Alaska: Denali 2

Alaska: DAY TEN & ELEVEN

We awoke the next morning to hike to one of the glaciers. The willows and birch were high enough that we had to yell "HEY BEAR!" That was a lesson we learned in bear country. You don't want to surprise a bear - so you want to make your presence known by yelling as you hike :)

I hurried to get a picture of a Red Fox as it just crossed a river and was shaking off the cold water. He was slower moving away (if a fox could be slow) from the water weight on his hair. He didn't look like he enjoyed his swim.

Crossing paths: Bear, Wolf, Fox, and Human............. look at the awesome variety of tracks.

At last - we arrive at the glacier. It was melting faster than we could speak. We could hear the dancing of water and rocks.

We hiked around the other side...............

"Mmmm, no dirt tastes like glacial dirt" ;)

lol

After that hike we drove up to beautiful Wonder Lake.................

We picked wild blueberries by the lake. There were so many - and the season for them was coming to a close.

I fed some to Isaac now and then...................

We drove back to Travis's cabin - a beautiful end to a great day.
The following day (after a hardy breakfast of blueberry pancakes from yesterday's pickins') we hiked another trail. This trail, called the Alpine Trail, gained 1,000 ft in one mile. Pretty steep. It would be a little more than two miles up to the top.

A couple of these photos were taken at one of the visitor centers Travis works at.

This was the clearest we saw of Mount McKinley - it was amazing in all its visible glory!

The hike was really windy - and grew stronger the higher we hiked, of course. But we did it! We even saw and heard little Pikas on the rocky slopes.

The view from the top was incredible!

Not only was it really windy up there, but the temperature dropped fast. We decided to hike back down. We tried not to slip on the steep trail. Travis let Ava wear his beenie that he had in his backpack. Man, that guy is prepared for anything. Ha ha. I was wishing I had my beenie on that hike too!

Notice how Ava wore it? She actually fell asleep on Bryan's head!!

"Unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

Alaska: Danali National Park

Alaska: DAY NINE

After leaving Fairbanks, we drove to McKinley Park and ate some great food at the famous Salmon Bake. They have some great tasting halibut! "Mmm Mmm GOOD."

Denali National Park Entrance and one of the Visitor Centers was not too far down the road. This is where we would spend a few hours waiting for Travis to arrive by shuttle bus from his station.



So- we browsed the visitor center/bookstore, watched their award-winning movie, ate some ice cream, walked the "Spruce Nature Trail, and tried many times to convince Ava to use the potty. We failed. It was too scary. lol

We went back to the car where Ava had a quick nap - and then Travis showed up :)

We all piled in the car and drove a couple miles up the road to where the NPS Sled Dog Kennels were. It was cool to be there after normal visiting hours.

They were VERY excited to see us, barking loudly.

Some of the dogs were still "in training."

After visiting the kennel, we still had about an hour and half drive into Denali - to Travis's cabin. We obtained a National Park Service "Guest Pass" at the check station. It would be a gravel, twisty road most of the way. We had to watch ahead and around hair-pinned corners for shuttle buses (stopping each time until the bus passed). There are 60 buses that run this route daily in Denali!

Dall Sheep - one of the primary reason's Denali became a National Park.

We stopped at a pull-out to walk around.............

It's hard to tell from these pictures - but the color contrast of the mountains was gorgeous!
(I think these pictures will look better when I post them on my Picasa Web Album).

Family photo - op (again) ........ yeah, you'll see many of these ;)

We think the picture is pretty good - if at least one of the two kids is actually looking :D

Isaac looks perplexed.

:D