Pixiq

I’ve been travelling to various parts of Alaska for about 20 years and always look forward to making my way into the heart of Denali National Park by way of the park road that winds 90 miles to a dead-end in the Kantishna Hills. Kathy and I have just returned from this year’s trip, when, as in the past, I worked as visiting specialist for Camp Denali’s Special Emphasis Program in photography, held in the spectacular fall environment deep within the Park (see www.CampDenali.com for information about next year’s program). Denali NP contains 6 million acres of pristine, wildlife-rich wilderness, dominated by Mount McKinley, a 20,320-foot-high monolith that rises straight up from a base of around 3,000 ft. The mountain, often veiled or completely obscured by clouds, plays hard to get, making a sighting a particularly unique and special experience.

If ever there was a place to experience wilderness, this should be it. But for the vast majority of visitors, it’s pretty tame. Only the first fifteen miles of the park road are accessible to private vehicles. To accommodate the nearly half-million visitors from all over the world who want to see the rest of the wonders of Denali, the Park Service has granted a shuttle/tour concession to a private contractor who operates some eighty bus runs each day of the season for six-, eight-, and eleven-hour round-trip tours between the Park entrance and distances as far as Wonder Lake, 85 miles inside the Park. The packed buses travel at a snail’s pace through some of the most gorgeous and wild country in the world, across mountain passes, along glacial rivers, through the rich tundra and past exotic wildlife such as eagles, grizzly bears, caribou, moose, and the much-sought-after gray wolf. The passengers, two to a seat, crane their necks and jostle for position at each wildlife sighting. For photographers, just getting to a window is an exercise in frustration. 

But wait, there’s an app for that! The concessionaires have addressed this problem on a few buses by providing the drivers with video cameras and substantial zoom lenses. The driver finds the wildlife, then streams it directly to the passengers on video monitors mounted above the bus seats. There’s your wildlife experience, going on outside your bus while you watch it from your chair, just like, well, on TV! But here’s the thing that really got us going: with wildlife in view outside the bus, passengers were photographing the monitors with their smart phones and point-and-shoots. It’s like having a front row seat at the World Series, and taking along your portable TV to watch the game. 

If that picture blows your mind, consider this one: A gray wolf is spotted just alongside the road. It’s motionless, intently watching a burrow, anticipating a small snack. Within minutes, the wolf is intently watched in turn by three busloads of tourists, two park rangers, and a couple of private photographers with permits (more about that later). Many of the vehicles are idling, and more slowly wind their way through the traffic jam, filling the air with noxious fumes. Suddenly, the wolf lunges forward a few feet, and two hundred humans issue a collective gasp while a hundred A wolf hunts along the Deanli Park Road, causing a massive traffic jam of spectators. The animal is on a bank, eye-level to the photographer. A hand-held Canon EOS 7D  was used with the EF 100-400mm lens set to 375mm (600mm w/1.6X crop factor) at ISO 400. fire. Twenty minutes later, the wolf has not moved again, nor has its prey advanced into the scene. Everyone’s got a schedule, so the buses power up and move on, to be replaced by other buses, and other buses. On the positive side, a lot of people got to see a wolf up close in it’s natural environment; how it impacted the wolf or its prey, we’re not sure. 

If this doesn’t sound like the wilderness experience you want, here’s the good news. Denali is still a nature photographer’s dream, but you have to be hardy and persistent. There are several options that get you out of the bus and onto the tundra (see the Park website, www.nps.gov/dena, for thorough information about schedules, fees, reservations, and permits). At the first level, day hikers can go anywhere they want to in Denali. You can hop a shuttle bus, disembark within the Park, and move freely to do your photography; catch another bus when you’re ready to ride. Be mindful of the genuine risks: you have no place to hide if you come between a cranky bull moose and his intended cow, or if you find yourself in the path of a mama grizzly and her cubs! 

If you want to camp in one of the six designated campgrounds within the Park, you’ll need a reservation. You can drive your own vehicle to Teklanita, about thirty miles in, and from there you take the shuttle bus to get around. The remaining campgrounds are walk-ins. Specially equipped camper buses will carry your gear and bikes for you; from there, you’re set to take day hikes or bike rides. You can get a permit to backpack through the Park, camping as you go. Or you can do it the way we did this year, by reserving lodging at Camp Denali or the North Face Lodge, the only back-country lodges with unlimited access to the park road. They provide transportation, offer a fine view of the mountain, and you can freely explore the beautiful, pond-rich environment that makes this place so very special for photographers. The eco-wise lodges offer bikes and canoes, guided and independent hikes, and, in late August, the special program for photographers that offers great access to the Park’s best views and most promising wildlife areas.

For professional (meaning widely published) natural resource photographers, a lottery awards week-long permits for the photographer and a companion to freely roam the Park roads, operating under strict rules regarding approaches to wildlife and ethical conduct. The qualifying criteria are extensive, and the approval process for only a few permits each year is complex (see details at www.nps.gov/dena/parkmgmt/propho2.htm). You still have to share the road, and the photo opportunities, with other permitted photographers, the aforementioned eighty buses a day (who share wildlife locations via radio and complex hand signals), and a host of government and maintenance vehicles. 

With all these complications and controls, Denali is still a wonderful and privileged experience that’s worth the investment. Just keep in mind that perseverance, planning, and timing will yield great rewards: wildlife photography that is challenging, unique, memorable—and far from tame.