Denali
It's been a few days and I'm wore out and not wanting to work so this'll be a relatively brief version of what I originally would of written. ;)
Trip to Denali
Normally, you aren't allowed to drive past a certain point into Denali National Park. To get beyond a certain point, you have to go on a special bus. But at the end of the season in September, they have a lottery. It costs $10 per person to enter the lottery and what you're hoping to win is a one day pass into the park on one of four days they open the park to personal vehicles. They only allow 400 vehicles each day. That sounds like a lot but you don't see everyone at once since the road into the park is nearly 100 miles long. Most people camp out at one of the 6 or so campgrounds that are on the part of the road that is always open to traffic (as long as there's no snow on the road; they don't maintain it once it snows). You camp out the night before you enter the park on your given day, and usually camp out after you've been in because it's a 5 hour dive back to the Valley.
So Murphy, my Grandma Laura's husband (on my dad's side) won a ticket for going in Monday. 400 vehicles are allowed in per day and you can bring as many people as comfortably fit in your vehicle so they invited Aunt PeterAnn and I to go with. Grandma and Murph had to rent a small RV because their truck camper broke recently, and Aunt PeterAnn and I drove up in her VW van, which is what we used to drive into the park in since it fits everyone and all our gear comfortably and has lots of windows.
Getting There
Aunt Peter and I drove up in the VW van on Sunday. It was really sunny and nice out. "The Mountain" (Denali/McKinley, whichever you want to call it) was just visible but had a storm system brewing around its peak so you couldn't see the whole thing. We talked a lot and generally had a nice time. Had a grouse jump out in the road in front of us, clipping its wings on the back of the van. That was about it for excitement til we got to the park.
When we entered the park, it was overcast and rainy and cold. We met Grandma and Murph and got our campsites reserved. The first night we were to stay at T__________, which they were closing the next day because of snow I guess, and then at Savage River the next night.
On the way to the first campground...
Grandma and Murph started off way ahead of us. On the way into the park to our first campground we came across Pop and Sharon, who had gone into the park with some friends who had won a ticket in. Pop showed us photos of all the animals they saw: moose, a caribou herd, and lots of bears up close. He said the bears were right on a river by the road and Grandma and Murph passed Pop and Sharon just as they were leaving the area - blew right through and didn't stop to look! Crazy.
So Pop had me excited that we'd see lots of wildlife despite the crappy weather.
By the time we got through the checkpoint (the point in the road at which you need a pass to continue on) it was getting dark - dusky, rather, and darker than it should of been because of the thick clouds. The sky was white with weird light toward the west where the sun was setting.
After we got past the checkpoint we had our first in-park animal sighting, which turned out to be the best of the trip. We were on a straight stretch near a river when a black figure leapt up onto the road in front of us, maybe 15 feet away - it was a wolf! It was a young male with salt and peppery black fur and he seemed totally unconcerned that there was a van on the road. He looked around, alert and excited - he was chasing a rabbit, which we spotted in the ditch to our left. After sniffing around, he gave a wag of his tail and bounded off into the ditch, stalking around all goofy like for the rabbit, who hadnt' twitched so much as a whisker while that wolf was there. We watched the wolf for a good 10 minutes before he gave up and loped away. He'd obviously not been that hungry or we definetly would of had a National Geographic moment there. ;) Seeing as how my aunt is rather partial to rabbits, that's probably a good thing.
Our day in the park
It POURED rain that night - just pounded down. Slept pretty good, had breakfast, and we all piled into the van and took off for the park around 8AM. You weren't allowed to drive before 6am and for the most part it doesn't matter what time you take off because at this time of the year animals are out all the time looking for food.
It had snowed in the mountains - ha, that's funny, your'e ALWAYS in the mountains there... ok, it snowed, but not lower where we were. I guess I'll have to get my pics developed sometime and upload some shots later...
We saw tons of dall sheep everywhere (the white kind - we don't have bighorn here), some right along the road. That was okay; sheep are all over the state and you see them all the time along Turnagain Arm on the way to Girdwood from Anchorage. After Sable Pass we spotted a lone male caribou waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy across the river bed along the base of a mountain far far away.
Eventually we got to the Toklat River where people were stopping because from there on the road had been closed due to snow and the presence of road equiptment. They said they'd probably open the road in another hour; It was another 30 miles from there and apparently good bear country, too, so we decided to hang out until the road opened.
Before we even got off the bridge over the river, though, a grizzly bear came ambling down the river bed a ways away. She eventualy went back into the bushes, so we drove on down to the restrooms where lots of peopel were parked and waiting. It was windy here and no other wildlife was about, but the bear did come back out of the bushes and came on down the river bed. We were still a ways away from her but that was actually the first grizzly I've ever seen from the ground, so I was pretty pleased. She was uprooting brown grass from the river bed and eating the roots, so I got some shots of her with grass hanging out her mouth. It never occured to me that bears would eat grass, but they'll eat anything, particularly right before they go into hibernation and are trying to stuff themselves with anything handy.
