On Saturday the group split up again. This time Dave was staying behind in Fairbanks to visit with additional friends while Bob and Cindy headed south to Wasilla to spend some time with their kids and grandson. Lyon, Wayne and I headed south to meet up with Ken at Denali National Park.
The day began with some low clouds
that gave way to blue skies as we got farther south.
We found Ken at the campground and after setting up our tents, including the now prerequisite tarps, we headed into Healy to find some lunch at the 49th State Brewery. It was a nice place, good food and outdoor seating.
Then it was off to Denali NP, where Ken, Wayne and I took advantage of the photo op. We were delayed on the way in as cars stopped to take pictures of the 3 moose that were along the road. We have been told that the mountain is shy, so we are hoping that the clouds stay away until we can catch a peek (pun intended)
We rode our bikes up the road to a pull off that allowed us to actually see the mountain! A couple who stopped said this was their 3rd time to the park over the years, and the first time they actually saw it. They also talked about the parking area farther along the road that was currently closed due to a bad bear in the area. We opted not to try to go there.
We had tickets for the shortest shuttle bus ride (6 1/2 hours) that would leave at 3 PM. Normally I wouldn't want to ride or drive at 10 PM, but remember, the sun really doesn't go completely away and 10 o'clock is still broad daylight.
The bus leaves by going right past where we had turned around earlier, and past the blocked off parking area and then left the pavement to travel the rest of the way on a narrow dirt road. The driver stopped here so we could watch this group of caribou play on the snow pack. They like to hang out on the snow as the drop in temperature deters the mosquitos. This small herd ran back and forth across the snow several times.
The views were great, the mountains high and the glacier created valleys wide and flat.
This shows the dust on the road we are headed up. Once we get up to the Toklat River we get off the bus to stretch our legs before we turn around to head back down the road.
On the way back we saw a lone caribou munching in the tall brush that didn't show up in my pictures as well as this one on the snow. We also saw a moose.
But the highlight of the entire day, maybe the whole trip was this guy. As we came back down to where the pavement begins we stopped on the bridge over the Savage River. This is the parking area that we had heard was closed due to a bear attack. I hope it wasn't this guy, as he had us laughing our butts off for almost 30 minutes. He had very itchy skin. He kept trying to scratch on everything.
He rubbed up against the cement parking dividers, stood on his rear legs, grabbing a sign post behind his back and rubbed his spine up and down on the post. He then headed to the road. He tried to rub on a temporary sign, but that fell down. He then tried the orange cones. When the first one rolled when he knocked it over, you could tell he was thinking "TOY". He picked them up, carried them around, rolled on the ground using one to scratch his tummy, tried to put his huge paws in them as well as his nose.
After loosing interest in them he headed up the road towards us. Twice the bus driver thought he had gone into the brush enough to start the bus.
And twice he popped back up onto the road. The rules are the drivers can't scare the wildlife, so lucky us, we just had to stay and watch.
The driver said that he was pretty normal size, seemed pretty big to me
Eventually he lost interest in the bus and went over the edge of the road, down to the Savage River. Here he again tried to scratch himself on a sign. This time when it fell over, it was in water so it floated. "TOY" Yes again he played with the new toy for a bit. Finally the driver started the bus, the last we saw of the bear was him floating down the river.
What a hoot! He made the tour well worth the time. After we got back to the bikes we headed back to camp.
No rain today.
Critter count: 3 moose (on the way into the park
small herd of caribou
2 single caribou
1 moose
1 goofy Grizzly bear
157 miles
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