On the trail, again

DENALI PARK, AK - - They call them "Disco Hikes," short for discovery hikes for a small group (11 individuals) with a park ranger guide. There was only one vacancy on Wednesday, I signed up and LH waited to see if anyone would cancel. Sometime later Tuesday afternoon Lydia decided that since she drives the road five days a week that it might be better if I went...alone...and we would see what next week's hike destination would be.

Things started off smoothly and we had our own bus for the lucky 11. 4 miles later we picked up our guide, Alex. He is now a full time ranger in the park both summer and winter. I asked how he dealt with the long hours of darkness in the winter. His reply: "I sleep a lot."
Although his home is in Ohio, he says his heart is in Alaska.

About five miles from our Sable Mountain trailhead destination we came to a stop. A "honey truck" was right in the middle of the road blocking the way. Blocking might be the wrong word because the driver of the truck had planted the driver-side front wheel up to the axle. He wasn't going anywhere...and the tour and VTS busses were jamming up behind him. Not only was he in deep s**t, his truck was full to the brim of the same stuff.

Help finally arrived to pull him out, but that was nearly 90 minutes later and we were long gone...with Plan B in effect. This meant we walked half a mile further out the road and then about 2.5-miles up a creek bed with some running water to a green spot called the lower summit of Cathedral Mountain.

It was about 50-degrees; there was rain sprinkles off and on; the clouds hung low and everybody had a great time.

TOP PIC: Alex explains options on the trail up.
BELOW: Lunchtime at 4,750' overlooking the Teklanika River
Check out the center of the pic for the sort-of white Hoary Marmot. This fellow watched us for a couple of minutes and then took off up a steep slope behind and to his left. Given his color, we could watch him climb for a long time until he dove out of sight.