sheldon returned to the East in 1908, the Game Committee of the Boone and Crockett Club, of which he was chairman, launched the campaign to establish a national park. Largely due to these efforts, Mount McKinley National Park was established in 1917. Its population of Dall sheep and other wildlife were now legislatively protected. However, Mount McKinley itself was not wholly included within the boundaries.

Mount McKinely
Lenticular clouds over the North Peak of Mount McKinley, in the foreground, Pioneer Ridge is a long, serrated knife-edge that stretches from McKinley's North Face. © Patrick J. Endres
Sheldon wanted to call the park Denali, but his suggestion would not be followed until 1980. The changes in names and boundaries that have occurred over the years can be confusing, as they indicate the way various parts of the park and preserve may be used today. In 1917 Mount McKinley National Park was established as a wildlife refuge. The park and massif including North America's highest peak were named for a former senator - later President - William McKinley. In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) enlarged the boundary by 4 million acres and redesigned it as Denali National Park and Preserve. At 6 million acres or 7,370 square miles, the park is larger than Massachusetts. It exemplifies interior Alaska's character as one of the world's last great frontiers for wilderness adventure. It remains largely wild and unspoiled, as the Athabascans knew it. On 02 December 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the bill establishing Denali National Park.

Text adapted from the Denali National Park information website

Text: John William Uhler

DenaliNationalPark.com

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denali national park photos
 Many species of small mammals, such as pika, marmot, fox, lynx, and ground squirrels habitat Denali National Park.

denali national park photos
Bull moose, Wonder Lake, Alaska range, Denali National Park, Alaska

denali national park photos
Crimson bearberry plants cover the autumn tundra, Mount McKinley, partly covered by advancing clouds, McKinley river, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Dall sheep on the ridges of Polychrome pass in Denali National Park, Alaska

denali national park photos
Sunset on Mount Brooks, Wonder Lake, Alaska range, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Mount McKinley, (Denali) North America's highest mountain, morning alpenglow touches peak of mountain, fog over wonder lake reflection autumn, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Alaska poppies and Moss campion grow in the tundra of Highway pass in Denali national park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Grizzly bear scratches back and shoulders on a roadsign in Denali National Park.

denali national park photos
Raindrops on Alaska blueberry blossoms, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Grizzly bear scratches a roadside sign in Sable Pass, Denali National Park, Alaska

denali national park photos
Dall sheep ram, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Ripe Blueberries, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
North face of 20, 3020+ ft. Mt. McKinley (locally called Denali) autumn tundra and McKinley river bar, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Snowshoe hare, summer, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Male Willow Ptarmigan, summer tundra, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Autumn colors, Birch and Aspen trees, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Morning dew on caterpillar, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Wonder Lake, Mt. Brooks of the Alaska range, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Morning dew on caterpillar, Denali National Park, Alaska.

denali national park photos
Last quarter moon rises over the Alaska mountain range in Denali National Park, Alaska

denali national park photos
Cow moose and spring calf drink water in a tundra pond near Denali National Park, Alaska.

Denali National Park Links:

National Park Service: Denali information

Denali national park.com More park information including transportation and lodging