DAY 43, JULY 11: The skies were overcast all day with light
rain falling off and on. However, I had
a very pleasant 121 mi/195 km drive from Fairbanks down to Denali. The majestic views of the Alaska Range
continue to elude me on this trip because of the low clouds obscuring the
mountains. Fortunately, I have seen them
from west of Tok to Denali on a previous trip so I can visualize what I can’t
see out the windows today. I got set up
at the RV park and then went to the Wilderness Center to pick up my ticket for
tomorrow’s tour. I would really like to
take the tour that goes to the end of the road in the park and figured I had
nothing to lose by asking if I could change my ticket to the longer tour. As luck would have it, I got the last seat on
the bus. So, instead of an 8-9 hour
drive tomorrow, I will have an 11-12 hour drive into the park. I then took a drive out to Savage River, which
is as far as you can drive your own vehicle. I have seen caribou out there on a few occasions
before, but not today. When I got done looking
the area over, there was a gull on the hood of my car. I started the engine to leave and it just stayed
there. Another park visitor walked up to
shush the gull away; however, it just went up to the roof of the Jeep. It finally flew away as I began driving down the
road.
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| GULL LOOKING FOR CARIBOU WITH ME AT SAVAGE RIVER |
I visited a few of the shops in Denali
village when I returned from the drive before calling it a day.
Wildlife Count: 1 bald
eagle on a nest built in a steel powerline tower south of Nanana. (Lots of nests on towers in that area), 1 mew seagull
DAY 44, JULY
12: Today was a day to cross an item
off my “bucket list” as I climbed aboard a bus to go to the end of the road in
Denali National Park 92 miles/148 kilometers distant. Denali is celebrating it’s 100th
Anniversary this year and it’s size is about 6 million acres/2,428,114
hectares. (I hope I did that conversion
right!) Smoke had rolled into the park
from forest fires in northeast Alaska and Canada, obscuring the views all day
and preventing good landscape photos.
Clouds also obscured the mountains in the morning, but parted later in
the day. Wildlife views were slow in the
morning, but about noon that began to change and we were able to see the “Big
5” in Denali—Dall sheep, moose, grizzly bear, wolf, and caribou during the
trip. Our driver was also a
naturalist/interpreter and did a good job with both tasks. She came to AK from Wisconsin after college
in 1975 and never went back; she has worked at Denali for 11 seasons and knows
the park well.
The weather at Denali comes in from the south so much of the park is in the “shadow” of the Alaska Range. This results in pretty small amounts of moisture—15 inches annually, of which 8 inches comes from snow. (Not sure how to do the conversion on this one.) The effects of global warming have been widely documented in the park. We have all heard about how glaciers are receding in various parts of the world; however, in the Park larger vegetation now grows in areas that used to be tundra. Studies are ongoing concerning how this will change the ecosystem in years/decades to come. There are certainly a lot of unknowns.
What was to be an 11 to 12 hour trip turned into 13 hours and 15 minutes because of the spectacular wildlife opportunities we encountered through the trip. All in all, it was a very successful day in spite of the smoke that obscured the landscape.
After getting set up in the new site, I went into the park for one last drive to Savage River. I saw a young bull moose and a cow and calf moose on the way in. I also saw a willow ptarmigan family. It has been so smoky all day that the mountains are barely visible from the valley. It really rolled in about 10 a.m. when the wind shifted to the north.
While parked at an overlook above the Savage River, I saw a backpacker walking quite fast in the river bottom about a mile or so from the takeout point where the road crosses the river. I broke out the binoculars and watched as the person stopped on a sand bar, took off the backpack (I had figured out it was a woman by now, although she was over a half-mile away), took off shoes and socks, and proceeded to blow up a mattress. She then sat down and took a yoga pose. I took some pictures of her but she was so far away they didn’t turn out well. She was still there when I drove away after about 20 minutes, continued up to the turnaround point, and drove back (about 3 miles round trip). Who’d a thought they would see this in the middle of nowhere in Denali National Park!
Wildlife Count: One porcupine along the road
Road Report: Generally, normal Alaska driving conditions with occasional frost heaves and short stops for flagmen/women at construction areas. About 2 miles south of Cantwell, headed south, there are about 2 miles of some pretty significant frost heaves (starts about 4 mi south of Cantwell if headed north). Some are marked and the white line on the side of the road is in place so drivers can also look for the proverbial wavy white lines. There is also road construction going through Wasilla—looks like it will be ongoing throughout the summer.
