Since we'd seen plenty of wildlife later in the morning, we opted to sleep in to our regular time and catch the shuttle to Eielsonat 10:15 am. It had rained in the night and there were patches of blue showing so we had hope that we might actually see a bit more of the mountains today.
Our bus driver was normally a tour bus driver who’d been moved over for the day to drive a regular shuttle. The tour buses drive the same route but cost more because you get narration. So we got a real deal, a tour for the price of the shuttle! He had a great line of patter and told us about braided rivers and how they don’t ever fill up with water, they just create more braids when there’s more water.
Since we saw so many Dahl sheep the day before I figured we see a bunch today too. Not so. The sheep had gone elsewhere and we didn't see many at all. Instead we saw caribou! They're much harder to spot up against the hillsides because they hang out in the grassy areas and they're beige. Here are some closeups.
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We spotted a small herd up on a hillside just before we reached the Savage River. They were moving fast and by the time we got across the bridge there they were out on the gravel bars. I think it's amazing that the males manage to keep their balance with those huge antlers.
Denali has an artist in residence program and there was a group of them out painting the view at the Savage River.
The view at Polychrome Pass was a little better today than yesterday because the clouds were a little higher.
Not only did we see caribou today, we saw a bull moose. Here he is from a distance. Can you spot him?
He was pretty far away and didn't stop to pose for us.
Just before the Toklat River rest stop we spotted Dahl Sheep again. How kind of them to hang out where folks can watch them with the big binoculars the park service provides!
There were sun breaks going on so I took a couple of panorama shots at Toklat. Here's the river itself.
And here's the view south from the rest stop.
After the rest stop one of the folks on the bus with eagle eyes spotted this mama grizzly asleep on the hillside. If you look carefully you can see a pile of black cubs next to her head.
Then we spotted a grizzly on the hillside on the other side of the bus. He was pretty close by, eating of course.
I got to dodge the heads of the folks on the other side of the bus trying to take photos. But I managed to get a couple of decent ones even though he wasn't interested in posing.
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While the sun wasn't out, it was clearer today than yesterday. Here's the view from the patio at Eielson.
This where Denali should be. You can see a little bit of white glow but it's not hard to realize why the climbers are sitting and waiting.
The clouds were high enough today that the Alpine Trail wasn't socked in so we decided we'd hike up a ways.
It's pretty steep. It gains over 1000 feet in about 3/4 of a mile. There was a bit of a sun break out across the valley and I had to stop and take a shot.
There were lots of flowers and just like yesterday they were very wet which makes them a little more interesting really.
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| Bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis) |
Alpine Forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris) |
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| Whorled-leaf Lousewort (Pedicularis verticillata) | Whorled-leaf Lousewort (Pedicularis verticillata) |
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| Starwort (Stellaria longipes) | Starwort (Stellaria longipes) |
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| Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala) | Pink Plume (Polygonum bistorta) |
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| Death Camus (Zygadenus elegans) | Death Camus (Zygadenus elegans) |
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| Death Camus (Zygadenus elegans) | Wild-geranium (Geranium erianthum) |
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| Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosa ssp alpestris) | Moss Campion (Silene acaulis ssp acaulis) |
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| Bell Heather(Cassiope tetragona) | Bell Heather(Cassiope tetragona) |
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| Spider Plant (Saxifraga flagellaris) | Spider Plant (Saxifraga flagellaris) |
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| Arctic Sandwort (Minuartia arctica) | Narcissus-flowered
Anemone (Anemone narcissiflora) |
And then the sky cleared up the hill and I had to take a picture of the blue sky!
While we were resting I looked over on the next ridge and spotted a brown spot that was moving. Peering at it for a while I decided it was a grizzly! He was a long way off but he was moving pretty fast. Another hiker came by and we pointed him out to her and the three of us stood and watched as he worked his way down the hill.
To our amazement, he even sat down for a moment!
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As he got farther down the hill, folks at the visitor center spotted him too. There were a pair of teenage boys (in shorts and t-shirts of course) who set out at a run across the meadow towards him. They were quickly followed by a ranger (thank goodness) who called them back. Then they closed our trail, and the ranger looked up the hillside and waved us down.
I got one more photo of the bear as we came down a switchback.
We walked with the ranger back to the visitor center and I had to stop and take a picture of the trail closed sign.
I will have to say that this was a real thrill. It was way realer than seeing a bear from the bus! We both felt perfectly safe since the bear was a long way away but I was perfectly happy to have the ranger escort us back towards the visitors center.
