Denali: The best park of 'America's Best Idea'
A memorable stay at a wilderness lodge in Denali National Park shows a rare example of faithfully carrying out the Park Service's mission of conserving wildlife unimpaired. For now.
The lone wolf posed in profile, icon of the untamed wilderness, and surveyed the blue and white school bus. After loping gracefully alongside and then directly in front of the bus, she had bounded up a steep, rocky ridge above the Toklat River before pausing mid-climb. It was my welcome to Alaska’s Denali National Park, a 6-million-acre refuge intended to provide predators such as canis lupus with room to roam.
That such an experience is still possible today is powerful testament to the success of a uniquely American experiment: the National Parks system. The history of the people whose collective actions transformed a world-first idea into reality makes for a compelling story, one that is the subject of Ken Burns’ latest documentary series for PBS, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” airing this week on KCTS and other public broadcast stations.
It can be argued that Denali is the system’s archetype park and grandest achievement as measured by the park service’s original directive: “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historical objects and the wildlife therein,” and “leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Embedded in this mandate from the 1916 law establishing the National Park Service is the basic conflict that has continually vexed NPS bureaucrats and politicians: how to balance “conserve unimpaired” with “enjoyment” — protection with public use.
Denali was established only six months after the Service itself in 1917. Originally a 2-million-acre park, it was later tripled in size by the 1980 Alaska Lands Act. Denali provides instructive insight into the ongoing balancing act.Only seven people visited the park in 1922, the year its first superintendent was hired; in 2008, more than 430,000 people from around the world made the pilgrimage. I was one of that throng, just a few weeks ago.
The park’s lone entrance road is a 90-mile sinuous ribbon that winds westward to Wonder Lake, paralleling the northern base of the Alaska Range. Only the first 13 miles are paved, and private vehicles are generally banned past the Savage River checkpoint. The remaining 77 miles of narrow, dusty gravel road are accessed only by park and licensed concessionaire buses.
As the final episode of the PBS series recounts, the road remains mostly primitive and unpaved, not by chance or a lack of funding, but rather because protection outweighed unfettered public access in a pivotal battle of competing visions. A mid-50s national parks plan, dubbed Mission 66, advocated for widening and paving the road to Wonder Lake and building an extensive lodge complex in the style of Yellowstone and Yosemite. However, a pivotal player in Denali’s story, and one who is prominently featured in the PBS series, legendary wildlife biologist Adolph Murie, opposed the ambitious development plan and ultimately prevailed.
Murie explained his vision this way: “The feeling one gets is that the road passes through a wilderness that comes up to the road.” And that is precisely how I felt after sharing the good fortune of the wolf/bus pas de deux with my fellow travelers.
Murie was also instrumental in spearheading a stewardship philosophy that places the greatest weight on wildlife protection. His field research proved wolf predation plays an essential role in maintaining healthy herds of sheep and caribou. For the first time in American history — including up until then even within the Lower 48’s most renowned national parks — wolves gained proactive federal protection.
Our destination is a backcountry camp on a high ridge in the Kantishna Hills past Wonder Lake. We all hope to catch glimpses of the free-roaming animal species of Denali’s so-called Big Five: caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly bear, moose, wolf. And, also, of course, of Denali (Mt. McKinley), the highest peak in North America. The massive Alaska Range creates its own weather and clouds cloak Denali’s 20,320-foot summit four days out of five.
Camp Denali, a collection of simple cabins without electricity or inside plumbing, is itself part of the park’s lore. Homesteaded by Celia Hunter and Ginny Wood in 1951, it has welcomed summer visitors continuously for 58 years. Celia and Ginny met as Women’s Air Force pilots during World War II and then flew to the Last Frontier seeking new adventures. Propelled by a tenacious pioneer spirit, the lifelong friends gambled that future visitors would come to embrace wildlife and wildness as the essence of the Denali experience.
Their bet paid off handsomely, for the women were at the vanguard of eco-tourism. The camp’s legacy of providing warm hospitality and unsurpassed memories now prospers under the Cole family, who in 1975 acquired the 67 acres for the steep price of two handcrafted New England rocking chairs.