A general observation about the roads in northern Canada and Alaska which may be of interest to future drivers: I frequently encounter curves that aren’t banked like we are used to in the Lower 48, so I need to slow down when I see one of these flat curves coming up. They won’t be marked and don’t usually have a recommended speed, but you will definitely know when you are in one of those curves as you hurry to slow down after you are in it.
LANDSCAPES OF DENALI N. P.
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| TUNDRA |
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| TRANSITION ZONE |
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| A CARIBOU WITH A "DOUBLE SHOVEL" (OUR FIRST SIGHTING OF A "BIG 5")   |
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| THIS MOOSE DECIDED TO SWIM ACROSS THE LAKE FOR A CLOSER LOOK AT US |
During our drive, we saw several families of willow
ptarmigan which is Alaska’s state bird.
Both the female and the male raise the chicks which is similar to the
quail I see in AZ. The males are
reddish-brown on top with a white bottom and the females are a mottled-brown,
so it is easy to pick them out.
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| WILLOW PTARMIGAN |
We also
saw innumerable numbers of arctic ground squirrels skittering across the road
as we drove in and out of the park. They
hibernate for more than half the year and were quite unafraid of people around
them when we were parked at view points along the way.
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| ARCTIC GROUND SQUIRREL |
We came upon one hoary marmot on the
road. They can grow to 32 inches/81
centimeters, so they are quite a large rodent.
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| HOARY MARMOT |
The weather at Denali comes in from the south so much of the park is in the “shadow” of the Alaska Range. This results in pretty small amounts of moisture—15 inches annually, of which 8 inches comes from snow. (Not sure how to do the conversion on this one.) The effects of global warming have been widely documented in the park. We have all heard about how glaciers are receding in various parts of the world; however, in the Park larger vegetation now grows in areas that used to be tundra. Studies are ongoing concerning how this will change the ecosystem in years/decades to come. There are certainly a lot of unknowns.
The end of the road is at the old mining town of
Kantishna where all that is left is Fannie Quigley’s cabin. The Quigleys only went into town once a year to
get supplies due to the remoteness of the area.
It was over 100 miles/161 kilometers to the nearest town! Everything else was grown or harvested
locally. A Park Ranger told us about
mining life out in this area and let us tour the Quigley cabin which has been
restored. He also shared stories about
Fannie Quigley—she was certainly an interesting personality from that bygone
era! She has been described as one tough
lady who thrived in the community during the early 1900s and tales of her
exploits abound in the Denali area.
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| FANNIE QUIGLEY'S CABIN |
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| YES, I MADE IT! |
We headed back towards the visitor center seeing the
landscape from a different perspective as we retraced our route. Some of this route is not for sissies if you
are afraid of heights because it is one-lane wide with steep drop-offs going
down literally thousands of feet. People
uncomfortable with this would want to sit in the aisle seat.
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| THAT IS THE ROAD AHEAD AROUND THAT MOUNTAIN! |
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| SINGLE LANE ROAD AROUND THE MOUNTAIN (THE DRIVER/GUIDE DOESN'T TALK HERE!) |
Shortly after crossing Sable Pass, grizzlies
were spotted off in the distance to our right.
What unfolded over the next 30 minutes was an unbelievable show. A sow had 2 two-year-old cubs with her and
she was fighting a male grizzly. Our
driver figured he was trying to get the cubs away from the sow so he could kill
them and then mate with her. The two
adults were standing up fighting, fighting with all feet on the ground, and
chasing each other around. Meanwhile,
the two cubs stayed close by. We watched
this show for at least 30 minutes; however, the bears were so far away I could
not get any pictures. I did get a very
good view of the bears through my binoculars the whole time. (Thank you, Essie!) Finally, all four bears moved high up a ridge
further away and we left them to go on further down the road.
