The long anticipated, Denali National Park.

6/15/14
Father's Day on the road again.

After a breakfast of Father's day waffles ( we have to have electric hook ups in order to fire up the waffle iron, another reason to stay at a RV Park for one night),

We are camped at the Savage River Campground, a beautiful primitive site in the National Park about 13 miles from the main entrance.  The campground has the A Loop and the B Loop.  A Loop is for rigs up to 40 feet and B Loop is for rigs under 31 feet.  Since we are under 31 feet I made the reservation for the B loop.  We were lucky to find a spot that we would fit into.  Actually there were several spots we could fit into, but this is a first come first serve and those that are leaving must be out by 11:00.  We arrived at 10:00 and the camp host told us that there was a spot we would fit into as soon as the other people left, which was only about a 15 min wait.  Later, wile walking through the A Loop we saw that every site was a pull-thru, about 90 feet.  Next time we will get into A Loop.

Since we are 13 miles back in Denali we will be riding the free shuttle most of the time.  The problem is this it is still early in the year and the bus only comes by every two hrs, on the odd hr.  it takes some real planning to go somewhere.  The day after we leave the buses will start their summer schedule of coming every hour.  We rode the bus with a really nice driver who lives in Fairbanks and then works here driving buses all summer.  We managed to get to the correct place and purchased a ticket for a bus ride to Eielson Visitor Center for tomorrow, the 17th, Joe's birthday, it is an 8 hr trip back to about mile 66, with many stops along the way.  Luckily for us they will pick us up at the entrance to our campground.

Look hard, a moose in the pond

Next day,
6/16/14

We drove up to the bridge at Savage River, about two miles.  There is a short hike there that follows the river downstream, then crosses the stream and returns back to the parking lot.  A beautiful walk with several wildflowers in bloom.  We are at only 2,700' but this is sub-alpine, the tree line is at abut 3,000'.  This is a popular trail so I felt it would be ok to go by myself while Joe and Buddy hung out in the truck waiting for me.  No wildlife, I was really expecting to see mountain sheep, but not today.

Many Arctic Azaleas along the path
  

Not much on taking a selfie.
I think I'm safe, a bear would take one look at me and run the other way!

Another short hike I went on was from our camp site down to the Savage River and along the river, up to the first campsites from back in the 1920/30s.  What a beautiful area.  There were many information boards along the way showing the area then and now.  Now there are more trees and the brush is larger.  In the last 29 years the area here is about 7 degrees warmer during the summer months and the summer is a bit longer.  This causes a change in wildlife.  The Caribou like the smaller, shorter type of bushes and the liken, the Moose like the larger type of bushes.  I wonder if in another 29 years the Caribou will move on and the Moose will take over.

Same spot, same tree

This little tree must have been a favorite, the top of the sscratch marks was about at my eye level.

As I was walking along the river I noticed many Moose prints and Moose poops.  Which reminds me of a joke.  (knowing that it is wise to make noise or have bells on your walking stick so you don't startle the Grizzly Bears)  The camper was asking the Ranger; What is the difference between Black Bear poops and the Grizzly Bear Poops?  Without missing a beat the Ranger said, well that's easy, the Black Bear poops look a little like cow poop but black, The Grizzly Bear has larger poops with bells in it.

That's it for a couple more days, thanks for stopping by.

Nancy