Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

On Saturday, I went with my friend Kerry and her two daughters to Denali Park. Kerry booked a shuttle bus ride for us to Eielson Visitor Center at mile 66 on the park road.

There are various shuttles available to take you into the park. The shuttle to Eielson Visitor Center takes about 8 hours round trip.  If you don’t have time to go all the way to Wonder Lake (12 hours RT), at least go as far as Eielson Center. You’ll see the most stunning beauty, and (in our experience) the wildlife is much more abundant between the entrance and Eielson Center, than it is on the stretch between Eielson and Wonder Lake.

You don’t have to take a shuttle bus ride to enjoy Denali Park, if time or funds are limited.  You can drive your personal vehicle to mile 15, hike the Savage River trail, see a sled dog demonstration, and enjoy the Visitor Center - all for free. If you’ve got children, ask the ranger at the Visitor Center for a Ranger Pack. These backpacks have all sorts of interesting things in them to help keep children entertained: books, a compass, thermometer, litmus paper to test the water in the park, measuring tape, plant and animal identification guides, plaster of paris and a wolf print mold, and so much more. I was amazed at just what came with the backpack. And it’s also free, but you’ll have to sign for it and turn it back in at the end of the day.

We left North Pole under dark skies and drizzle. We pretty much knew there would be no sighting of Denali on our drive, but the rain didn’t bother us. In my experience, wildlife is much more active when it rains. Perhaps because it’s cooler. And overcast skies are perfect for photography; the colors just POP!

We made a pit stop at Sunrise Bagel for breakfast sandwiches, as this is a mandatory stop before any roadtrip! Their ham, egg, and cheese on a bagel is yummy, and their breakfast burrito gets two thumbs up too.

With the rain and the limited visibility caused by fog, the drive to the park took a little longer than usual. We only had about 30 minutes to spare before we had to be in line for our bus. The bus wasn’t full, so we were able to each have our own seat.  TIP: If the bus isn’t full, or if you’re traveling with more than two people, make sure that you grab seats on opposite sides of the bus. This way, no matter what side the wildlife is on, you can get a look out the window without having to climb over someone you don’t know!

We were thrilled to see that Autumn has definitely arrived in the park. Large swathes of scarlet tundra goes off into the distance, while pockets of brilliant yellow and gold stand in the midst of still-green birch and aspen. It won’t be long before all the trees are cloaked in gold. While the foliage is not at peak, it’s getting there quickly. I predict we’ll be well past peak by Road Lottery weekend.  It wouldn’t surprise me if snow came before then too.

And now on with the photos - and there are plenty!

The wildlife was quite active. We were thrilled to see moose, bears, wolves, caribou, sheep, and a fox.  The wolves were quite close to the road, if not directly on the road. And a couple of the bears were close enough to capture with my zoom lens, but still a little too far off to really appreciate with the naked eye.  The fox ran right across the road in front of us, but the dall sheep were mostly white specks high up on hillsides.

This grizzly bear was grazing on willow and birch bushes, and then sat down to take a break:

We watched this wolf run along the low ridge, just above our bus. Above him, on the hill, were sheep. He seemed to be stalking them. He soon disappeared over the hill. What a thrill!

After leaving Eielson Visitor Center, we came upon two bears (siblings) wrestling and playing with each other. One bear had something in his mouth, and when I looked at the image on my camera, we saw that he was playing with a “CLOSED AREA” sign. So funny!

Bear Behinds *grin*:

You can make out the letters in CLOSED in this photo:

While one bear stretches out in the wet grass, the other walked around peeing!

Fun wrestling:

The one sitting looks fat and happy!

A little further down the road, we watched a wolf chase a rabbit. The rabbit got away.

This wolf was running right up the road in front of our bus:

My friend Kerry has the uncanny ability to spot wildlife through muddy bus windows as we’re going 30mph. I told her that I am taking her to Denali anytime I go because she doesn’t miss a thing. *grin* She spotted this handsome bull moose grazing down in a valley:

You can see that he’s just recently rubbed the velvet off his antlers, as they are still tinged pink with blood:

It was a very long and exhausting day - but so worth it! I love Denali Park, and I love living only 2 hours from the park.

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DENALI ROAD LOTTERY

The road lottery is coming up on the weekend of the 17th - 20th. As you know, Steve and I didn’t win a pass this year. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to drive into the park this year. I was very disappointed.

A couple of days ago, my friend Sherry sent me a message telling me that a friend of hers won the lottery, but couldn’t use the pass as she had to go out of town. She told Sherry she could have the pass. Sherry asked me if I wanted to go with her! Well, you know what my answer was!

Sherry and I, and her two daughters, will be driving in on Saturday the 18th.  We are all so excited. Sherry has never been past the Toklat rest stop (mile 53), so she is super excited about going all the way to Wonder Lake. I think we’ll go all the way to Reflection Pond, where Ansel Adams took his famous photograph of Denali - especially if the mountain is out. Of course you know there will be tons of photos from that adventure!

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IN MY YARD

It has rained quite a bit this summer. At least we haven’t had the constant rain that Anchorage has had, but nevertheless we’ve had a moist summer. Our yard is full of mushrooms of all shapes and sizes. Some are really tiny (about an inch across and 2-3″ tall), so I had to get down on my belly to shoot them:

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It’s hard to believe that September is just about here. Where did the summer go? I feel like the past three months have just flown by.

While overnight temps haven’t dropped below freezing yet, there have been several frost warnings. Steve and I have been covering the tomato plants and the sunflowers. One of my sunflowers is showing some yellow and I hope that it will bloom soon, so I can enjoy it before it dies. We’ve been able to harvest three nice red tomatoes, but the other 25+ tomatoes are still green and firm.  Hopefully covering them at night will buy us some more time, as our afternoon temps are still in the 50s and low 60s.

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Please keep my brother and his family in your thoughts and prayers. They have been having a very difficult time since Sean’s passing, and I am so worried about them - individually, and as a family unit. I sent them information for their local Compassionate Friends Group (a group specifically for those who have lost a child), but they’re not ready to participate in a support group at this time.  I don’t know what to do for them, except listen. I wish I could take their pain away.