Denali National Park: The Complete Visitors Guide to the Mountain, Wildlife, and Year-Round Outdoor Activities

by Bill Sherwonit

Overview

"The beauty of Sherwonit's writing style is not flash, but rather a subtlety that renders him nearly invisible. A journalist by trade, he demonstrates considerable skill in blending voluminous historical detail into highly readable prose."—Climbing magazine

* Part history, part field guide, and part recreation tool, this is an up-to-date and comprehensive guidebook for Denali—one of the nation's most beloved national parks
* Includes checklists for wildlife watching and details on winter fun

Denali National Park: The Complete Visitors Guide to the Mountain, Wildlife, and Year-Round Outdoor Activities is the most comprehensive guide to one of North America's most wild and varied places. This authoritative reference to Denali National Park and adjacent lands details all the information a traveler needs for a great Alaska experience, whether by bus, car, train, bike, boat, or foot. With this guide in hand you can explore the park's visitor facilities, raft whitewater rapids, pick berries, climb the continent's highest mountain, backpack through forest and tundra, watch grizzlies dig for ground squirrels, share a ridgetop with Dall sheep, attend sled-dog demonstrations, go on ranger-guided hikes, camp in solitude within glacially carved valleys, and much more.

From the natural history of the region to the human history of the mountain and the park, Alaskan author Bill Sherwonit captures the mystique of this fascinating place. Even casual travelers to Denali National Park will appreciate his in-depth information about the park's popular entrance area and traveling the Park Road, and the helpful checklists for mammals, birds, and plants.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594857133
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	04/11/2013
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	371,728
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

BILL SHERWONIT continues to spend part of every year exploring the Denali region-as he has done for nearly three decades! He is a prolific writer and photographer and has written several books about Alaska, including To the Top of Denali: Climbing Adventures on North America's Highest Peak and Denali: A Literary Anthology. (He summited the peak himself in 1987.) Sherwonit also teaches wilderness writing at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

Table of Contents

Legend to Maps 8

Overview Map of the Denali Region 9

Acknowledgments 11

Introduction

A Place Called Denali 14

Visiting Denali 23

Part I The Story of Denali

Chapter 1 Denali Past to Present 38

Chapter 2 Climbing Denali 72

Chapter 3 Denali's Wildlife and Plants 91

Part II Exploring Denali

Chapter 4 Exploring the National Park Entrance 133

Chapter 5 Traveling the Park Road 173

Chapter 6 Hiking the Backcountry 201

Chapter 7 South Denali 223

Chapter 8 Denali in Winter 255

Appendixes

Appendix A Denali Wildlife and Plant Checklists 270

Appendix B Recommended Reading 287

Index 295