Look Small

It is the nature of man to ask why. Especially so when traveling, even if a virtual tour as this. What is the attraction of climbing into an earth colored "school bus" to take a journey over a primitive road to the Toklat River, Eielson Center, and Wonder Lake? Denali National Park and Preserve is not a drive-through game park. Those that are looking for bragging rights at a cocktail party "There stood the biggest, meanest grizz you have ever seen!" might be disappointed in that the chances of getting a grizzly snarl to fill a frame with a wide-angle lens, takes the same patience as waiting for the mountain to reveal its glory. Want to experience photographing a bear crying in anguish, then save some time and money and go to a zoo.

What has evolved here, thanks to a lot of experience gathered in Yellowstone and other national parks, is that Denali happens to be a whole ecosystem where man is somewhat in harmony. A place to connect with other creatures that once roamed this planet. A place to learn that the so-called "balance of nature" is not a static measurement on a graph, but a series of cycles.

The lesson is learned, first, by looking small (which requires binoculars and telephoto lenses) for one of the 37 mammal species with recorded sighting in the park and preserve, as: fox, weasel, marten, lynx, wolverine, snowshoe hare, red squirrel, pika, porcupine, beaver, shrew, vole, lemming, and a favorite of park bus drivers to point out with a smile, "and on your left, just behind that lone willow bush, a hoary marmot."

Watching a golden eagle patrolling higher elevations and ridge tops, or other birds, as the ptarmigan, that are part of the chain of existence, and you realize that Consumer americanus also belongs, provided we do not destroy ourselves by eliminating the links to the so called lesser creatures of our world.