When the naturalist Charles Sheldon set off in what is now Denali National Park and Preserve in 1907, ten years before the park’s creation, he hired Harry Karstens and his team of sled dogs to help him with his winter wildlife studies. Instead, Harry Karstens was frequently breaking trail in front of his dogs, walking and running through deep snow and winter temperatures reaching 50 or 60 below. The sled weighed hundreds of pounds, and there was no room on the back for a grown man. When he transported mail, he had a handful of dogs attached to his sled, much unlike the twelve-dog teams we see in races today. He also gained a remarkable reputation as a dog musher, where he hauled mail across the landscape, helping create the route from Valdez to Fairbanks. Karstens built a telegraph line that linked distant Alaskan outposts and hauled supplies for the U.S. But other reasons to stay in Alaska kept finding him. Though he searched for gold along the Seventymile River, like many prospectors, he didn’t find much. Harry Karstens traveled to the Yukon from Chicago during the Klondike gold rush of 1897. Through blowing snow, below-freezing temperatures, or bright sunny skies, the dogs will lead the way.ĭenali has had sled dogs woven into its history since its establishment. They will haul scientific supplies or construction equipment into the far reaches of the wilderness, or bring construction debris back to the entrance of the park. Each winter, they will cumulatively run more than 1,500 miles as a team. But as the buses stop arriving with travelers in the fall, the dogs prepare for their true purpose in the park. As the only kennel in the National Park System, the Denali Park Kennels already receive welcome attention from visitors, most of them traveling during the summer. These official park employees-or as some call them, canine rangers-have an important role to play year-round. On this episode of America’s National Parks: the sled dogs of Denali National Park. While so much of the park and landscape slows into the winter, there is one group of individuals that eagerly await the snow. The skies lose up to 9 minutes of sunlight every day and the northern lights dance over the crisp landscape at night. The ground is already covered with golden aspen leaves and the mountaintops are powdered with snow called “termination dust”. This episode was written by Lindsey Taylor, whose blog “ The Curiosity Chronicles ” follows her adventures around the world.Įvery fall in one of the largest national parks in America, visitation slows to a near halt by the end of September.
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