Wed Aug 3
-I woke the fam up at 9 to catch the tail end of bfast
. After the usual circus of packing we got rolling for Denali around 10:30. Not the early start I was hoping for but we all needed sleep. Glad we did the grocery shopping the night before.
-we drove north through spurts of construction. The scenery was vast and rugged although shrouded in clouds.
-we stopped for gas and lunch in a teeny town half way to Denali. The kids enjoyed the BBQ pork sandwich and we sampled another reindeer dog.
-we stopped at a mountain viewpoint but the weather was crisp and cloudy so we continued on. It was a longer drive than expected and we bypassed our lodging to go straight to the park still arriving just before 5.
-we cornered a ranger and got lots of information. Although the Friday ranger-led discovery hike was available, Laura vetoed it on the basis of inadequate foot and long pant gear. Probably a good call since it was drizzling to raining and decently cold at the moment.
-the boys were unable to behave while Laura and I sorted out logistics. Frustrating.
-we went over and got our bus tickets for 7:30am the next day
. There was no option to change the time of day so we decided to stick with the plan.
-we headed back to our lodging and were pleased to find a nice menu at the adjacent restaurant. We got our bags into our cabin along with hyperactive boys. Again frustrating
-we had a nice dinner and Laura and I took a quick stroll along the babbling creek. The rain drove us indoors and we went through an hour of packing for the next day. At last it was time for bed but the boys wriggled incessantly and we all got to sleep much later than hoped.
Thu Aug 4
-big day out in Denali Park and the alarm went off at 6:15. We hauled out groggy bodies up and were happy that we had packed the night before and laid out our joking clothes. Even so there were PBnJs to be made and teeth to be brushed so we still departed barely on time.
-we boarded the bus saddened by the lack of healthy bfast options from the cafe. Our bus driver introduced himself as Ken from Kentucky and we soon learned that we had lucked out. He was a cheery septuagenerian who clearly loved driving people around the park
. He was fully trained and certified to be a guide and despite this being a "non-guided tour" he happily told us that he was going to share his knowledge. And what knowledge did he have and some fun jokes to go along with it. We learned about the history of the park and the flora and fauna. Whenever there was an animal, he would stop and talk about the animal. We saw the big ticket animals of Denali including the Dall sheep, moose, grizzly bear, and caribou.
-one of he biggest treats was that Denali himself leaked out of the clouds and we joined the 30% of visitors who get to see the mountain. We did not get to see the whole mountain but saw at least half. A stunning, snowy monolith 25 miles in the distance. Not really a monolith as there are surrounding peaks but Denali is massive in stature and dwarfs its neighbors.
-At one of the rest stops along the way, there were antlers on display. It was fun to hold them up to our head for a picture. I was amazed at how heavy the moose antler was and it was only one half or one of the two
. The caribou antler was much easier to handle.
-the plan has been to take the early 7:30 bus to the Eilsen visitor center and to try and get on the noon ranger led hike. Hence the early morning alarm. However the bus took longer than expected to get to Eilsen due to the awesome wildlife we encountered along the way.
-we arrived at about 12:01 and as we were hurrying across the parking lot Laura spotted a ranger and said go ask him. He said that he thought there had just been 4 cancellations for the 11 person limit hike and escorted us to the ranger who was already briefing the other hikers.
-sure enough we had lucked out and we were able to join the group! Whoo hoo!! This was one of my goals for activities in Denali. Quickly ran to the bathroom (or at least all of us but Finn) and then started the hike up the ridge.
-the boys migrated towards the front and asked Clint the ranger plenty of questions. It was a fun and informative hike and we enjoyed the stops if for no other reason than to rest during the climb
.
-near the summit Finn needed to turn back for a bathroom emergency. Ty and I finished the hike and reached the mini summit and celebrated with pictures and cheesy poofs. It worked out great and we all enjoyed the experience including Finn who was complimented by the ranger for engaging questions.