It wasn’t long before we spotted a lone wolf off to the right. Two ravens were nearby and they were really annoying him by flying around him. He would run one way, then back in the opposite direction. Finally, he trotted right towards the bus, making one gentleman nervous enough that he asked the driver if she didn’t think it was time to close the door. The wolf veered to the front of the bus as it approached and we followed it for at least a couple of miles as it trotted down the road, crossed to the embankment to our left and right back out on the road, etc. It was a beautiful animal and I will post a couple of not so good photos that were taken “on the fly” that show the beautiful coloring and the coat it had. After about 30 minutes of watching the wolf, we left it and continued on to the park’s exit.
It wasn’t long before we spotted a lone wolf off to the right. Two ravens were nearby and they were really annoying him by flying around him. He would run one way, then back in the opposite direction. Finally, he trotted right towards the bus, making one gentleman nervous enough that he asked the driver if she didn’t think it was time to close the door. The wolf veered to the front of the bus as it approached and we followed it for at least a couple of miles as it trotted down the road, crossed to the embankment to our left and right back out on the road, etc. It was a beautiful animal and I will post a couple of not so good photos that were taken “on the fly” that show the beautiful coloring and the coat it had. After about 30 minutes of watching the wolf, we left it and continued on to the park’s exit.
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| WOLF WITH 2 RAVENS IN FOREGROUND |
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| YES, WOLVES HAVE TO "GO" TOO! |
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| WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL! |
What was to be an 11 to 12 hour trip turned into 13 hours and 15 minutes because of the spectacular wildlife opportunities we encountered through the trip. All in all, it was a very successful day in spite of the smoke that obscured the landscape.
DAY 45, JULY 13: I changed sites today per my
reservation. Gil Glover, a friend from
my working years, stopped in for a brief visit while traveling from Fairbanks
to his home in Sterling. It was good to
see him again. Then the owner of the
park, as well as everything else on the east side of the Parks Hwy as I found
out through our conversation, came by as I was getting ready for the move and
we talked about an hour. While we were
talking, the owner of the Bell Road Guides drove in. The 3 of us talked for about 30 minutes or so
and then went on about our other business.
Nice to meet them both. The
park/motel/strip mall owner adds buildings on to his strip mall about every
year and they are made so each of them can be detached and moved if
needed. Interesting concept. Basically, they begin building the next phase
the end of Sept. when customers are gone and need to have the outer walls in
place by Nov. 1. There is no water and
little heat for the workers as they work on the inside during the winter. He said to expect freezing temps here at
Denali Village by the last week in August.
After getting set up in the new site, I went into the park for one last drive to Savage River. I saw a young bull moose and a cow and calf moose on the way in. I also saw a willow ptarmigan family. It has been so smoky all day that the mountains are barely visible from the valley. It really rolled in about 10 a.m. when the wind shifted to the north.
While parked at an overlook above the Savage River, I saw a backpacker walking quite fast in the river bottom about a mile or so from the takeout point where the road crosses the river. I broke out the binoculars and watched as the person stopped on a sand bar, took off the backpack (I had figured out it was a woman by now, although she was over a half-mile away), took off shoes and socks, and proceeded to blow up a mattress. She then sat down and took a yoga pose. I took some pictures of her but she was so far away they didn’t turn out well. She was still there when I drove away after about 20 minutes, continued up to the turnaround point, and drove back (about 3 miles round trip). Who’d a thought they would see this in the middle of nowhere in Denali National Park!
Wildlife Count: 3
moose, 1 willow ptarmigan family
DAY 46, JULY 14: Today was a travel day as I left Denali
Village and drove the 202 miles to the Palmer Elks Lodge located on a lake
between Palmer and Wasilla. Smoke was
still visible around the valley; however, as I drove south I went through
occasional light rain. All in all, I
missed out again on the grand views of the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna
Mountains. It made for a faster trip,
though, because I wasn’t making photo stops along the way. I had dinner with a couple of members of the
Lodge and as we were finishing up, my neighbors from the Fairbanks Elks Lodge
RV park walked in. It was good to see
them again and to catch up on what they had been doing since leaving
Fairbanks. (They also have a home west
of Phoenix, so we are sort of neighbors in AZ, too.)
