Is end of August too late to visit Denali, Alaska, for bear/wolf sightings?

[emraldlake]

Hey Folks,

I'm planning a last-minute, 1st-time trip to Denali for the end of August.  I was originally going to Yellowstone, but am changing my mind now - especially I already went visited Yellowstone last month.  DH and I love wild-life viewing, especially bears, wolves, moose.  We're wondering, though, if it's too late in the season for wildlife viewing at Denali if we go there at the end of August.  Please share your experience/insights.  Thx!!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Expect winter weather to have begun by then. Chances for snow and ice are excellent, and Denali is probably shrouded in mist. Animals still around, though.

Are you going to see animals or to see Denali? Animals are everywhere in that part of the world - we encountered a moose in the parking lot of a large Fred Meyers (like a Walmart) store. At that time of year, my choice would be Jasper & Banf in Alberta. There are animals galore, the weather is somewhat more reliable (but snowfall is still possible), and it's a thousand miles closer to the lower 48 USA.

 

[Tom Hoffman]

My son was stationed in Anchorage and we had only one time we could go.  Mid Sept.  We went and had a chilly but good time.  We drove toward Denali and stopped in Talkeetna in the late afternoon and took a flight seeing tour of Denali around 5PM.  It was breath taking the sun was low in the western sky and the air was crystal clear and not a cloud anywhere.  The mountain was stark gleaming white from the sun shining on it horizontally anf the deep purple shadows showed all the texture and character of the mountain in great detail.

Probably it was all just a lucky set of circumstances that brought it all together, but is my fondest memory of any trip I have ever taken.

All you can do is pay your money and take your chance.  The cruise ships stop coming around the first of Sept.

 

[mistere]

I went the second week of Sept 2012.  Weather was quite nice for the land portion, had a lot of rain on the cruise down to Vancouver. 

 

[dcmiller]

Deleting this post and trying again.
 

 

[dcmiller]

Hopefully, I'll get this correct this time.

We cruised the inside passage year before last during the latter part of August.  Once we reached Seward from Vancouver we rented a car and went on to Talkeetna.  We had a mix of weather in what we were told would be the rainy season.  We had gorgeous days as well as solid rain.  I have attached a picture I took on our plane ride from Talkeetna to Ruth Glacier which is about 10 miles from Denali (Mt McKinley).  The day before this picture was taken no planes flew because of the weather.  We didn't see much wildlife but we didn't get out in the boonies very far either.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I didn't mean that there was never any good weather in late August - just that you should not be surprised to encounter snow and ice before Labor Day. We've encountered both there as early as mid-August.

A cold snap might actually improve chances of seeing Denali - might clear the skies so the peak is visible!

 

[Dan23]

If some people get their way, you might be too late-- forever-- to see wolves:

"If God didn't want us to kill wolves, He wouldn't have invented choppers"

http://www.etruesports.com/index.php?page=article&articleId=388

 

[pml]

I hope everyone realizes that the above is a spoof and no one is planning a helicopter wolf hunting league.

 

[Marsha/CA]

We were there in the middle to last part of August in 2012.  We had rain, sun and no snow.  In Denali, we took the longer of the tour bus rides to the end of the park to see wildlife.  (You can only drive a short way into the park with your car) At the end of the day we had seen over 20 grizzlies with cubs, a wolf, foxes, lots of eagles and mountain sheep.  It was a long day, but we had a great time.  The bus driver was a naturalist and pointed wildlife out that we would have missed as well as told us about the history etc etc. 

However after telling you all of this, we had friends who went a year or so before during the same time and saw very little.  The year we were there it was a cold spring and a cold summer and things were several weeks behind.  It really depends on the weather you get. 

We crossed into Canada on July 1st and back into the States on Sept 3rd.  It was a fabulous trip.

Marsha~

 

[Dan23]

I hope everyone realizes that the above is a spoof and no one is planning a helicopter wolf hunting league.

Chuckle. Guess I should have mentioned*
















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