Denali

July 4, 2011

Well, we’re in rainy Denali Park now.  It has not really stopped raining since we arrived two days ago.  We got here on Saturday and were invited by H and N for supper – we had wonderful grilled peppercorn pork tenderloin for supper and ate inside their nice motor home.  We didn’t do much other than talk and talk…we had so many years to catch up on (25+).  We talked about our faith journey and how certain events in our lives have shaped us.  We caught up on children, on grief and loss, as well as on joys along life’s way.  The discussion challenged me to think again about some things I have learned about the Christian faith, but which may not be Biblically accurate.

Yesterday we left the campground at 6:15 AM for the “Tundra Wilderness Tour” – a 7.5 hour bus tour up the Park Road deep into Denali park.  The primary goal of the tour was to see and possibly photograph wildlife.  Although we did not see a large brown bear (we had already seen two small ones which I’ve already posted about), we did see quite a few Caribou and Dall Sheep.  Below I will post a pic of one of the Caribou:

The sheep were really too far away.  I did take one photo and we’ll see what it looks like on the screen before saying I’ll post it.  Some folks also claim they saw a wolf but we didn’t observe that.  All in all, the narration was interesting most of the time and the ride very worthwhile.  I think we went into the park nearly 60 miles. 

Dall Sheep:

Yep, those white specks you see are sheep :)

Having run out of propane on Saturday night, we left the park after our tour and found a place just 5 miles south of the park.  I kicked myself for not filling it in Fairbanks, but oh well, first mistake.  We were so glad to have found propane because on Saturday we had also tried locally and didn’t find any.  Our refrigerator depends on it so it’s pretty important.

Today we intend to take a 4 or 5 mile hike on a trail about 15 miles into the park.  H and N will pick us up so that we only take one vehicle.  We’ll wear our rain gear, skip the camera and enjoy the tundra and the rain.  [On our hike we did see several animals – wish it had not been raining and then I would have had pictures of: Marmot (4 of them), many ground squirrels, 3 adult ptarmigan and numerous chicks.  We will have not seen a bear in the park.]

Now it’s time to cook bfast – bacon and French toast along with camp coffee.  I think we’ll figure out how to eat in the camper since it’s chilly outside (50?).

July 5, 2011

Hooray!  The sun is out today!  Still lots of clouds, but it’s beautiful.  Had our coffee and b’fast then headed down the mtn to watch a demonstration of dog sledding used a lot by the rangers at the park. 

After the “dog show” we said “Bye” to Harry and Nancy.  We had a really nice visit – there are some people you can talk easily with about your family and others just don’t “get it.”  Both of us have experienced similar challenges and can quickly relate.

I took a few more flower pics and we headed south toward Anchorage.  It was along the Parks Hwy that we got a partial glimpse of Denali through the clouds mostly covering it.  Beautiful and massive!  We ate lunch at a pull off looking over the Alaska Range of mtns – put our chairs out and enjoyed the view.  We have not seen any wildlife today but we’ve sure had a great day of riding so far.

Tonight we’re planning to stop in a private campground in Anchorage so that we can get showers and do laundry.  Then tomorrow we may just decide to skip Anchorage and head down to the Kenai Penn.  We also want to go to Seward and take a boat tour into Kenai Fjords Natl. Park.