Wildlife Count: One porcupine along the road
Road Report: Generally, normal Alaska driving conditions with occasional frost heaves and short stops for flagmen/women at construction areas. About 2 miles south of Cantwell, headed south, there are about 2 miles of some pretty significant frost heaves (starts about 4 mi south of Cantwell if headed north). Some are marked and the white line on the side of the road is in place so drivers can also look for the proverbial wavy white lines. There is also road construction going through Wasilla—looks like it will be ongoing throughout the summer.
A general observation about the roads in northern Canada and Alaska which may be of interest to future drivers: I frequently encounter curves that aren’t banked like we are used to in the Lower 48, so I need to slow down when I see one of these flat curves coming up. They won’t be marked and don’t usually have a recommended speed, but you will definitely know when you are in one of those curves as you hurry to slow down after you are in it.
DAY 47, JULY
15: Tom Gummer, a friend of mine and
co-worker in Missoula, MT 50+ years ago, asked me to go with him on a flight to
Homer to check on some property. He has
a Cessna 185 on floats that he keeps in pristine condition and I gladly
accepted the offer to go along. It would
take about 3 hours for the whole trip and the weather was forecast to be okay
for the quick trip—with conditions continuing to improve. We took off when we had good weather and
headed south. (Tom and I both quit
taking “brave” pills years ago and aren’t into pushing weather—and we both
agree we weren’t paid enough when we did it in our young flying careers!) Well, fog was blowing in from the bay about
as fast as we were descending into Homer.
Certainly, this wasn’t what the previous reports had shown, nor was it
forecast. After tying the plane to the
dock, we did the quick trip out to see his property and returned to Beluga Lake
to check the conditions.
Weather
continued to deteriorate, and about 8:00 p.m. we gave up the idea of returning
to Anchorage today. Then, the next part
of the adventure began… Let’s see now,
should I say I got into a bar room brawl, should I say my pilot friend beat me
up, or should I just tell the truth and say clumsy me tripped on the dock and
did a face-plant. Obviously, the latter
was the truth. Another couple on the
dock helped clean my face up some (darn head wounds always bleed a lot) and
gave us a lift to the Emergency Room where the Dr. decided 8 stitches should
give me a nice looking scar. Oh,
well. When I was done at the ER, we
still had not had dinner and found out that Homer really rolls up the rugs
early on Saturday nights, so no dinner.
Fortunately, we were able to find beds—which wasn’t too easy either
given it was a summer weekend. I won’t
put a picture up from before the Dr. did his masterful job, but I will show you
the swollen eye and “shiner” after they were done stitching me up and had
cleaned me up some.
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| TOM IS CHECKING WEATHER--AGAIN |
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| NO CAPTION NEEDED FOR THIS ONE! |
DAY 48, JULY 16: During my first look outside this morning
after arising, I saw a bald eagle on a utility pole in front of the motel. I thought to myself that this is a good
omen! Tom and I took our time getting
breakfast and getting back to the airport since weather was slow to clear up in
the Homer area. Finally around noon the
clouds began parting quicker and it was time to preflight the plane and fire up
the engine for the 65 minute flight back to Anchorage. It was a good flight back with a few low
clouds here and there, but good visibility all the way. Friends of Tom’s were having a get-together
on the dock at Lake Hood and, after meeting some of them, I headed back to the
motorhome at Palmer. After getting here,
the first thing I did was put some ice on my face and take a short nap since I
was pretty tired after not sleeping well last night. Thus ended another “adventure” on this trip.
DAY 49, JULY 17: I worked around the motorhome all day. The Elks Lodge had a grill your own steak
night with large ribeye or New York steaks, baked potato, salad bar, and desert
for $18. I decided to join them and had
a nice visit with a local family during dinner.
The view from the Lodge was wonderful with perfectly calm conditions on
the lake and the clouds parting from the mountains to the south. All in all, a very pleasant evening. Good location, good company, good food—a
pretty good combination I would say.
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| VIEW OF FINGER LAKE FROM PALMER ELKS LODGE |
DAY 50, JULY 18: This morning I worked around the motorhome
before going in to Wasilla. After lunch
I spent time going through the Dorothy Page museum for a couple of hours. The museum had quite a few items of interest
in it; however, the items were poorly displayed which took away from the
experience for me. I then took a drive
out to the historical ghost town of Knik.
Not much to see there and the museum was closed. Light rain/drizzle has fallen most of the
afternoon. It has been a wet summer
here.
