Dry "Camping" and Wildlife

Friday, May 20, 2016
Ken's phone woke us this morning at 5:00 am when the electricity went off (it was plugged in to boost the battery).  It seems a tree fell on the one line that brings in electricity to this entire valley causing a total blackout.  Luckily the sun rises around 4:00 am so we could open the curtain and see just fine in our room to get dressed as well as gather together the items we needed for our Denali National Park bus tour.

We walked over to the main lodge where people were gathering trying to find something to eat and drink.  Bottles of water and OJ were bring distributed to everyone and the snack bar opened to sell the pastries they had.  The line was super long complicated by the fact that they could only take cash and of course had to do everything in their head as the cash registers weren't working.  College kids from all over are the main labor and I think that stuff they call new math wasn't helping them much.

Anyway, the rain was coming down and the winds were blowing making it especially cold and with the loss of electricity there was even a loss of running water meaning others workers were busy bringing in porta potties and setting them out in strategic spots around the lodge.  Life definitely gets a bit complicated when you are in a spot like this with huge numbers of people.  But our experiences with dry camping and unexpected stops in our RV more than prepared us for making do.

Our tour buses arrived on time and we were off shortly after 7:00 am with great hopes of seeing some animals in the park.  This is birthing time for many of the animals including moose.  Yesterday we missed seeing the moose with her 2 day old babies cause we turned left instead of right when exiting our lodge.  So close.  We certainly heard about the fact they were lying down right around the corner from our door. BUT we were lucky!! Right after entering the park we came upon a pregnant moose with her year old that she was chasing away - a common practice once a new one is on the way.

We only drove 17 miles into the park - 15 of which were on paved road - but still did see a variety of vegetation and views.  One was this pond that has already started to dry up.  It is created by glacial waters and provides a good spot for animals to feed.  But soon it will be gone as this year has been especially dry with only 80 inches of snow and the promise of the average of 15 inches of rain (the typical amount though seems like it should be more considering all the rain we've seen)

Our guide also pointed out witch's broom which is a disease on a spruce tree caused by disturbance to its typical life.

And we saw several washes that prove to be one of the best ways to hike in the park as you don't have to battle the low growing and intermeshed willow which is all over the park.

The trip has changed alot since our last expedition into the park.  For one thing, we are here in the spring so everything is green - before it was quite brown and dry as we came in August and September.  Also they've added stops.  One was to walk the trail back to the Savage Cabin--a rustic shelter that was used by rangers conducting winter park patrols.

 Before that it was used to provide food to those who had worked on building the one road that runs through the park.  Because construction season is so short but daylight is as long as 23 hours, the CCC workers put in some mighty long hours and really appreciated at least one good meal each day.  One of the interesting features of this little wooden cabin was the nails sticking out on the shutters to the windows to keep bears away.

 While walking back our bus a very large jack rabbit ran across our path - much too fast for us to get a picture but we did get a good look.  It was obviously changing fur colors from the white of winter to brown of spring/summer.  It was a bit of both.

On our drive then up to the next stop,  we saw a caribou eating in the grasses and low lying willows.  He was quite a distance away and kept disappearing as they were tall enough to hide him.  But on our way back to the hotel, he had moved into the river for a drink and we were able to see him quite well.  Unfortunately I was on the opposite side of the bus so wasn't able to get much of a picture.

It was so cold, windy and wet that I didn't even get out for the next stop though Ken did.  An Athabaskan native girl shared some interesting tidbits about her life and traditions of her people living in the "wilds" of Alaska.  Even she was bundled up!!! (the temperature was 42 but with wind chill was 36 degrees)

Our last stop was at an interpretive center for a movie about building the road in Denali but again like magic, the lights went down and I nodded off so can't really say how good it was.

We returned back cold and hungry since all they provided was a breakfast bar and a bottle of water on the bus.  So Ken and I chose to head to the near by pizza place for some lunch.  Unfortunately it wasn't particularly warm inside so after eating we returned to our room and bundled up under the covers for a bit of a rest.  The others decided to do that immediately upon their return from the trip and then were off to do other stuff.  We stayed behind.

We had made arrangements to go to the Music of Denali Theater

for the all you can eat dinner and show put on by the waiters and waitresses.  What a fun couple of hours.  We sat at long tables eating family style salmon, bbq chicken, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad, and biscuits followed by apple cobbler.  While eating we were entertained by each of the help staff singing at least one song.

Then once we were done and they had cleared the tables, the show itself begun - a tale of the first climbers to the very top of Denali.  It was a musical and very comical presentation

involving a couple members of the audience

and having us all singing and doing the motions to Land of the Midnight Son.

We returned to our room and relaxed for a short bit, got our carry on suitcases repacked as much as possible and called it a night.  We will be up and on our way early tomorrow morning to board the train for a trip all the way to Whittier where we'll get on the Coral Princess.