Denali National Park

We finally arrived at Denali National Park and had a two mile guided hike. Denali, home to the highest mountain in North America, was created in 1917 in order to preserve the wildlife, in particular the Dall sheep, which were about to be hunted to extinction. Although you can fit the entire state of Connecticut inside the park, there is only about 90 miles of road - and because of the Pretty Rocks Landslide, we were only able to go the first 42 miles that road. Although we spent a day and a half in the park itself, the peaks of Denali were always covered by clouds and I became convinced that we would be among the 70% of visitors that never saw the peaks.

We stayed at the Tonglen Lake Lodge, which was another amazing place. We each had our own cabin, which was gorgeous. And Denali is so far north that it was never actually dark while we were there - the sun was setting around midnight and rising just two hours later.