The early bird

DENALI PARK, AK - - At 5:30am at the 11-mile mark on the Park Road, Denali was out in good form with the rising sun making the upper portion of the mountain shine while low clouds obscured the base. Why am I out in the park this early? I was off and Lydia was working, and if I wanted the car to do an early trip I needed to take her to work. In between the north shot of Denali and the south/moose shots I stopped in the EDR for breakfast.
CANTWELL, AK - - Three hours and 35 miles down the George Parks Highway and 4 miles up the Denali Highway, the south exposure of the mountain was in full view. This angle presents a much larger view with the base spread out more and not as hidden the by Alaska Range as it is when seen from the north. That pesky low cloud was still hanging around.
ON THE GEORGE PARKS HIGHWAY - - In between the two mountain shots and about 20 miles south of the park this young moose was having breakfast. The noise of passing traffic didn't seem to have any effect but the click of the motordrive was apparently annoying. In a good deal of the other shots I took, the moose was staring at me with ears up.
SO by 8:30am on my day off I had seen both sides of the mountain and bagged a moose. Not bad.

On guard duty

DENALI PARK, AK - - The Ptarmigan family group, two females and at least six chicks, knew I was there. The older birds made their warning noises and the chicks seemingly ignored them by wandering all around. They were mainly undercover in the bushes. I stood still for five minutes figuring sooner (if I won the waiting it out battle) someone would pop up to check on the intruder....or later (if the birds out-waited me) one of us would abandon the game.

I won as the above photo shows the Ptarmigan who, probably, drew the short straw and was the designated lookout.

On Duty

DENALI PARK, AK - - High atop a rocky outcrop the lonely sentinel stands guard, back to the cold Alaska wind.

Leave only footprints, take only memories

DENALI PARK, AK -- The turn around point on Lydia's Sunday route was Fish Creek, a spot on the road 63 miles into the park. The Stoney Hill Area, as the surroundings are known, is grizzly country. We didn't see any, but a short walk down to the small creek produced evidence that they are around.
TOP: The front paw print .. and some careless human's shoe print nearby.
BOTTOM: The back paw print is a bit less visible. Anyway, the bear would wear large shoes.
BELOW: This wolf trotted up the road toward the bus, then past the bus and then went into the bushes alongside the road. By his look he knows we're trespassing in his territory.

Air Talkeetna, #3

DENALI PARK, AK - - This shot is through the window behind and to my left. It was sometimes hard to get the shot you wanted because of the way the plane rolled around and the turns the pilot made. The Muldrow Glacier is in about the middle of the pic. It appears brown because of the dirt covering but it is solid ice underneath the covering.
THE bottom pic is of one of our favorite places and one which appears in numerous blogs: Polychrome Pass. You can see the road weaving up and down the mountainside. The small buildings are the rest area and there's even a green bus heading back to the Wilderness Access Center where the tours start. This is Lydia's picture, but it seems she doesn't want to think about or look at anything to do with our high-flying adventure. Oh yeah, did I mention it was her idea.

Talkeetna Air, Part #2

DENALI PARK, AK - - Here's the twin-engine, eight passenger (not counting the pilot and co-pilot) aircraft we flew in. The suspiciously familiar looking person in the two-tone blue jacket and brown pants is none other than LH. Shortly after takeoff and the first few air pockets we dropped into LH was about as green as the swath on the plane's tail section. The headwinds which caused the plane to move about quite a bit didn't help either.
This our pilot, Erica. And the co-pilot in the right seat. She flew, he kept up an ongoing guide of what we were seeing and answered questions. On the way back, a female helocopter pilot kept us informed of her whereabouts and altitude on another flight-seeing trip. Inbetween transmissions, Erica kept up a rap about how the chopper pilots randomly give names to locations which they then use on the radio - - only nobody else has much of a clue where thay are. It doesn't really help much since traffic control is basically visual recognition and altitude spacing.
We were fitted up with headphones so we could listen to the pilots, the radio transmissions, and ask questions as well. The clear tubing connects the air masks to the air supply. We wore the masks (loosely) above 12,000'. Since the cabin wasn't pressurized, the hardest thing (for me) was trying to keep the pressure even in my ears without getting a roaring headache. By flights end, Lydia was sort of Green Eggs and Span-colored and I couldn't hear much at all - - which Lydia says is normal anyway.

Some days you get lucky

DENALI PARK, AK - - Some days you get lucky. Lydia scored a free seat on a FlightSeeing plane, called me so I could call our Rec. Dept. and I got a seat on the plane also. This was step one in the process. Step two involved hoping we didn't get bumped by paying customers. We didn't. The ride was bumpy, swoopy and the plane danced around a bit at lower altitude due to winds and the fact we had to follow a valley southbound directly into headwinds before gaining altitude.
TOP PIC is of the South Face of Denali. At 19, 470' the peak is 850' lower than the North Face (20,320') which is obscured by clouds.
MIDDLE PIC is of the saddle between the South and North Face. Note the sweeping light clouds above the mountain. This is caused by the 60-plus mph winds at the summit. Not the best weather for an assault on the top. The temp. is -20 below zero.
BOTTOM PIC is of a "river of ice". The name of the glacier - - seen in the lower right of the pic with the 'crinkled ice' - - escapes me. Lydia is asleep...and I know better than to wake her just to ask a question.

