When I arrived I headed to my campsite at Riley Creek Campground. I had a three night reservation, which meant I had two full days to explore Denali. I was pretty disoriented when I got there and didn't know how to get around the park or the major activities to do. I found my campsite, set up the tent, and headed over to the Wilderness Access Center to get information on the park. The people there were helpful and informative without throwing out too much information at you. I always hate going to a new place and looking through the brochure racks because it is always confusing where to start and what to do. I decided I would sign up for a Discovery Hike one day, take a bus through the park another day, and go the the Husky Homestead somewhere in between. It turned out that Discovery hike was full until Thursday, so I would do the bus through the park on Wednesday and I would go to the Husky Homestead that evening.
Andrea had met a woman named Tessa whose parent's own the Husky Homestead. I believe
that Tessa competed in the Iditarod and her father, Jeff King, had won it four times over the last twenty one years. This meant that the huskies there would be the best of the best. The homestead was about ten miles outside of the park, but only took a few turns to get there. From the main road the bus pulled onto a gravel road that snaked itself through spruce trees and up and down hills for a quarter mile. As we pulled up to the house there were about fifty huskies scattered about in their individual houses. They knew people were coming, so they all started barking and howling. This was the wolf inside of
them coming out. The buses parked, people started getting off, and puppies where immediately handed to everyone. The puppies ranged from six weeks old to twelve weeks. None of them looked alike, some had blue eyes and others had grey eyes. Everyone melted as they got to pick them up and hold them for a few minutes. The employees gathered up the puppies and counted to make sure that all of them were accounted for, I guess people have tried to steal them before. The homestead guests were taken down to where the mature dogs were to see their living conditions and what their training is like. The conditioning the dogs go through during the winter is much more intense than the summer because of the heat. In winter the training sessions may be six to eight hours long while in the summer they are only fifteen minutes long. Jeff King is a pioneer in dog mushing and has figured out a way to keep the dogs in better shape throughout the year. He figured out that you can have the dogs harnessed to a marine line and have them pull you around in a paddle boat. They did not do a demonstration of this, but the video show ten dogs swimming inline pulling the boat. I wish that I could have experienced something so unique.
The following day I had to wake up fairly early, so I could explore the park. I knew I wanted to
get a chance to see as much as possible and the most practical way to do this is to take the bus through the park. Hiking alone would limit your exposure so much because the park is at least ninety miles from east to west. I decided to take the bus from the Wilderness Access Center over to Eilson. Eilson is at mile sixty six in the park and would take four hours to get to. The drivers were very personable and would stop whenever we would see animals. Along the way we stopped to see two caribou climbing a ridge line, a bear and her two cubs foraging just twenty meters from the bus, and ten doll sheep up on a rocky slope about four hundred meters away. I was keeping my eyes open to areas in
which I would like to get off the bus on the way back to hike. Polychrome Pass seemed like a great place to hike towards, it is a mountain that has a variety of colors in the rock. The mountain is about a mile away from where the bus goes with flat tundra leading up to the base of the mountain. In this area along the drive it would be hard to get down to the tundra since the bus road is on a steep slope. There was an area ahead that was flat and open, which would be a great place to get off on the way back.
When we finally reached Eilson it was 1:30. There was a marked trail that went to the top of
the mountain near the bus stop. It was obvious many other people decided to hike here, since there were almost thirty people up on the mountain. From the top I could see mountains of various colors and rivers in all directions, but could not see Mt. McKinley because there was clouds covering it. I guess only one in three see the mountain because it is usually overcast. They probably don't advertise this because fewer tourists would come.
One the way back when we were approaching Polychrome Pass I asked the bus driver to let me off. He found an open area that was the run off for the mountain that would be a good starting area. I started walking down the gravel area unsure of this new environment I was in. I knew
there was wildlife in the area, but the rangers and other hikers told me it was safe to hike. I had little to defend myself, but I had bought a small bear bell to alert bears of my coming. The bell was pathetic, it was similar to the bell we attached to our dog's collar during Christmas time to dress him up as a reindeer. I would have preferred to have a 44 mag. The rangers said that best thing you can do to prevent a bear attack it is yell, "Hey Bear" every couple of minutes. I thought how it was ironic that I was almost as nervous to yell "Hey Bear" as I was to approach a bear. I had to resolve in my mind I would rather have people think I looked goofy yelling "Hey Bear" than I would have a bear attack me.
I guess public speaking can even be a fear when now one is around. I walked down the gravel patch and took a few pictures and practiced how I would pull my knife out if something was to approach me. The four inch Buck knife my dad had bought me from Sam's Club when I was thirteen would do little to a bear or moose. I crossed over the stream at the end of the gravel and entered into the tundra. From the road the tundra looks like a grassy field, when you are on it is low brush on top of a spongy surface. With every step I would sink down about six inches. I walked out about a half mile from the road yelling "Hey Bear" often. There was a moose about a half mile ahead of me trotting across the tundra with the mountains in the background. I decided to go on about another quarter mile until I saw a bear about a half mile ahead of me. I paused and contemplated going on further to get a better look. Luckily I have a logical mind that told me, "Though you feel safe now that does not mean you are safe". I decided that I had gone far enough and turned around back towards to road to get on the bus.
I got back near the campsite and went fishing for a little while. I thought catching a fish in the lake and cooking it on the fire would be a perfect end to my adventures of the day. The lake was very clear and there were beavers everywhere, though I didn't see one. The beaver had chewed the base of thirty trees until they fell, this was in just a small area. I fished for about an hour before giving up and deciding the few nibbles I had would not result in a caught fish. The day was over and it was time to eat a quick snack and prepare for the next day.
The Discovery Hike would start at 8am, so I needed to be there by 7:45am. We got on the bus and headed out to mile sixty three, just three miles from Eilson, where I had hiked the day
before. There were twelve of us including the guide. I ascended 1700' on the hike and was able to see a small amount of Mt. McKinley. I snapped a few photos and had a few taken of me. They all turned out well. I was getting a little impatient on the mountain because we were sitting there four almost an hour waiting for a few people that had went out on their own hike. I could see the bus road from where we were, so I decided to go out on my own and hike back. I crossed through the tundra with a little anxiety and yelling "Hey Bear". The anxiety was from being in bear country not from public speaking. I got back to the road in about an hour and headed back to camp.
I hadn't been in a warm building for about three days, so when Francine sent me a text message saying she was in Denali I asked if she would like to go get pizza. We went over to Prospect's Pizza where we shared dinner and had a few beers together.
I am off to Anchorage where I am going to plan the next week, take a shower for the first time in nine days, and finally do some laundry and change into a clean pair of clothes. My next adventures will include exploring the suburbs of Anchorage, fishing the Kenai, exploring Kodiak Island, and fishing for Halibut.
2 comments:
My parents spent about 2 months in Alaska last year. They loved it! It made me so sick thinking, "man, I can't wait to retire and do that." Perfect solution: Do it now like you! They ate at Prospects Pizza as well. I remember them telling me about Denali and that place!
should have signed my name...
-Hunter Wright, your old bunkmate at Frontier.
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