Told to call the Denali 800 number at 7:00 am to get a reservation -- didn't
work, no one answered the phone. So I drove the 27 miles, up to the park.
Got a reservation for 12 noon.
Rev. 07/11/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 7/10
Denali NP
Told to call the Denali 800 number at 7:00 am to get a reservation -- didn't
work, no one answered the phone. So I drove the 27 miles, up to the park.
Got a reservation for 12 noon.
At Denali, you are allowed to drive 14 miles into the park. If you want to go further you must take a tour bus. I opted for the eight hour tour, which will get me back about 8:00 this evening.
The 14 mile drive is interesting, and I got a good picture of Mt. McKinley.
The face in shadow on the right, I found out is called the Wickersham
Wall. And the mountain is 75 miles away.
Bill Baily, was our tour bus driver -- and all the jokes about his name.
We saw a herd of Dall sheep, way up on the mountain side. It is amazing the way they travel over the steep slopes. Several more times we saw sheep -- one time, what we all thought were sheep, turned out to be a bunch of white rocks.
Around a corner we came upon a large grizzly, laying on the ground about
two-hundred feet from the road. Bill stopped the bus on the road side. It
took quite a time for the grizzly to finally get up and move around.
A caribou came over the hill and was grazing down toward the grizzly. Suddenly, it stop, sniffed the air, spotted the bear, and slowly beat a gradual retreat, even before the bear knew he was there.
All in all, we saw six bears. One we saw had a yearling cub
with her. They were on a wide, gravel, braided river course.
This type of river is very common up here. A river carries gravel with it. As it slows down the gravel settles to the bottom, eventually choking the river and forcing it to change course across the broad stretch of gravel, creating a new channel. From above, the many different streams the river takes look like they are braided -- hence, braided river. The width of the course can be half a mile or more.
Any way, as caribou was grazing on the sparse vegetation and wandering down the same braided river course as the bears. It was aware of the two grizzles, as they were of him. Bill told us that the grizzly could out run the caribou, but only over a short distance. So it was obvious the caribou was not letting the bear get within striking distance. It was interesting watching the tableau below.
If you remember, back along the Cassiar Highway, I took a picture of a plant
that had what appeared like a cotton ball on the end. Well today, I found
more about it. It is called Cotton Grass. For thousands of years the local
Indians have picked the cotton, spread it out and sandwiched it between two
thin sheets of moose hide. This was used as a diaper -- native Pampers.
We saw a number of eagles, but I wasn't to get a good picture. We did see
a Willow Ptarmigan, brown in it's summer color. It is the Alaska State Bird,
not the mosquito as some say.
Down by Savage River, there is a large rock outcrop that resembles an Indian looking up at the sky. This is where the Savage River got its name -- and the Savage Bridge, the Savage Guard Station ..... the Savage Ranger ........
The lowly ground squirrel seems to be the butt of all jokes
around Denali. I told Bill someone needed to organize SDORG -- Society
for the Development of Respect for the Groundhog.
It has been a great day, more wildlife than I've seen in years, well worth the cost of the tour -- and if you have a choice, get Bill Baily as your driver.
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