The bus was about 2/3rds full – They are basically US
school buses – Green ones for the cheaper shuttle buses where you take your own
food and drink and can get on or off whenever you want, or more luxurious cream
coloured ones (but still school buses !) for twice the price, and a packed
lunch and a tour guide there and back. We went green, and took our own
sandwiches, and the bus driver is as good as any tour guide, and still stops
for all the animal sightings along the way, just like the cream buses !
We hadn’t gone far when we saw caribou and moose – In
fact, both together in the same place, which is quite rare. Then we meandered up the ever more rugged and
spectacular dirt road through the pass, not seeing much more wildlife until we
got to Polychrome Pass, which, due to volcanic activity in the distant past,
the differing colours of the rocks are quite spectacular. The scenery over the valley to the mountains
is just superb, and we watched another bus weave through the narrow pass
towards us. Then, just as we were about
to get back on the bus, a little ground squirrel ran rght past us and went down
its hole in the roots of a tree. I went
up to the hole and h was right there, looking at me !! So as I started to take pics, he came right
out, nibbled on a twig, and then took off across the tundra – I was within 3
feet of him, and he just fearlessly carried on his daily life ! These are amazing little animals – Known as
the ‘fast food’ of Denali, as everything eats them – Eagles, foxes, bears,
wolves, owls, etc, poor things. And in
winter, they are the only known animal that actually freezes – Its body
temperatures goes way below zero, and they actually freeze. But every two weeks, they apparently wake up
and eat some of their store of food !
And probably have a pee as well !! I know I would if I had been frozen
for two weeks and then woke up !
A little way down the road, we spotted some Dall sheep, with lambs, feeding on a cliff, as they tend to do ! There was an eagle lurking, obviously spying the lamb and looking for supper, and when we left he was flying around over the sheep - Wonder if he ever got his supper ?
Next spot was a red fox, and he was magnificent. His colour was so rich, and his tail so bushy ! We hadn't seen a fox before. After that, we came back into the park base, with just a few more caribou and moose seen along the way (One becomes a bit blasé after a while !).
We got back to our campsite and found that our friends from Israel, Arie and Raya, had found us and checked in right beside us ! So dinner was planned, and after a walk around one of the local trails, Arie cooked us up a great spaghetti supper, while I lit a fire and brought over a bottle of wine. A lovely evening chatting in the (relatively) warm sunshine of the long evening, beside the fire to provide auxiliary warmth !! Then it was time to turn in again. Must be the long busy days, but we sure seem to be sleeping long and well !!
The next morning we packed up and went in towards the Park entrance. We tried to get into the morning sled dog demonstration, but were a bit too late. On getting back on the park road, we were rewarded by having a moose and her calf amble out onto the road and for a bout 2 kms they just trotted down the road in front of us - Much easier going for them on the road than in the forest !! Unfortunately we were 3 vehicles back so didn’t have a good view, but people coming the other way had the pair of them walk right past their vehicles !!
Once back down at the main entrance, we checked in to the Riley Creek campsite for the night, and then set off to the Visitor’s centre to enjoy their excellent displays and movies about the park. From there we went back up into the park to the Dog Sled centre where we enjoyed a great hour or so with the dogs, before being well entertained by Ranger Bill and the Sled Dog demonstration. I had seen this 2 years ago and been very disappointed by the whole thing, but this time was so very different and so much better. Ranger Bill brought the whole thing to life with poetry and stories about dog sledding (including sections from Jack London’s Call of the Wild), and it was really most enjoyable. Once that was over, we went back down to the mercantile, had lovely hot showers and did our laundry, during which time our friends Arie and Raya came back from their trip up into the park, and we planned to have dinner down in town at the Salmon Bake pub this evening. So we got everything sorted out, and set up camp in our site before Arie picked us up in their camper and we drove the 10 minutes into town.
We were celebrating our 38th wedding
anniversary (!?!), Arie was celebrating his recent birthday, and together we
were having a farewell dinner as, after several weeks of meeting each other on
the road, tomorrow we plan to head north, while Arie and Raya plan to head ??
west ? We have enjoyed several evenings
around the fire with them, and become good friends, and hopefully will meet up
with them again somewhere soon. The
evening at the Salmon Bake was no different – An excellent evening of laughter,
great (halibut) food, and a few beers.
We came home to the camp site in the broad daylight of 10 pm in this
part of the world at this time of year, and once again turned in for a great
nights sleep in the van. Tomorrow we
plan to depart north to Fairbanks, and then on up the Dalton to the Arctic Circle
and Prudhoe Bay.
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