-once we had all descended, we had a mini picnic at the visitor center and watched the movie. Then we hopped on a bus for the ride back to the park entrance.
-we soon realized how lucky we had been with our first bus because our second driver had very little personality or information to share. On top of this we were plagued with two very poorly behaved children and parents who did little to stop them from making noise while we tried to enjoy the views.
-despite this we encountered some excellent wildlife. We had a bear amble up towards the road and stop about 6 feet from the front of our bus and munch on the vegetation there. We could see his teeth and claws and size. It was excellent. We saw caribou and moose as well
. Great wildlife viewing.
-at long last we were back at the park entrance. It was too many hours in a bus but we certainly had an awesome experience. It is the way to see the park but it would be nice to have less driving. That's the way it goes in this vast and wild state.
-we called our new cabin place for restaurant recommendations and ended up at a diner place. We were all hungry so it worked but it sure is hard to get vegetables in this state.
-at last we were home and in our new cabin. We threw our weary bodies into bed and had a solid night of sleep. It as an epic day and a very tiring day. Good times in Alaska.
Fri Aug 5
-we slept in and barely made it up in time for the 9:30 sled dog petting at our lodge. The kids awoke at about 9:18 and with a hurried promise of pancakes later they agreed to come see the dogs. It was a casual and local feeling affair but we all enjoyed petting the furry sled dogs who were happy to lean against you for some extra rubbing. Our host Courtney was eager to share her stories and show us around the gear barn
. It was fun and definitely part of the experience.
-we finally got rolling close to 11. First stop was back at Rosie's diner for some pancakes and heaps of bacon. Another starchy meal but we were hungry and needed the fuel.
-over bfast we caucused and agreed that the Horseshoe Lake hike looked like a good one in terms of length and duration. We also agreed to go and see the sled dog show.
-after some usual family frustration we arrived at the park and were ready to set off on our hike. Mom however needed a restroom stop so we did a detour and at last were off on the hike
.-the disgruntled children soon found much joy in the hike with the blueberry and other berry bushes. Soon after that we were on the shores of the river where Finn panned for gold and found a fleck of something very shiny. Lacking a bag of container he decided to swallow it and claim that he was now even more valuable. An interesting way of handling heavy metals...
-we made a small detour to the beaver dam and it was super neat to see after watching so many beaver shows. Later on the hike we actually saw a beaver swimming a branch across the pond. Amazing. We thought they were nocturnal and were thrilled to see one and quite close!
-we hurried through the end of the hike because once again Finn needed to go to the bathroom despite the chance to go before the hike. Maybe he's learning a lesson?!? All in all the hike was a resounding success and the kids learned that a hike advertised as 2 hours can be done in 1
.5 hours even with gold mining and berry picking stops.
-we had about an hour before the sled dog show so we went to see the movie. Yet another missed opportunity to educate as it was mainly music and images. We picnicked briefly and then boarded the shuttle bus to the kennels.
-the dog show was fun and informative such as sled dogs have the most power pound for pound of any hauling animal. We also learned about how the young dogs are trained by pulling single skiiers an activity calls sjkorking. We were glad that we had the chance to pet the dogs at our lodge because there were many people and not many dogs to pet. These were bigger dogs that were impeccably groomed. It was well worth the visit.
-we stopped at an Asian restaurant and the boys opted for Subway on the way home. We had some down time and then went to the 8pm slide show at our lodge.
-it turned out to be a private showing as we were the only attendees. The host was the lodge owner John who has lived near Denali for 34 years many as a park ranger. He showed us a slide show of his personal photos over the years. The best part however was talking with him afterwards and hearing his story about the 9ft bear when he was out on a solo mission. Story time was cut short when another guest rang the bell to check in. Bummer because we could tell that John was full of amazing tales. The experience that evening from our wilderness walk down the road to the slide show and tales made our stay in the cabins special.
Bears, moose, caribou, sheep, beavers and more
Wednesday, August 03, 2016
Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, United States
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2025-02-11