The News from Denali

A Light Earthquake Has Been Felt in the Area of Denali National Park

A blue-ribbon commission comprising scientists, conservationists, politicians and other community leaders met recently at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village to discuss the future role of America's national parks.

The "National Parks Second Century Commission" met in Westlake because of the city's proximity to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, one of 390 national park sites covering more than 84 million acres in the United States.

Fall Foliage Season Is Longer Than You Think

New England's fall foliage typically peaks in late September and early October. But around the country, leaf-peeping season runs longer than you might think.

Autumn comes early in Alaska, brushing Denali National Park with purple and gold in late August. In warmer climates and near sea level, fall colors can last well into November. Last year, trees in New York City's Central Park were still putting on a show the week before Thanksgiving.

Denali National Park celebrates Eielson Visitor Center opening

Denali National Park has planned a huge celebration to officially open the Eielson Visitor Center tomorrow. Designated buses will carry officials and media out to milepost 66 on the Park Road to the newly opened Visitor Center to take part in the ceremony.

GLIMPSE INTO GLITTERING EYES

Dark clouds and thick fog cloak the Alaska Range and surrounding lowlands, as if some gray, sodden blanket has been dropped over the landscape. There's no hope of seeing The High One, 20,320-foot Denali (officially known as Mt. McKinley). And in all this soupy grayness, there's little hope of seeing the wildlife for which Denali National Park is famous.

Given the weather and the hour – 7 a.m. on a Saturday – the 14 people on our bus might understandably be grumpy. Or asleep. Instead, we're talking, laughing, sharing stories, and taking turns on "wildlife watch." In short, we're a happy bunch, spirits refusing to be dampened by dank circumstances.

A search for the coldest ice worm

Ice worms, so small and wispy that several would fit on your fingertip, live on warmish glaciers, eating algae and slithering toward the few spots in the narrow range of temperature they can endure. Ice worms die if the temperature drops much below freezing. At temperatures comfortable for humans, they disintegrate.

This summer, a few biologists are making a ski-and-crampon trek over the glaciers on the south side of the Alaska Range to see if rumors are true of the ice worm¹s existence there. Ice worms typically live on warmer glaciers in lower latitudes or near the coast of Alaska, not on the colder ice of the Interior.

Denali National Park tests hybrid buses

ANCHORAGE — For years, visitors wanting to see Denali National Park's grizzly bears, moose, sheep and caribou have had to ride school buses that polluted the air and spoiled the tranquillity with their noisy, carbon dioxide-spewing diesel engines.
Now park officials are testing a hybrid bus that promises to run cleaner, cheaper, and quieter.

The 230-horsepower hybrid bus — white and sporting pictures of Denali on its sides — went on a drive in the park Thursday. The plan is to test it this summer to determine its potential for replacing the park's 110 diesel buses.

Denali National Park Goes Greener With New Hybrid Commercial Bus From IC Bus

DENALI, Alaska, July 17, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Visitors to Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, one of the largest protected intact ecosystems in the world, will now have the opportunity to explore the park with the aid of an environmentally friendly vehicle -- a fuel-efficient and emissions-reducing hybrid bus. IC Bus, North America's largest school bus and commercial bus manufacturer, is delivering the Park's first hybrid bus on July 17.

Denali Park’s New Eielson Visitor Center Is a Marvel of ‘Green’ Engineering

Paula and George Hatchman rode a shuttle bus into Denali National Park this month. When the bus driver announced their arrival at the new Eielson Visitor Center, they wondered if he was joking.

“You wouldn’t even know it was here,” said the visitor from Australia. “It just blends with the environment.”

The new structure has been built into the hillside, so the first view is of … well … the view.

Gaylord Woman Rescued in Denali National Park

A rural Gaylord woman and her friend were found safe last Wednesday, June 18 after being lost for six days in Denali National Park, Alaska.

Abby Flantz, 25, of rural Gaylord and her friend, Erica Nelson, 23, of Las Vegas, set out Thursday, June 12 for an overnight camping trip in Denali National Park. They were found six days later in a brushy area about five miles west of Parks Highway, which connects Anchorage and Fairbanks.

“We, as a family, can’t have enough gratitude to the Park Service, the Forest Service, and Princess Wilderness Lodge,” Abby’s father Jim Flantz said. Flantz and his wife Kathy returned to their Sibley Township home Saturday. They had flown out last Tuesday to be closer to the search.

Denali Backpackers Missing for Days Found Alive

Two women missing in Denali National Park and Preserve were located alive and well Wednesday. Backpackers Abby Flantz, 25, of Gaylord, Minn., and Erica Nelson, 23, of Las Vegas were located in the Dry Creek drainage in the eastern portion of the search area, National Park Service spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

Park officials were briefing women's families when the cell phone of Nelson's mother rang, Fister said.

The woman expressed astonishment because caller ID indicated it was her missing daughter on the phone.

Park officials thought the women were not carrying a cell phone. However, the caller was indeed Nelson, who reported the women were well and in the Dry Creek area.

Denali National Park Rangers Continue Search for Two Missing, Overdue Hikers

Park officials were searching Sunday for a pair of missing hikers in Denali National Park and Preserve.

The hikers, both women in their 20s who work at a lodge near the park, were due back Friday from what they’d indicated was to be a one-night backpacking trip, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

“At this time, we haven’t seen any sign of them or anything of theirs that we can say is definitely theirs,” Fister said Sunday afternoon.

Destination: Denali National Park, Alaska

GET AWAY: If you've already cruised Alaska's Inside Passage, return to see the state's magnificent interior. Denali National Park, 140 miles north of Anchorage, is home to Mount McKinley (also called Denali) — at 20,320 feet, North America's highest mountain. Wildlife from grizzly bears to moose live in the 6-million-acre park; in summer, bright wildflowers carpet the plains. The 91-mile Denali Park Road allows access to shuttle buses, bicyclists and hikers; private vehicles are not allowed past mile 15. The park is open year-round, but for the widest choice of accommodations and restaurants, visit from mid-May to mid-September.

Denali mountain climbers can now register online

Online registration is now available for mountaineers attempting climbs of Mount McKinley or Mount Foraker.

Park officials say the system is a quick, safe way for climbers to register with park officials.

All climbers attempting McKinley or Foraker are required to pre-register with Denali National Park and Preserve at least 60 days in advance of the climb.