TRIP DAY – 48, 49, 50
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DAILY
MILES - 7 – 0 - 0
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TOTAL
MILES – 5,878
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8/1 – Denali Day 1 - We arrived at Denali National Park and will camp at
Riley Creek Campground for the next four nights. After finding a site near the bus stop, we
headed to the Visitor Center and attended a Ranger lecture on the bird
population in Denali. Then it was over
to the Café for lunch followed by a shuttle bus ride 14 miles into the park to
Savage Creek. Along the way we stopped
for pictures of the north side of Mt. McKinley (Denali) before reaching the
turning point and heading back to be dropped off at the campground. Only one third of the people who visit the park actually get to see Mt. McKinley as it is usually cloud covered. This makes two days straight for us and we now have pictures of both the South and North peaks of the mountain.
8/2 – Denali Day 2 – This
morning we slept in before our scheduled Natural History bus tour into the park.
We arrived at the Visitor Center early enough to see the movie and eat lunch at
the Café before our 2:00 tour departure.
Landon was an excellent tour guide and kept everyone on the loaded bus
entertained with stories of living in Alaska.
We traveled into the park 17 miles, making multiple stops along the way
to hear interpreters speak on different topics.
I photographed a caribou and saw two moose at a great distance. The bus was almost totally loaded with families
from the Princess Cruise Line. Only one
other family was picked up inside the park for the tour. (This makes the third day in a row that we have viewed Mt. McKinley.)
8/3 – Denali Day 3 – Today found us headed to the sled dog kennels and demonstration which turned out to be excellent. An older Ranger, about our age, directed the activities and talks and was most entertaining. Some folks petted the dogs, not me as I’m allergic to the harry beings. I did enjoy photographing them as they seemed to pose for the group. We actually got to see the dogs pull a musher on the sled at about 20 miles per hour on a gravel trail.
Following this we took a short trail
hike near the Visitor Center and went to the Education Center to see their
exhibits. This afternoon we are resting
in preparation for tomorrow’s bus trip which will take us 8 hours and 66 miles into
the park where we will hopefully get to see some grizzly bears.