Our four days pass by in a flurry of sights, sounds, and emotions. Late August is Denali’s autumn, so seasons shifted from late summer to peak fall to early winter and back again. Tundra colors blurred together in a smeary palette of green, yellow, red, orange, and purple. Animals spotted on outings included grizzlies, ground squirrels, gyrfalcons, moose, merlin, and marmots.
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Comments:
Posted Wed, Sep 30, 10:53 a.m. inappropriate
In the early '90's there was a 10-day to 2 week period during May and September when you could drive a private vehicle to Wonder Lake. I suppose that window is closed now.
Posted Wed, Sep 30, 11:49 a.m. inappropriate
This year private car access was limited to four days in September. There was a lottery for the 400 slots allotted each day. You had to apply for the lottery in June.
Posted Wed, Sep 30, 9:33 p.m. inappropriate
Great article and photos - some family members have been talking about going to Denali for about a year -- this sealed the deal. I may even need to join them. What a national treasure!
Posted Wed, Sep 30, 9:51 p.m. inappropriate
Thanks for capturing the scope and beauty of this park, and the importance of maintaining its pristine nature.
Posted Thu, Oct 1, 8:30 a.m. inappropriate
Denali management's commitment to an unpaved road should be Park Service's standard. In more populated parks there is a lot of pressure to provide "services" and for visitors. I often wonder if natural scenes are becoming less awe-inspiring for the video generation, but I would hope the expanse of Denali would set them straight.
Posted Thu, Oct 1, 10:16 a.m. inappropriate
We've been talking for years about going to Denali and after reading the article, we booked a trip to Camp Denali for next year! Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted Thu, Oct 1, 11:33 a.m. inappropriate
of course it was women who kept buildings in balance with Mother Nature. Now men have a fancy name to sell the concept to Wall Street: ecotourism.
Posted Thu, Oct 1, 2:18 p.m. inappropriate
For those interested in the lottery for end-of-season permits to drive Denali's Wonder Lake road in a private vehicle, here's some information. Denali National Park holds a lottery each year to select which interested visitors get a private vehicle permit. The road is opened up to these permit holders four days each year -- always starting with the second Friday after Labor Day and running over the weekend through Monday. As many as 400 vehicle permits are issued for each day. There is a non-refundable $10 application fee and a $25 road travel permit fee is selected. Finally, there is the $20/vehicle park entrance fee. Permit holders are allowed to be on the road the day of their permit from 6 a.m. to midnight. Weather sometimes does not allow vehicles to make it all the way (90 miles one-way) to Wonder Lake; other years the weather gods cooperate. For more details and application specifics, go to www.nps.gov/dena and put the phrase "road lottery" in the search box. Good luck!
Posted Thu, Oct 1, 4:15 p.m. inappropriate
Probably the closest national park to Denali in the Northwest is North Cascades. It also has only one major road east-west road running through it (a state highway rather than a narrow gravel road however) and doesn't have a whole lot of easy access otherwise. Also, there was a big battle over the building of the highway at the time, which also correlates with the battles over the nature of the Denali road. For those of us who can't make it up to Alaska, North Cascades is an excellent consolation prize.
Posted Thu, Oct 1, 6:45 p.m. inappropriate
For me-watching the Ken Burns Documentary about the National Parks has been created a mixed reaction of inspiration and desperation. I have seen no other program that so painstakingly highlights both the best and worst of the American psyche. It is the same story over and over. Sacred land discovered. Sacred land exploited. Sacred land protected but continually threatened. To think we still have a final frontier. A place that John Muir would relish. A final refuge of peaceful sanctuary for all creatures--of whom it is the human variety that needs it most--whether it is realized or not. If those "managers" who study road traffic decide to pave the familiar ravaging roads of greed and exploitation, it will forever destroy something that we can never recreate--that small but powerfully pure essence of each of us that is rooted to our very murky, muddy, miraculous moment of our collective creation. Thank you Seamus for inspiring us to protect our final untarnished gem of a wonderland.
