Summer visitors to Denali will quickly see we have a mild climate (at least in the summer-time) in spite of being in a sub-arctic environment, but was it always like this? How can we find out what the environment was like thousands, millions, or even billions of years ago? The answer is ROCKS! What can the rocks tell us about the environmental conditions here in ancestral Alaska, or even before Alaska was here? ... click to read more

It is nearly 5:00 a.m. I am standing with about 20 other people outside the Denali National Park Visitor Center waiting for the first shuttle bus on this August morning. It is raining. I am hoping to make the four-and-a-half hour ride to the Eielson Visitor Center, approximately 65 miles away. I plan to walk the park road a dozen miles back to the Toklat River. Most are waiting to be the first on the bus... click to read more

Thousands of visitors from all walks of life come to Alaska and to Denali each year to experience for themselves the sights and sounds and smells of the arctic wilderness. Some come not just to observe but also to study and to write of their experiences, to share with the rest of us some of what they have learned and felt here. One family in particular, with their writings about Denali and Alaska, has left an indelible impression on both the literary landscape and the frontier of wilderness preservation... click to read more