Denali...the finale

Breakfast of champions

'Champions'

On Tuesday morning, July 10th, we broke out the cinnamon buns and coffee cake and let the forks fly. Some were more successful than others. With more than 2/3 of my cinnamon bun remaining, I had to fend off those who would steal and eat it. Over a carb-heavy breakfast, we contemplated (not without irony) which hiking trail we would tackle.

We chose the Horseshoe Lake Trail after our leisurely morning eating sweets. Under overcast skies and drizzle, we hiked toward Horseshoe Lake, a body of water so named for the shape it took after the Nenana River changed course and cut it off.

Horseshoe Lake

Horseshoe Lake Trail

We wound our way through the trail and past several trail crew workers shoring up sections that had washed away in the spring rains. As we neared the bottom of the path, we saw the work of the local beavers who had dammed up the lake quite productively. Their large lodge across the lake was barely visible, but we learned the beavers both live and keep their food stored underwater there during the winter months.

Beaver dam at Horseshoe Lake

We hiked back toward the visitor center campus and quickly located the Morino Grill swarming with hungry tourists. We dove right in and ordered a hearty meal. Janine, Ken and I each had a yummy bread bowl of vegetarian chili, reindeer stew and seafood chowder, respectively. Joel dined on a cheeseburger and fries. We were impressed that we all liked the food, though our outdoor seating left a bit to be desired on such a drizzly day.

We strolled through the bookstore, then asked a ranger at the visitor center if we could pet a ground squirrel pelt. An odd request, I'm sure, but one she dutifully fulfilled. We petted and petted while chatting with the ranger about her fear of birds (good thing we didn't ask for a bird to touch). We returned to the RV for cards while Nene napped. Ken cooked up a great dinner and then we left to drive J-Squared back to Fairbanks for their evening flight out of Alaska.

Arriving a bit early in Fairbanks, we headed over to LARS to see if the muskoxen were out (they weren't). We found the caribou chasing a dog sized animal around their pen but couldn't make out what it was. We could see the remaining muskoxen sleeping up on the hillside, like tiny muskox-shaped sleeping lumps.

Fairbanks International Airport

We piddled around some stores to pass the time before whisking Janine and Joel off to the airport. No luck glimpsing Mt. McKinley in this weather. We saw them off without a hitch and waved goodbye to them as they made their way through the security line while we walked back to the car. After polishing off our shopping, Ken and I drove the 2 1/2 hours back to Healy through rain and drizzle before the skies finally began to clear and the sun came out, around 1am or so. We pulled into the RV park at 2am under clear skies and quickly fell into bed exhausted.

I awoke in the morning quite late and found Ken working feverishly on our recently crashed laptop. We spent a huge portion of the day obsessing over our new electronic paperweight before calling an Anchorage computer repair place. After describing the symptoms, the technician confirmed the existence of malware and not a widespread hard disk controller failure as was suggested by the malware itself (with accompanying suspicious request for money to fix it). We packed up the problem child and its cord for delivery to the repair place the next day.

Caribou on the gravel bar

In the meantime, we drove back to Denali to hike around for our last day near the park. We chose the Savage River area again, where we had so much fun hiking with Nene and Joel. As we neared the bridge just before the ranger station, we saw a lone caribou standing on the gravel bar in the river in the sunshine munching at the small grasses. How picturesque. The gravel bars evidently serve as a 'highway' for the wildlife in the park, as they are easier to walk on than through the thick brush in summer or thick snow in winter.

Ptarmigan in summer

Savage River

We hiked around the south side of the bridge this time and found caribou tracks in the mud, though, we thankfully didn't see the caribou up close on foot. We climbed over the rocks and through the willow bushes along the swiftly moving Savage River.

As we walked through the brush on the north side of the bridge, we noticed the ptarmigans guarding their nests. We even saw several young ptarmigans chirping and trying not to be noticed. In summer, these birds all cloak themselves with variegated plumage to blend in with the ground. In winter, those feathers fall off and snow white ones take their place to help the bird camouflage itself. How clever.

Obstinate seagull and Ken

We walked back toward the car and found a seagull happily asleep on top of it. We talked to him, but he steadfastly refused to move, so we began driving away. A few hundred yards away, we stopped and discovered him still atop the car's roof, but now standing, perhaps a bit indignant that his perch was in motion. Ha! We chatted with him again, and still he wouldn't fly away, so we drove away and finally heard him leave.

Mt. McKinley in the background

We ventured back to the picturesque Mountain Vista and Savage River Trails and found Mt. McKinley very easily among the other shorter peaks and valleys this time. The mountain was clearly visible and with only a few wispy clouds across its face. How fortunate! (Too bad J-Squared didn't get to see this when we walked this very same path with them only a few days earlier!)

Savage Cabin

We decided to also stop by the Savage Cabin, a short hike from the park road. The log cabin was originally built in 1924 and served as a cook's cabin for Savage Camp, the first tourist camp in the park and where the Mountain Vista and Savage River Trails now traverse. The cabin was subsequently moved across the park road and converted to a ranger patrol cabin and its use as such continues to this day. The ranger on duty was, coincidentally, from Virginia, so we chatted with him about how he found himself on the opposite side of the country like we had.

We peeked into the cabin from the window and could see the spare accommodations haven't changed much since 1924. The one room rustic cabin offers 'modern' amenities like an old wood stove for both heating and cooking, though we wondered how warm that would be during an Alaskan winter.

After stopping at 4 or 5 stores for the elusive Denali sticker Janine requested, we returned to the RV for dinner and happy hour. We played cards while watching the gorgeous evening sun glistening off the other RVs in the park until bedtime. What a great day!