Posted Fri, Oct 2, 9:54 a.m. inappropriate
Very visual, wonderfully written, and powerfully motivating to not only visit Denali, but to become involved in protecting the Last Frontier! Thanks for your beautiful pictures, information and encouragement, Seamus!
Posted Sat, Oct 3, 6:59 p.m. inappropriate
My boys thought that their mother had finally found her sanity: she wanted to buy a TV! They had wanted one for years so they could watch sports, etc. I had little interest. I missed PBS from time to time, but not that much. Then there was the Ken Burns Nation Parks series. I broke down and we now have a "real" TV. I have no regrets. The series was incredibly well done, inspiring me to continue my work to protect this country's majestic natural places. And Young's piece on Denali helped fuel this passion. Thank you for the beautiful words. I've never been to Alaska, but I'm planning now.
--Woz
Posted Sat, Oct 3, 7:22 p.m. inappropriate
I viewed the Ken Burns series with great interest and was interested to see how Alaskans reacted to the creation on National Parks in their state. It seems that Alaskans would still like to see the land exploited for fleeting economic gain. Hopefully the National Park Service and the American people can fend them off indefinately.
Posted Sat, Oct 3, 7:34 p.m. inappropriate
Wow. What fantastic writing: "Late August is Denali’s autumn, so seasons shifted from late summer to peak fall to early winter and back again. Tundra colors blurred together in a smeary palette of green, yellow, red, orange, and purple. Animals spotted on outings included grizzlies, ground squirrels, gyrfalcons, moose, merlin, and marmots." Makes me want to go there TOMORROW. Thanks for a great piece.
PDiehl
Posted Sun, Oct 4, 10:17 a.m. inappropriate
At least as recently as the '80s you could drive to Wonder Lake if you had a reservation at the car campground there. As the campground was quite small, the drive long over rough gravel road, and there was a waiting list to reserve a site, the traffic on the road was self-limiting to a very few vehicles each day. This approach to road use seemed imminently reasonable with no apparent adverse environmental effects. I would wager that a few cars per day over the course of a short summer season may even have had less effect than the current approach of 400 vehicles per day for four days. Certainly the former approach was far more egalitarian. Now you must be either wealthy enough to stay at Camp Denali, or lucky enough to win a lottery, and so flexible in your schedule as to be there over one four day period - which almost assuredly limits the "winners" to Alaska residents. Pave the road? Absolutely not! But going back to the process of limiting traffic as in the '80s seems the practicable solution to allowing the average visitor to have at least a slim chance (weather is always an obstacle) to experience a truly remarkable sight and place. If ever there was a "spritual" encounter in a national park, it is seeing the north face of Mt. McKinley emerge from the clouds at sunset from near Wonder Lake.
Posted Sun, Oct 4, 2:49 p.m. inappropriate
Great article and pictures! I so wish I was there right now to watch the leaves turn. I'm also really looking forward to watching the latest Ken Burns series when it's out on the web or video. Here's to protecting america's great parks!
-jen
Posted Sun, Oct 4, 5:56 p.m. inappropriate
Just knowing that Denali is there, helps me to sleep a bit better at night. If I never get there in person, at least now I have been there in my imagination thanks to the PBS special and the vivid decriptions of the author.
Posted Sun, Oct 4, 7:34 p.m. inappropriate
I had no idea that Denali drew in more than 430,000 visitors! That, in itself, speaks volumes. Great article.
Posted Mon, Oct 5, 10:12 a.m. inappropriate
Many people do not have the breadth of experience to make the observations and comparisons that you have done so effectively. This kind of input is critical to make appropriate decisions for the park in the future. Thank you!
Posted Thu, Oct 8, 10:04 p.m. inappropriate
Thanks for the interesting and informative article. Living with a TV, I was not able to watch the PBS feature though I have seen the 45minute "preview." There is so much to learn, not just about our natural world and particular parks (I must now go to Denali!), but about the park service and park policies. Living on the outskirts of the North Cascades, I must say I'm glad it is relatively undeveloped with much of it still wild and remote. I'm happy knowing it's all just there even if I'll only ever see bits and pieces of it.