Denali National Park
When you plan your Alaskan vacation, do you plan to encounter a striking landscape,
a place so expansive that it shelters more than six hundred-fifty species of flowering plants
and thirty-seven mammal species? Do you envision your Alaskan tour to include a dizzying six
million acres filled with large caribou, moose, and grizzly bears, and offset with startlingly
small flowers, miniaturized to suit Alaska's short growth season? Of course we're talking about
Denali National Park, a focal point of a Princess combination rail and lodge packages.
Denali National Park has long been a place of refuge for those with the will to survive
its rugged terrain. Indeed, only the strongest plants flourish in this world of sub-artic
wilderness. Species of mosses, lichens, fungi, algae, and others spangle the slopes and
valleys of Denali. Deep pools of frost collect just beneath the park's surfaces, and only
the thinnest sheen of topsoil thaws enough each year to stimulate new life. But the
fragile nature of the region leads to continuous rebirth. New rivers can spurt up in
days and flowers bloom just in time to serve as supper for hungry wildlife.
How exciting to watch this stunning Alaskan ecosystem adapt and change to suit its
environment right before visitors delighted eyes. And of course all this primitive
landscape is only a backdrop to the crown jewel of Denali, the regal massif Mount McKinley,
the largest mountain in North America.
It was this mountain that drew people to the area in ancient times. Before
Denali National Park was created to serve as a wildlife refuge, the land offered
recluse for the Athabascan native people, from whose language Denali, or "high one"
gets its name. Historically, the land that now protects animals was a refuge for
these people, a place where nomadic bands of Athabascans could hunt the low hills
for caribou, sheep, and moose. They gathered fish, berries, and edible plants from
the area's rich supply during the spring through fall seasons, and when harsh winter
approached, the low elevations of the river's valley formed perfect crevices in which
the natives could shelter themselves.
The park itself was dreamt up by a naturalist named Charles Sheldon in 1907,
who was struck by the beauty of the area during his own Alaskan travels, but it
wasn't established as we know it now until the Alaska National Interest Land
Conservation Act was approved by Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Undoubtedly Denali National Park is a diamond of the vast Alaskan landscape,
a focal point of any complete Alaskan tour. One of the best ways to get in on
the action is through a combined rail and lodge package, an amazing deal that
lets you tour Alaska's interior by rail and then drops you off for a stay
in a local lodge. For a spectacular value, consider the Princess Denali Rail Tour.
Completely customized towards taking the traveler on a tour of Alaska's
primitive heartlands, the package includes a train ticket and an overnight at
either the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge or the Denali Princess
Wilderness Lodge. Both were created to provide convenient access to Denali. The
Mt. McKinley Princess featuring stunning views of Mount McKinley and the Denali
Princess located at the entry to the park. After an exciting rail tour,
experience an evening snuggled into a cozy wilderness lodge with Mount McKinley
as your moon. You will sleep in the shadow of the great mountain, whose vast
boundaries you have just began to glimpse, creating the perfect dreamscape for
tomorrow's big adventure.
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