MORE info and pics tomorrow on our adventure with Air Talkeetna.

Bees and Bunny on a day off

DENALI PARK, AK - - Whether it's the common dandelion or the wild rose, it seems the honey bees are buzzing everywhere. Especially on a morning after a nice rain. The long hours of daylight give the plants and flowers a lot of energy so they grow about twice as fast.
I surprised the young snowshoe hare in the pic below as he was chomping on a clump of grass..at least I thought he was chowing down. Since he ran off with a mouthfull of grass and disappeared into a warren of rocks maybe he's bringing some 'take out' to those still at home and too young to venture out.

Location, location, location

DENALI PARK, AK - - For those of you out there with Google Earth, the following are the GPS coordinates of our cabin:
N63-degrees 44.824minutes
W148-degrees 55.352minutes

FYI: The coordinates of the sign marking the crossing of the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway are:
N66-degrees 33minutes
W150-degrees 48minutes
TO get to the sign you travel north from Fairbanks on the Dalton Highway - - the only road north from this location. The highway is famous as the route to Prudhoe Bay, where the Alaska Pipeline originates. On the way to PB you pass through Cold Foot and Deadhorse after crossing the Circle and not much else.

Lazy Day

DENALI PARK, AK - - After a nice string of 11 days working, I finally got a day off. Of course, Lydia was working as we haven't - - as yet - - gotten to where we have the same days off. So, what did I do?? Why I went for a green bus ride 52 miles into the Park's interior to Toklat. It just so happened that my favorite (and one and only) travelling partner of 15-years was driving. I'd like to say I was able to be in two places at once but the shot of green bus inching along the Polychrome Pass section of the road in the top pic was taken before we started down the road.

In the photo below you can get a front seat view of what Lydia has to watch out for on Polychrome: rock walls on the left side and a nice drop of about 1,000' on the right. It's also evident that this section of the road is no wide interstate. In places it's like threading a needle and Lydia is good, very good. Of course, the road isn't the only problem. She has to put up with a lot of Ship Sheep just like I do although most of them are in a bit better shape than the ones I haul around. At least I don't have to herd them back onto the bus at rest stops so I can stay on schedule. My routes are short enough there aren't any rest stops.

Chomp, chomp

DENALI PARK, AK - - Did you know wood has a lot of fiber in it and that fiber is good for an upset stomach? Or that fiber is one of the building blocks in the food chain? No problem. Wood is also one of the building blocks of beaver dams and beaver lodges and beaver warehouses where they story food. Anyway, Horseshoe Lake is home to a lot of beaver(s). There's a long dam which keeps the water level high and is hard to make noticeable in a photo plus evidence of lodging and warehousing. The best evidence of the beaver population is the industrious rascasls are gnawing on a whole lot of trees - - sort of getting a head start on the coming winter months. I guess if you're a beaver you can never start too early on bringing down a part of the forest.
Actually Bucky Beaver gnaws on trees to keep his "buckies" at a normal length. Tree ganwing is a way of wearing down his front "buckies" while looking busy at the same time. The top two pics show how hard the crew has been working. Picture three is part of the "Stupid Human Tricks" photo album. It must have been the smell of the sap.

Standing tall

DENALI PARK, AK - - I was on the trail of big game. I could hear the rustling in the brush. Maybe it was a fox or a wolf or even a bear. No such luck, but pound for pound, these little guys have a lot of 'macho.' He wasn't really begging but if i had had a crumb to drop he would have been my friend and pet forever...or at least five seconds, whichever came first.
I see at least one fox every day on my way to work or in the first hour or two plus usually a mother moose and her young calf. They discourage us from having cameras with us so you'll just have to accept this snappy fellow for now.

Saturday, June 2

DENALI NATIONAL PARK - - It's very easy to lose track of time and days here, especially when you work a very early shift. The early risers on vacation are usually the Ship Sheep who are capable of walking 100 yards or more. Contrast this branch of the specis to the later rising Sheep who only move with haste when they hear the call "Buffet is Open." These are and have been 24-hour-a-day grazers whose main goal in life seems to complain about everything. They should wear warning bells.
OF course you do meet a rare breed of the specis once in a while: the independent sheep. These individuals are taking advantage of the transportation and, wonder of wonders, actually picking things to do which they like.
THE seasoned Ship Sheep follow the herd mentality like they are on a conveyer belt and the cruise lines make sure that creative or independent thinking for oneself is discouraged. Case in point: The railway station has very attractive boarding areas designated for specific cars / cruise lines. Only a cynic would note the similarity to cattle pens in a stock yard. But then I'm just rambling on.