Ptarmigan Tracks

5/12: Camp Denali is still covered in snow, but a small crew of staff is treated to the first chorus of wood frogs in Nugget Pond.

5/30: During staff training, the Naturalist Guides heard the Muldrow Glacier producing thunderous booming noises all the way from the Eielson Visitor Center.

6/6: Ornithologist, David Sibley, discovers a nesting Boreal Owl right below Nugget Pond at Camp Denali.

7/2: A group of guests leaving Camp Denali are treated with an incredible parting gift—a wolverine is spotted along the banks of the Toklat River and is observed scaling the cliffs above the park road.

7/28: An exciting scene plays out in Thorofare Pass as a handful of guests watch a wolf chase a young bear and its mother. The hikers were able to watch the wolf for the better part of the day and even ate lunch as the wolf napped and munched on a caribou leg across the valley.

7/29: A red fox escorts a van full of hikers down the road. The fox trotted down the road for a few miles(!) in front of the vehicle; all the while carrying three pudgy ptarmigan in its mouth.

8/8: A rare sighting for Denali National Park, a mink is spotted on the side of the road and stayed in sight for several minutes.

8/26: For the summer’s final transport trip out of the park, guests watched as a wolf chased and killed a young male caribou in the channels of the Toklat River.

8/28: Rainy weather gave way to clear sunny skies. The Alaska Range was covered in fresh snow as the first flocks of Sandhill Cranes were spotted heading south for the winter.