Wildlife in the Wilderness…

Day 53, Sunday, August 4

We had a delightful day at Denali, in spite of the early meeting time of 6am!   We left early for two reasons…1)to see The Mountain, and  2) to see the wildlife…we accomplished both, in great form!  Our guide was a science teacher from North Carolina that has been coming to Alaska for the summer the past 16 years to be a Denali guide.

Denali National Park is a huge amazing place.  It is 6 million acres, filled with mountains, hills, tundra, glaciers, valleys, braided streams and forests, and also filled with lots and lots of wildlife!  There is only one road in the park, and it is 92 miles long. After being in Yellowstone, it surprised me that private vehicles can only drive on the first 15 miles of the road; you must ride a bus to venture farther into the park, and the roads are not paved. This is all part of the efforts to preserve the wilderness area in an undisturbed form—the last frontier. 

The Park is always open, however, during the winter months, you can’t take motorized vehicles in…only dogsleds, snowshoes, or cross country skis!

I had not seen tundra before…I thought it was frozen icy soil.  But it looks like smooth carpet, and is actually boggy, and covered with vegetation.  Many of the animals love the tundra, and this is where we saw most of them.  We kept a count during the trip today;  (it was prepared and audited by Jim!)

Grizzlies	12
Moose	5
Dall Sheep	6
Caribou	4
Red Fox	1
Spruce Grouse	1 family
Ptarmigan (Alaska’s state bird)	1 large family (12)
Arctic Ground Squirrel	2

We had some excellent spotters in our caravan, and then the guide would get a camera on the animal and show it on a screen for those that could not see it…sometimes it was hard to distinguish from the surroundings.  Most of the animals were a distance away, but we were able to capture some good pics, thanks to the camera we borrowed from Jen & Kurtis.  The fox and one of the bears came somewhat close to the roadway where our bus was. 

Mama and Baby Bears….Sleeping in somebody’s bed??

We saw a lot of bears. Our guide said the berries in season are bringing out the bears who come out to feast on the soapberry bushes.  Then, he stopped and picked some for us to try.  I didn’t try them (glad I didn’t)—others said they were very bitter—kind of like getting your mouth washed out with soap!! 

We also tried on wolf pelts and moose horns!

They say that Denali is covered in clouds an average of two days out of every three during the summer.  We saw several views of the mountain, and it is different every time you see it. At the first stop, we saw the peak peeking out of the clouds.  The guide said the mountain can disappear in the clouds in less than 5 minutes.  And, an hour later when we stopped at mile 65 to see a close up view, that’s exactly what it had done..  Regardless of whether or not it is entirely visible, the mountain is spectacular!  The guide showed us a picture of what we would see on a very clear day…it was kind of neat to compare it to what we were seeing today. 

It was windy, but not cold, and mostly sunny.  But, it seems like the clouds find a way to cling to the mountains. 

I noticed a post in one of the stations that gave statistics on the climbers…this season there have been 1151, and 68% of those have reached the summit!!  Most climbing occurs in the spring--The climbing season is over now, because of the likelihood of avalanches due to the warmer weather.

 

 

 

After a quick nap, (thank goodness)  we went to the Cabin Nite Dinner Theatre where the waiters and waitresses were also the performers.  Dinner was served family style, and to get a refill, you twirled your napkin above your head and yelled for your waiter (our’s was Sam—you’re the Man!)  At the end, you tossed your napkin into his apron, and the show began.  It was rowdy, upbeat and clever, with stories and songs about why people come to Alaska and stay.

 

 

 

 

(We hurried home to find out how the Pocono race went, and were glad to see that Jeff Gordon finished 2nd!!  Must have been some good input from his engineer…way to go!)