Yes Virginia, There are Moose in Alaska

September 3. We left the Savage River, disappointed that we had not yet seen a moose or a large terrestrial mammal of any kind in Denali, or even in Alaska. As we returned along the park road towards the entrance, we kept our eyes peeled for animals as we enjoyed the magnificent scenery and colors.
We re-entered the five mile moose rutting zone. Still no moose. Suddenly, up ahead, we noticed several cars pulled over, and a guy out with a large camera. I stopped and walked back, asking him "Do you see anything?" He pointed into the woods and said "There's a large bull moose and a cow in there." I "glassed" the woods and eventually spotted the tines of huge antlers sticking above the vegetation. As we watched, the head of a huge bull moose came into view a couple of hundred feet away.

Evenually he stepped out for all to admire before fading back into the woods. With him were two cows, a calf, and an equally large bull with a huge rack. We watched the five of them for a good 40 minutes before moving on. We never would have seen any of these animals had not someone spotted them first, but we finally had great looks at Alaskan moose.

Near the entrance to the park was a beautiful swatch of color, and even though it has nothing to do with moose, I decided to show the photos of it here: