I don't know if it has just worked out that way, but there are thunder showers every day, mid-afternoon. The rain doesn’t last long; my windshield is still
filthy. Ha. I watched a film at Eielson Visitor Center
about climbing Denali; the visitor center keeps a board on how many are
climbing and how many have reached the summit.
179 have reached the summit so far this year. It takes a minimum of 2-3 weeks, even
starting at 7,000 from the base camp (they fly there from Talkeetna).
I will have several more opportunities to see the mountain,
besides my flightour, when I get to Talkeetna and Willow.
Today I took the shuttle to Kantishna, as far into the park
you can go in a motorized vehicle. As I
was ready to go, I took the 8am shuttle as far as Eielson Visitor Center, where
I waited over 2 hours for the shuttle I would have normally taken from my
campground had I waited. While at the
visitor center I watched the film and took a walk with a ranger (just the 2 of
us) and ate my lunch. The trip to
Kantishna is 12 hours round trip, plus the time at the visitor center …. Long
day.
While in the park I have seen ….
17 Grizzly bears up close and personal – Grizzlies weigh up to 600 lbs. Around 300 – 350 grizzly bears live in the
park on the north side of the Alaska Range.
These grizzlies eat roots, berries, bulbs, tubers and fresh vegetation early
in the season. They also eat ground squirrels, caribou, moose and sheep. Grizzly bears vary in color from brown to
blond.
Hundreds of Artic ground squirrels and rabbits … 
Dozens of Dall Sheep (the reason the park preserve was
founded to begin with) – Around 1,600 Dall Sheep live in the park. They eat
low-growing alpine plants.
Between 100 and 200 Caribou – Around 2,600 Denali Park
caribou roam in groups. Caribou favor
open tundra and ridgetops, where they find lichens and escape the bugs. They lose a pint of blood daily to insects
(OMG). Both male and female caribou have
antlers.
A couple ptarmigan, the Alaska state bird. They are white in the winter and brown in the summer, so this time of year they are half/half.
2 Moose and a calf – Moose weigh up to 1,600 lbs. Around 2,100 live in the park.
Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of spotting any
wolves or red fox.
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| Hoary marmot |
Before you are allowed to enter the park for camping, you
have to sign and initial a list of regulations, including not running your
generator except 8-10am and 6-8pm, which means you never get a hot meal. Ha.
Because you usually on a bus by 8am and not back until late, you don’t
have an opportunity to run the generator to use the microwave, etc. A group of us from this campground (there
were 24) were laughing while on the bus that we had eaten popcorn more than
once for dinner, either because of the generator hours or being too tired to do
anything else.
I have the advantage of my solar panels and running my
generator hasn’t been an issue, except for the microwave, but a lot of these
campers are in rented Class C vehicles and it must be a challenge for them to
keep the batteries charged.
I can attest that they inforce the generator hours … we got
back a little before 8pm and I quickly stuck some soup in the microwave. By the time I had it hot it was 8:05pm and a
ranger was knocking on my door. I did
eat the soup (Ivar’s clam chowder – yum!) cold the day before.
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| Wonder Lake |
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| Glaziers |
Saturday is cleaning and prep day and Sunday I leave the
park. It has been an incredible stay and
I am so glad I had the opportunity to come here.
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