Recreation
The Tangle Lakes constitute the headwaters of the Delta River, a popular destination for canoeists as it is the launch point of the Delta River Canoe Trail.
The Denali Highway is an important birding destination. It offers road access to alpine terrain – not that common in Alaska – and, in the brief birding season there, good viewing of a number of alpine breeders, including Arctic Warbler, Smith's Longspur, Long-tailed Jaeger, Whimbrel, Surfbird, Lapland Longspur, Horned Lark, Short-eared Owl, Wandering Tattler, Gyrfalcon and much more. A walk north along BLM's Maclaren Summit Trail (MP 39) can be very productive. There are also trumpeter swans and various other waterfowl in the lakes and ponds along the route.
Fishing for grayling and lake trout is decent, if not spectacular, in any of the clear water (i.e., unglaciated) streams.
Because the area is hunted heavily, larger mammals are much less common than in Denali National Park, but moose, grizzly bear, and caribou are fairly common. The Nelchina caribou herd, approximately 36,000 animals as of winter 2009–2010, normally passes through this area after calving season ends, and some autumns and winters as many as 16,000 animals can be seen at once. The herd forms an important foodsource for many residents of southcentral Alaska, and visitors eager to view the animals may be competing with hunters. The many lakes along the road are also a destination for duck hunting in the fall.
Most of the land along the highway is publicly owned. There are several BLM-maintained trails, and dozens of informal trails. This is a stretch of wild Alaska that is pretty much unspoiled, relatively accessible and beautiful.
Read more about this topic: Denali Highway
Famous quotes containing the word recreation:
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)