Denali National Park

Trip Date: September 2016

This park is one of two that I got to visit while visit my friend Marybeth in Alaska! Alaska really is a vast wilderness. When we were looking at how many parks we could hit while I was there it was crazy to learn how big everything is there. I flew into Fairbanks, which is where she and her husband were stationed, and we spent a few days exploring the area. I will dive right into my northern lights pictures because they are my absolute favorite. This first set of pictures was taken near Fairbanks. And the first picture is my first northern lights picture I’ve ever taken. And arguably the best.

Not to ruin the magic-because it is still cool to see, but all the pictures except the first one to the visible eye were just hazy fog. The first band was green to the eye, but the others were way better in photos than in real life. I kept Marybeth out there for hours taking pictures. She was very patient 🙂 The next day we started our road trip down to Talkeetna which is very near Denali National Park. We hiked Mt. Healy, which is somehow listed as the “tallest peak in Denali”. Obviously not including Denali itself.

The views from the top of this peak were great – although no clear site to Denali since it was blocked by some other mountains

It wasn’t until we continued our drive that the beautiful peak came into view! I have about a million pictures from both angles we got but I will show you one of my favorites 🙂

And here it is from the south side

I think even the closest point you can get driving is still over 10s of miles from its base! Its HUGE! Topping out at 20,310 feet its the tallest peak in North America. People seeking to summit this mountain need months-years or training and preparation.

I loved being in Alaska in September because even though summer was still clinging to MD that time of year, autumn was in full bloom here.

We camped on a beach in Talkeetna that night. Another great thing about Alaska – you can just camp wherever you want!

We drove around the area and saw some pretty cool stuff. The town of Talkeetna was also very fun. Good food, and some good beer.

Night #2 of good northern lights pics! The pictures are blurry because I was having a real hard time trying to get all the settings working on my camera – but you can still see it! At one point they were so bright green – even to the visible eye – that I had to change my ISO settings again!

I spent over 4 hours taking pictures that night – so if you’re ever interested I have a couple hundred. This last one even had some red in it! I can see how this nighttime photography can be addicting! I’ve never seen so many stars as I did while I was there

So I am going to throw some bonus pictures in this post! We visited Homer, and although its not a national park – a lot of these pictures from the drive down are worthy of this blog!

First off the drive from Anchorage down to the Kenai peninsula is to die for. I wish it would be my commute to work everyday. I also had my first sighing of a beluga whale!!

You can see it and the two others barely in this picture! I had to scramble to get my camera when I saw them!!

We decided to camp right on the spit in Homer

These towns are so beautiful because you have the ocean and the mountains all in one place! We drove up a little higher and got our first look at the glacier

We explored the town and marina and watched the sunset. I even saw a boat just for me 🙂

We stopped in to the Salty Dawg Saloon for a beer to end the day. I even got to see two types of eagles! The bald eagle is very common in this area, and there was a nest with two golden eagles as well

And of course some adorable otters

More than just Denali national park here, but this just made me want to come back to Alaska as often as I get an opportunity. There is still so much more to see!