Mary and I took a trip to Alaska last spring to spend time with family. While traveling from Fairbanks to the coast we took an afternoon to visit Denali National Park. It was the pre-season and the tour buses weren’t running yet. Therefore, we were able to drive 30 miles into the park. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and we weren’t to see the mountain.  On the positive side we were able to stop anytime we wanted to take pictures. In fact, our little group did so well spotting wildlife that we soon had a caravan of vehicles pulling off the road behind us so they could see the wildlife we found. The gallery below is just a few of the wonderful sights we enjoyed. Just click on the photos to enlarge them.

Denali National Park, rugged beauty.

Black spruce full of cones.

Porcupine in a spruce tree.

Black spruce cones.

Spruce grouse.

Strutting for the ladies!

Willow ptarmigan.

A beaver pond.

The owner of the beaver pond.

The willow trees were beginning to flower when we visited.

A boreal owl.

Denali panorama.

Caribou

What are you lookin’ at?

Caribou calves.

Caribou

A visit to remember.

This was our first trip to Alaska, but won’t be our last. We had a terrific time. We were there for a week. These shots were just from one afternoon. Stay tuned for more pictures from Alaska.