Flora and Fauna

Denali National Park and Preserve is a natural wonderland. Thirty-seven species of mammal call the park home, including moose, black bear, wolves, caribou, and Dall sheep. The park's grizzly population is a subspecies unique to the area, the Toklat grizzly: smaller (not as much fish in the diet) than their coastal cousins, Toklats tend to be a beautiful cinnamon color. There's also a second grizzly subspecies in the park, the Kluane grizzly, but even park officials can't really tell them apart from Toklats in the wild. Watch for bears around Sable Pass, Cathedral Mountain, Savage River, and the Toklat River.

In summer, herds of caribou migrate through the park, often shadowed by some of the park's rarely seen wolf packs. Watch for them around Eielson and in the wide open areas of tundra. Moose are common in the forested area around the park entrance and around Eielson. The park also has many smaller mammals, from the Kenai red fox to the wolverine.

In the air, 167 species of birds have been recorded in Denali, with 149 of them showing up regularly—although all but a few of them are summer-only residents. In addition to golden eagles and ravens, watch for goshawks and for ptarmigan waddling by the roadside. Northern hawk owls hunt martens on the tundra, and Trumpeter swans swim across kettle ponds.

The park's plant life is equally diverse, from the forested area at the park's entrance—black and white spruce, and different kinds of willow and birch—to the incredible richness of the tundra, which is like a world in miniature. The park also holds more than 50 kinds of shrubs, from dogwood to honeysuckle. If that weren't enough, there are more than 650 flowering plants in the park, including 59 species of aster and 32 of buttercup.

For both plants and animals, summer is where all the action is. Come winter, most of what's left in Denali is under snow or sound asleep.