Riley Fire shuts down Denali National Park during the height of the summer season

Between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors a day typically arrive at Alaska’s Denali National Park during the week of Independence Day.

They find lodging at “Glitter Gulch” across the Nenana River, board park tour buses, use binoculars to scan slopes for grizzly bears, and swat mosquitos.

Not this year.

The park has been closed and many staff evacuated due to a fire burning less than a mile from park headquarters. The Alaska Railroad suspended its Denali Star service.

The Last Frontier has experienced a dry June, with fires burning more than 400,000 acres, from tundra above the Arctic Circle to boreal forests further south.

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2024/07/riley-fire-shuts-down-denali-national-park-during-the-height-of-the-summer-season.html