We ended up hanging around for two hours. By then all KINDS of traffic had ammassed, waiting to get through to the rest of the road. Though they were about to open the road at that time, we decided it wouldnt' be worth it with 200+ other vehicles bumper to bumper ambling through the park. The people in front would see animals first and would stop, and so would everyone behind them and by the time you got to wherever the animal was, there wouldn't be room on the road to stop and look. So we turned around and headed back.
On the way out we didnt' see anything other than sheep. Ah, well.
Savage River
So we had to move camp over to the Savage River campground. On the way there, Aunt Peter and I saw one of the other three cool animal things for the trip. I spotted a bunch of ptarmigan in the brush along the side of the road. There were six of them sitting there, all in different stages of plumage change (they turn white for winter). Ptarmigan (specifically the Willow ptarmigan) is the AK state bird and though they're not the brightest of birds, they sure look cool and survive well in the harsh weather. They're related to grouse and they've got big taloned feathery feet. It's like you stuck eagle feet on a fat, squat pidgeon. :D Their instinct is to not move if a predator approaches, so we were able to get within 5 feet of them to get pictures. I didnt' go that close because I don't believe in disturbing wildlife, but Aunt Peter did, so we'll see how the pictures turn out.
The other cool thing about the ptarmigan was that they make the STRANGEST sounds! I didnt know what to expect, but it wasn't that. I can't even describe it - it was like a bubbly turkey/duck warble thing. One of them made the noise first. Then a second went by, and then all SIX of them made the noise together! It was so funny!
So the Savage River had a lot more trees, scrubby black spruce. It rained and rained... we were there early before dinner, so Aunt Peter and I went for a walk around the grounds.
I remind you, this isn't like some Lower 48 campgrounds - it's no KOA. Just a gravel road loop, each site has a wooden bumper block to keep you from driving over the wooden picnic table. Some sites might have a wooden bench and all have a fire pit. The outhouses are just that - a hole dug into the ground with a little outhouse built over it that has a corrugated fiberglass roof. Although in McKinley, because of the volume of tourists in the summer, they do have bigger toilet facilities which most campgrounds in Alaska do not have, but these were closed for the year. So it was the outhouse for us. Oh, yeah, and since we were in bear country, they've got food lockers at some of the tent sites.
So we went for a walk down to the river and underneath every other tree was a snowshoe hare! They were all grey with white feet and underbellies; shortish ears (like Abby) but with HUGE feet, hence their name "snowshoe". I swear, if you threw a rock up in the air and out, you would of hit one.
That was about all the wildlife we saw from then on out of the park, was snowshoe hare - but I couldnt BELIEVE all the hares! Like how some campgrounds are infested with squirrles, this place had rabbits everywhere!
The drive home
It was mostly rainy coming out of the Alaska Range. Didnt' see any other animals. Once we got down to the tundra areas outside of Cantwell, the weather cleared off and got warmer as we drove south. We saw lots of swans on the tundra lakes before we hit the Talkeetnas. Saw a lot of roadkill, too - a moose was one sad thing we saw. It was obviously a hit-and-run. When you hit a moose in Alaska, you have to report it for two reasons; their numbers are watched closely, and roadkill moose meat is distributed via a roadkill program for people who need food. A few miles down the road I saw a big chunk of hide on the road that was obviously from the moose, so it was obvious someone managed to clip it hard enough to kill it but in such a way that their vehicle wasn't damaged. They HAD to of been driving a huge vehicle with some sort of sharp front grille, and they had to of been drunk. Or in a hurry. You don't just hit a moose and drive away -- that's like hitting a big horse. Most vehicles wouldn't withstand it.
Also saw a roadkill martin, which would of been nice to take home and clean up for the fur but we don't know how to do that, and a porcupine as well.
Stopped at Byers Lake and ate our sandwiches as we walked along a path to where a stream feeds the lake. A father and adult son from probably Denmark were on the path behind us a ways. We kept stopping in the trail because there were grouse EVERYWHERE, mated pairs. Aunt Peter pointed them out to the two guys who found them endlessly fascinating. ;)
When we got to the stream we didn't stay long since there were fresh bear tracks on the sandbar.
Went back to the van, and drove home. Only other things of note: I'd forgotten how crazy fun it is to watch the road in front of you with binoculars while you go around sharp corners and over steep hills. :D Also, I saw a friggin' HUGE beaver! It was twice the size of any beaver I'd ever seen. Geez.
And of course, when we got home it was REALLY nice out; sunny and, well, to me warm enough to wear shorts. No one else was, but they hadn't spent all weekend up in the frigid mountains. ;)
The end.
