Friday 8/17
Our original plan had us on the road for Fairbanks early today, but we’ve decided instead to spend another day at Denali.
It is a cloudless day. First mission: Drive out to the end of the public-access road and get a view of the whole of Denali. We are not disappointed. Nearly 75 miles away, the mountain still dominates the landscape—an imposing snowy giant. At the viewpoint we meet a couple from Stuttgart Germany who have been on “holiday” for a year and a half—Australia, New Zealand, and in the states for 4 months and plan a few more. Like the Europeans we met on the Dempster, these folks have brought their cool, 4WD Mercedes, truck-camper RV with them. They say it’s expensive, but at least they can find their underwear.
While I’m shooting photos, Nancy spots a short-tailed weasel (ermine). Later in day while I’m rock climbing she sees a HUGE caribou. At one point in our drive, I am complaining that we are probably driving right past unseen animals when Nancy spots a moose in the f-a-r distance. We see no bears, but get up close and personal with some ptarmigan, hares, some deadly ground squirrels, and a new vireo that we have yet to completely identify.
The jagged rocks I climb are at the end of the public road at Savage River. From the top I get another dramatic perspective of Denali.
Later in the day we tour the world-class Visitor Center. There’s a beautiful film on the 4 seasons of Denali. There are also life-like plastic replicas of most of the animals in the park. I finally get pictures of wolves and lynx—who will ever know? We take pictures of the pig next to a Pica (the description of which is in a very small font).
Before leaving, we take a walk on the Horseshoe Lake Trail. No animals, but many different and attractive mushrooms.
We depart in the early evening heading north towards Fairbanks. We stop to camp 4 miles north of Nenana. This town is named in honor of Mork & Mindy. We notice a cell phone message, but since we have no cell coverage we drive back to town to retrieve it. Since we’ve been out of touch for several days, our daughters are worried that we’ve been adopted by wolves. We reassure them, return to the pack, and howl until midnight.
