I arrived in Alaska in August 1974 to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). I showed up a week early to visit Denali National Park and immediately fell in love with the park. For the next four years at UAF I skipped the first week of classes to head to Denali for ten days. The first week of school always felt like a waste of time anyway and I knew I would catch up by the end of the semester. After getting my degree in photojournalism I moved to Juneau but returned to Denali as much as possible. I love everything about Denali, especially the accessible wildlife and one of the world’s most beautiful mountains. All within a day I have photographed Denali, caribou, moose, bear, ptarmigan, ground squirrel and Dall sheep. Although that is a really good day, such days happen often enough not to be unexpected. If you want to see caribou the only place to go in the USA is Alaska, and the most accessible place to spot caribou is the Denali road corridor. I have been fortunate to have gotten a number of week-long photo passes to travel the park road and have also spent two weeks at Camp Denali to lead their special photography emphasis weeks. I try to return to Denali every year and if I get lucky, I can get a photo like this one of a beautiful large bull caribou standing about 30 feet from me in the shadow of Denali. I dream about moments like this. This photo illustrates the month of October in my Alaska 2021Calendar. Both the 2021 Juneau and Alaska Calendars can be ordered at markkelley.com or purchased locally at Hearthside Books, Juneau Artist Gallery, Ben Franklin, Super Bear IGA and Foodland IGA. Thank you for visiting and be well – Camera: #Nikon #D850, Lens: #Nikkor 24-70mm, Digital Capture, Handheld ©Mark Kelley