Trip to Denali
Normally, you aren't allowed to drive past a certain point into Denali National Park. To get beyond a certain point, you have to go on a special bus. But at the end of the season in September, they have a lottery. It costs $10 per person to enter the lottery and what you're hoping to win is a one day pass into the park on one of four days they open the park to personal vehicles. They only allow 400 vehicles each day. That sounds like a lot but you don't see everyone at once since the road into the park is nearly 100 miles long. Most people camp out at one of the 6 or so campgrounds that are on the part of the road that is always open to traffic (as long as there's no snow on the road; they don't maintain it once it snows). You camp out the night before you enter the park on your given day, and usually camp out after you've been in because it's a 5 hour dive back to the Valley.
So Murphy, my Grandma Laura's husband (on my dad's side) won a ticket for going in Monday. 400 vehicles are allowed in per day and you can bring as many people as comfortably fit in your vehicle so they invited Aunt PeterAnn and I to go with. Grandma and Murph had to rent a small RV because their truck camper broke recently, and Aunt PeterAnn and I drove up in her VW van, which is what we used to drive into the park in since it fits everyone and all our gear comfortably and has lots of windows.
Getting There
Aunt Peter and I drove up in the VW van on Sunday. It was really sunny and nice out. "The Mountain" (Denali/McKinley, whichever you want to call it) was just visible but had a storm system brewing around its peak so you couldn't see the whole thing. We talked a lot and generally had a nice time. Had a grouse jump out in the road in front of us, clipping its wings on the back of the van. That was about it for excitement til we got to the park.
When we entered the park, it was overcast and rainy and cold. We met Grandma and Murph and got our campsites reserved. The first night we were to stay at T__________, which they were closing the next day because of snow I guess, and then at Savage River the next night.
On the way to the first campground...
Grandma and Murph started off way ahead of us. On the way into the park to our first campground we came across Pop and Sharon, who had gone into the park with some friends who had won a ticket in. Pop showed us photos of all the animals they saw: moose, a caribou herd, and lots of bears up close. He said the bears were right on a river by the road and Grandma and Murph passed Pop and Sharon just as they were leaving the area - blew right through and didn't stop to look! Crazy.
So Pop had me excited that we'd see lots of wildlife despite the crappy weather.
By the time we got through the checkpoint (the point in the road at which you need a pass to continue on) it was getting dark - dusky, rather, and darker than it should of been because of the thick clouds. The sky was white with weird light toward the west where the sun was setting.
After we got past the checkpoint we had our first in-park animal sighting, which turned out to be the best of the trip. We were on a straight stretch near a river when a black figure leapt up onto the road in front of us, maybe 15 feet away - it was a wolf! It was a young male with salt and peppery black fur and he seemed totally unconcerned that there was a van on the road. He looked around, alert and excited - he was chasing a rabbit, which we spotted in the ditch to our left. After sniffing around, he gave a wag of his tail and bounded off into the ditch, stalking around all goofy like for the rabbit, who hadnt' twitched so much as a whisker while that wolf was there. We watched the wolf for a good 10 minutes before he gave up and loped away. He'd obviously not been that hungry or we definetly would of had a National Geographic moment there. ;) Seeing as how my aunt is rather partial to rabbits, that's probably a good thing.
Our day in the park
It POURED rain that night - just pounded down. Slept pretty good, had breakfast, and we all piled into the van and took off for the park around 8AM. You weren't allowed to drive before 6am and for the most part it doesn't matter what time you take off because at this time of the year animals are out all the time looking for food.
It had snowed in the mountains - ha, that's funny, your'e ALWAYS in the mountains there... ok, it snowed, but not lower where we were. I guess I'll have to get my pics developed sometime and upload some shots later...
We saw tons of dall sheep everywhere (the white kind - we don't have bighorn here), some right along the road. That was okay; sheep are all over the state and you see them all the time along Turnagain Arm on the way to Girdwood from Anchorage. After Sable Pass we spotted a lone male caribou waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy across the river bed along the base of a mountain far far away.
Eventually we got to the Toklat River where people were stopping because from there on the road had been closed due to snow and the presence of road equiptment. They said they'd probably open the road in another hour; It was another 30 miles from there and apparently good bear country, too, so we decided to hang out until the road opened.
Before we even got off the bridge over the river, though, a grizzly bear came ambling down the river bed a ways away. She eventualy went back into the bushes, so we drove on down to the restrooms where lots of peopel were parked and waiting. It was windy here and no other wildlife was about, but the bear did come back out of the bushes and came on down the river bed. We were still a ways away from her but that was actually the first grizzly I've ever seen from the ground, so I was pretty pleased. She was uprooting brown grass from the river bed and eating the roots, so I got some shots of her with grass hanging out her mouth. It never occured to me that bears would eat grass, but they'll eat anything, particularly right before they go into hibernation and are trying to stuff themselves with anything handy.
