Denali, Part 2

The rest of our time at Denali was quiet, more active and without any significant wildlife sightings. We did see more caribou, some moose and small creatures like snowshoe hare and ground squirrels, but no close encounters with large animals for which we are thankful! There have been several people killed this year by bear in Alaska, including a 16 year old who got lost running a marathon. Our excursion driver told us he is more concerned with black bear than grizzly because they seem more aggressive lately.

We did do a couple of more hikes in Denali.  One day we drove as far into the park as private vehicles are allowed (the 15 km point) and then hiked on the Savage River Trail. It was a beautiful, open trail that followed alongside a river in the valley, and then crossed a bridge and came back the other side. We saw lots of alpine flowers, and did a 300 foot climb at the half way around for another view, but no wildlife beyond the ground squirrels.

Our last day we spent doing laundry and then took another later afternoon hike from our campground through the woods and along a couple of streams. We were also fortunate to have another view of Denali that although it had some clouds in front, we could see much of it.

While in Denali, we took a day trip south on the Parks Highway and across a gravel highway. We only went in a short ways. It was pleasant drive, with a few nice views, but nothing spectacular. We drove into a state run campground where we talked with a campground host. It was alongside a river, but lots of mosquitoes. It certainly didn’t entice us to pack up and head there with the trailer! He was there for the whole summer and it isn’t a real busy highway since it is gravel, so there aren’t a lot of people coming to the campground.

Each evening at Denali, park staff presented a short, 30 minute program at each of the campgrounds. We attended a couple of them but have to say that they certainly weren’t as good as ones we have been to in the past. Obviously, due to the long days, they can’t rely on using multimedia, and instead have laminated pictures and other props they hand around to people. The best we attended was on dog sledding and mushing – in this case, the presenter’s family still had dog sleds and actually transports climbers supplies up to the Denali base camp in the winter in preparation for their climb in the summer. It was quite well done and since he spoke from experience, he was great at answering questions that the audience had. However, the other topics were less informative than we expected and in one case, we really didn’t see the relevance, except to listen to sounds and be present to hear and see the wonderful scenery.

Saturday we head out towards the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and towards Anchorage.