Walking in the wild

We had already been in Alaska for two days now, sneaking a shower in a janitor's locker room, but had not really experienced the Last Frontier we had imagined. But now we were in Denali National Park. One of the wildest national parks the government has made in the National Park System. Maintaining this feeling by a limited road system and a mandatory bus system, Denali N.P. has done what many other parks are either unable or unwilling to do: i.e. - providing access to the public, but protecting the animals and their habitat. And I found it fit me.

I have always enjoyed the outdoors, having early exposure to the mountains from Western states vacations as a child. There was a mystery and ruggedness attached to them that I couldn't find in the flatlands of Illinois. So as my friends and I walked down the road in Denali National Park, I was once again enraptured by the majesty on the horizon.

I still remember the cold, crisp air on my skin and the sound of the wind in my ears. We had hopped off the bus and decided to experience the wilderness without the metallic, protective shell of a tour bus around us. So as the bus pulled away, beyond the next bend, we were left to our own thoughts and conversations, nothing to remind us of the white noise or car sounds of civilization.

A park ranger added to the mystique of our circumstances when he pulled up in his truck and told us of a mother grizzly bear and her cubs up a ways on the road. But he reassured us that we were still safe, just wanting us to be aware. So as the next bus came up from behind us, we hitched a ride, being catapulted out of our little haven and back into the world we knew.