We ended up hanging around for two hours. By then all KINDS of traffic had ammassed, waiting to get through to the rest of the road. Though they were about to open the road at that time, we decided it wouldnt' be worth it with 200+ other vehicles bumper to bumper ambling through the park. The people in front would see animals first and would stop, and so would everyone behind them and by the time you got to wherever the animal was, there wouldn't be room on the road to stop and look. So we turned around and headed back.
On the way out we didnt' see anything other than sheep. Ah, well.
Savage River
So we had to move camp over to the Savage River campground. On the way there, Aunt Peter and I saw one of the other three cool animal things for the trip. I spotted a bunch of ptarmigan in the brush along the side of the road. There were six of them sitting there, all in different stages of plumage change (they turn white for winter). Ptarmigan (specifically the Willow ptarmigan) is the AK state bird and though they're not the brightest of birds, they sure look cool and survive well in the harsh weather. They're related to grouse and they've got big taloned feathery feet. It's like you stuck eagle feet on a fat, squat pidgeon. :D Their instinct is to not move if a predator approaches, so we were able to get within 5 feet of them to get pictures. I didnt' go that close because I don't believe in disturbing wildlife, but Aunt Peter did, so we'll see how the pictures turn out.
The other cool thing about the ptarmigan was that they make the STRANGEST sounds! I didnt know what to expect, but it wasn't that. I can't even describe it - it was like a bubbly turkey/duck warble thing. One of them made the noise first. Then a second went by, and then all SIX of them made the noise together! It was so funny!
So the Savage River had a lot more trees, scrubby black spruce. It rained and rained... we were there early before dinner, so Aunt Peter and I went for a walk around the grounds.
I remind you, this isn't like some Lower 48 campgrounds - it's no KOA. Just a gravel road loop, each site has a wooden bumper block to keep you from driving over the wooden picnic table. Some sites might have a wooden bench and all have a fire pit. The outhouses are just that - a hole dug into the ground with a little outhouse built over it that has a corrugated fiberglass roof. Although in McKinley, because of the volume of tourists in the summer, they do have bigger toilet facilities which most campgrounds in Alaska do not have, but these were closed for the year. So it was the outhouse for us. Oh, yeah, and since we were in bear country, they've got food lockers at some of the tent sites.
So we went for a walk down to the river and underneath every other tree was a snowshoe hare! They were all grey with white feet and underbellies; shortish ears (like Abby) but with HUGE feet, hence their name "snowshoe". I swear, if you threw a rock up in the air and out, you would of hit one.
That was about all the wildlife we saw from then on out of the park, was snowshoe hare - but I couldnt BELIEVE all the hares! Like how some campgrounds are infested with squirrles, this place had rabbits everywhere!
The drive home
It was mostly rainy coming out of the Alaska Range. Didnt' see any other animals. Once we got down to the tundra areas outside of Cantwell, the weather cleared off and got warmer as we drove south. We saw lots of swans on the tundra lakes before we hit the Talkeetnas. Saw a lot of roadkill, too - a moose was one sad thing we saw. It was obviously a hit-and-run. When you hit a moose in Alaska, you have to report it for two reasons; their numbers are watched closely, and roadkill moose meat is distributed via a roadkill program for people who need food. A few miles down the road I saw a big chunk of hide on the road that was obviously from the moose, so it was obvious someone managed to clip it hard enough to kill it but in such a way that their vehicle wasn't damaged. They HAD to of been driving a huge vehicle with some sort of sharp front grille, and they had to of been drunk. Or in a hurry. You don't just hit a moose and drive away -- that's like hitting a big horse. Most vehicles wouldn't withstand it.
Also saw a roadkill martin, which would of been nice to take home and clean up for the fur but we don't know how to do that, and a porcupine as well.
Stopped at Byers Lake and ate our sandwiches as we walked along a path to where a stream feeds the lake. A father and adult son from probably Denmark were on the path behind us a ways. We kept stopping in the trail because there were grouse EVERYWHERE, mated pairs. Aunt Peter pointed them out to the two guys who found them endlessly fascinating. ;)
When we got to the stream we didn't stay long since there were fresh bear tracks on the sandbar.
Went back to the van, and drove home. Only other things of note: I'd forgotten how crazy fun it is to watch the road in front of you with binoculars while you go around sharp corners and over steep hills. :D Also, I saw a friggin' HUGE beaver! It was twice the size of any beaver I'd ever seen. Geez.
And of course, when we got home it was REALLY nice out; sunny and, well, to me warm enough to wear shorts. No one else was, but they hadn't spent all weekend up in the frigid mountains. ;)
The end.