On Thursday, May 24th, the second to last day of our trip, we traveled into Denali National Park. At 9:00 AM, we got on our bus that would take us around 53 miles to Toklat. Round trip it was a trip that takes approximately six and a half hours to complete. It was amazing. The vistas there were like nothing else I had ever seen. It did evoke a similar emotion in me as the Southern Alps of New Zealand do, but the Alaskan mountains have a stateliness all to their own.

We also saw a huge amount of wildlife while there, much more than I expected. The sheer number of ptarmigan there was overwhelming, we counted at least eighty, but we must have seen a hundred or more. The flora is pretty consistent in Alaska, but as far as fauna goes for the most part we had only really seen ptarmigan, mosquitos, some really distant caribou, and some moose (which were huge and amazing and I love them). The famous Alaskan brown bear had yet to be seen. Until today at least. We saw I think seven it was on our excursion deep into the Denali National Park wilderness. Alongside that, add an extra nine caribou, bringing our caribou sightings up to around twelve or thirteen total. What I loved the most though were the moose. The first thing we saw when we began our drive in was a cow and her calf casually grazing alongside the road, and how beautiful they were. Moose are truly amazing creatures, they’re so large and powerful, but yet so calm and majestic. At least to me! We also saw a few other animals, a porcupine, a short-eared owl, a pika, and plenty of ground squirrels.

After the ride, we returned to the Denali park commons, Robert and I watched a movie about Denali wildlife and some safety tips to keep in mind around them. Very informative. After, we waited outside on Prof. Jackson and some others. Once we were ready, we left and returned to the hostel which we were staying at. Some people had decided to go on a hike in the park, so when Prof. Jackson went back to get them, Robert and I started a campfire in the pit at the hostel. When Craig returned, the group split in half, Craig and I and a few others going to Panorama, my favourite pizzeria/pub in Alaska. We hung out, and I met a super cool dude named Wilson, and when we came back we all hung out by the fire until we went to bed. I love Alaska.