The bear disappeared down the draw and we decided we were ready to catch the bus back to Teklanika. We put our names in and presto we got a seat on the Hiker Bus. In the afternoon they add a shuttle every now and then to pick up all the folks who either get off along the route or at Eielson and then need a ride later in the day.
And who should we see off on the downhill side of the road? Our bear! I guess there was a bridge for him to go under because he was now a long way further down the hill and on the opposite side of the road from where we'd seen him before. And he was LOTS closer.
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We drove on after everyone got plenty of photos of him and settled in for a sleepy ride since everyone on the bus was a little tired from hiking. All of a sudden a caribou came crashing out of the bushes and in front of the bus. I barely got a shot of him.
She slowed down on the other side and I managed to get a rear view of her at least. The females have antlers that just aren't as big as the males. There aren't any deer in Denali so the caribou fill that ecological niche.
Another eagle-eyed hiker spotted a mama grizzly and two cubs up on the hillside. Perhaps they were the same ones we'd seen earlier in the day asleep, who knows? But nobody was asleep this time and the cubs were playing.
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We spotted 3 caribou down in the river valley here.
Here is a close up of the two on the left.
To cap off the day we saw one more Dahl sheep way up on the hillside.
We got back to the trailer at 5:30 and we were both bushed. Six hours on the bus each day for two days is a lot. We both realized that since the weather was not going to be good enough to see McKinley the next day, that we were complete with Denali. Neither of us needed to ride out to Eielson again and neither of us had the need to ride part of the way and hike in any of the trail-less areas. We totally enjoyed our time and 3 days at Teklanika was perfect.
When we got up the next morning it was totally clouded over again. The taller mountains (not the BIG ones but at least the ones with a little snow) that we could see most of yesterday were gone behind the clouds. This was a final confirmation that we were making the right decision to move on.
Here's the map of our route for the next couple of days. Point A is the Telanika Campground, Point B is Willow where we'll spend the night tonight. The next day we'll drive to Point C, Eagle River to grocery shop and then on to Point D, Seward, where we'll spend 3 nights.
View Larger Map
We stopped at Riley Creek to dump our tanks and fill up with water and then headed west on the Parks Highway. We’d looked at our camping book the night before and picked out some places to check out that had power, showers and Wi-Fi since after 4 nights dry camping, it was time for a little civilization.
All the viewpoints where you are supposed to be able to see McKinley had gorgeous views of clouds. There was no hint that there were huge white mountains and long gorgeous glaciers anywhere out there. The few mountains we could see had their tops in the clouds. We stopped for lunch in a turnout by Mile 180 Lake (don’t you love the creativity in the name?). It was a pretty lake nevertheless.
There are lots of lakes along the drive and we saw a moose cow with a calf along a river edge as we were crossing a bridge. By the time we got stopped she had already disappeared into the willows—she was moving pretty fast with her calf trotting right behind.
We camped for the night in Willow at an RV park that usually is full of fisherman but the King Salmon didn't run this year and so they were pretty empty. There were lots of swallows hunting mosquitos though.
We used the Wi-Fi here to check the weather forecast and decided the best bet for a good day out on the water was in two days. So we made reservations for our wildlife cruise in Seward and planned out our route to drive there the next day.
We stopped in Eagle River and did our grocery shopping and then drove through Anchorage and out the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm.
The tide was out and the mudflats were visible. We stopped for lunch and I spotted this bald eagle just sitting out in the middle of the mud. The tide was getting ready to turn so maybe he was going to go fishing.
The clouds were hanging pretty low but it was still pretty.
We drove down to the left end of this photo and then out towards the middle there where the mountains are small in the distance.
The drive is very pretty but the traffic was heavy. It was Sunday afternoon and all of Anchorage must have spent the weekend in Seward and the Kenai Peninsula because there were tons of cars coming back into town.
We were lucky enough to find a place to camp for 2 nights in Seward at the Stoney Creek RV Park. They were pretty full. In fact, we had to get up and move the rig in the morning before our wildlife cruise because we couldn't get two nights in the same spot.
It's a pretty place and the clouds lifted so I could get a couple of shots of the nearby mountains. This is the view along Stoney Creek. The alders block the view of the creek but not the mountains.
This was the view to the west.
In Part XX, we'll be taking you with us on a wildlife cruise out to Kenai Fiords National Park. Bring your jacket and your winter hat and gloves. It's going to be cold but gorgeous.