Leaving Denali

The tops of the Fireweed stalks are blooming, which means that summer in this area has pretty much run it's course. Alaskan lore also says that this means that the first snow is 6 weeks away. Time for us to move along.

To say that we've both thoroughly enjoyed our stay here would be an understatement - it's been great, and being here for two weeks has allowed us to enjoy the park and surrounding area at a leisurely and relaxed pace. We even got lucky with better weather the past few days with which to enjoy everything.

Here are some photos from our last week in one of the prettiest areas we've ever seen:





This is our next door neighbor "Bronte". He's been the lead dog for one of the top contenders in the Iditarod for several years. I always thought these guys were big and muscular like your typical husky, but apparently they're bred more for stamina than for brute strength. In the great race they cover about 100 miles per day for 10-12 days in some truly harsh conditions. Am told that the dogs like it best at -10 deg. They're welcome to it. This guy is something of a celebrity - he was named "Top Dog" in one of the recent races and was featured in a Discovery Channel episode about the race a few years ago. Tried to get his autograph but he wasn't very cooperative.




The park uses dog sled teams to patrol the back country during the winter months when all the roads are closed, and the staff keeps a kennel for the care and training of the dogs. They do a dog sled demonstration for the tourists several times a day during the summer months and we stopped by to watch it one day. Rita enjoyed meeting and petting the animals, and the sled demo they did was really well done.


On Thursday the weather was sunny so we did a day trip down to the Denali State Park about 80 miles south of here. There were several great hiking trails, including one around Byers Lake that we took advantage of to get some exercise and just enjoy being out and about on the pretty day.



Thought we had stumbled upon some sort of historical gold rush era cabin, but turns out that this structure only dated from the 1950's.




Rita had a great time crossing this rickety old suspension bridge, which was slanted about 20 deg. just to increase the fun factor involved.




There were some great looks at Mt. McKinley/Denali from the other side of the lake. Had this view off our right shoulder for about an hour as we traversed the opposite shore.




As I mentioned earlier, the chances of seeing the mountain out in the summer are about 30%, but the odds of being able to see all of it (ie from top to bottom on a clear day) are more like 3%, so we were quite fortunate to be able to enjoy these views all day long.




Crossed a small bridge at the other end of the lake at the outflow, and were a little surprised to see several sockeye salmon spawning in the gravel bed just below us. Was hard to miss them - they had turned the bright red color that they acquire at the very end of their long journey home...only a few hours before they lay their eggs and then die.



It was such a pretty day that on the way back from the State Park we decided to drive out a little farther on the Denali Highway again just to enjoy the spectacular scenery. We were driving extra slow on the return leg in hopes of seeing some critters and were rewarded with this glimpse of a Moose cow feeding on the willow bushes in the forest. Didn't appear to have any calves with her - am told that the grizzlies take a fierce toll on the young ones every spring.


Friday came up sunny too, so we sprang for another shuttle bus trip to Eielson.




These are the Denali shuttles...just old school buses. Not too many creature comforts but the drivers keep a running commentary all the way. That, plus all of the stops for animal sightings make it an enjoyable drive thru the park.



We noticed a difference in the color of the tundra just from our first trip on Monday. Guess in a few weeks all of this low lying brush will be bright red. We stopped for lunch near here and noticed that we were sitting in a field of bog blueberries. All we had to do for dessert was reach out and harvest a handful.




Lots of arctic ground squirrels near the Savage River area. I think the ones further into the park have all become food for the bears, wolves and foxes by this time of year.




At one of the rest stops enroute to Eielson they had a display of horns and antlers that you could play with. We were impressed at how heavy they were, especially the caribou antlers - explains why they hold their heads at that erect angle. Both the Moose and the Caribou must have extremely strong necks to be able to haul these things around for months on end. These are the horns from a Dall sheep...hollow but still quite heavy.




Saw this grey fox just scoping things out along the road. Was watching him thru the binoculars and he didn't appear to have any red in him at all, although the photo does give him a reddish tone.


After arriving at Eielson we starting walking back down the road and further in to the park. Not too many shuttles go this far so it was even quieter than the main road coming in. Thought we might see some more critters as a result but never saw any - thought maybe they were resting in the relative heat of the day. Started to cloud up and cool off later in the afternoon, but when we started it was still sunny and fairly warm. The good news is that there weren't too many mosquitoes in the back country. Not sure whether it was just a better time of year or what, but we were able to stretch out on the tundra and enjoy a picnic lunch in peace.

Had planned to hike out about 4 miles and return, but the highway mile markers were missing and we wound up going further than we planned. After hiking a few of the miles back towards Eielson we decided to exercise the "hikers option" and waved down one of the returning buses, which picked us up and drove us all the way back to the Wilderness Center at the entrance.



Saw another half dozen grizzlies today. This one was only about 20 feet off the road chowing down on berries. Seemed completely oblivious to the 4 tour buses that stopped literally right next to him to get their photos. Stayed close too...didn't really wander too far away the whole time we were there. Not sure why the grizzlies in this area tend towards this blonde color - must be genetic, although could also be a function of their diet which is 80% plants and berries...not nearly as much fish and meat in their diet as is the case with their coastal relatives.

We leave here tomorrow morning and drive down to Anchorage where we'll spend the night at Elmendorf AFB, then fly down to Sitka for 4 nights. Been looking forward to that. Sitka was the capitol of Russian America for about 120 years, back when it was known as New Archangel. Didn't change the name to Sitka until the Americans moved in after the sale in 1867.

Finishing up with a short video that Rita took of the panoramic view across Byers Lake during our hike in Denali State Park.