We slept in this morning, it was even colder this morning, it was below Zero degrees F, it was about minus 22 degrees C. We had breakfast, cleared the ice off the inside of the windows (see photo of Linda) and then headed back out to the area where we knew the scent had been laid for the route for the Moose to enter the valley, hoping to see some Moose and look for the Urmine seen the evening before.
We took a slow drive on the approach, when up ahead was a huge male, crossing the road, at the same point as the group last night, but as we approached he was in the trees and we were not able to secure a photo.
While waiting, Joshua armed with the Bino’s spotted some Dall Sheep up on the side of the foot of the mountain, in the area we suspected was the pass through which the Moose were moving. The photo below is the best we could get with our camera, these sheep are very elusive and stay high in the mountains, or rocky edges as their defence against the Wolf.
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| The valley on the left we considered as the Moose route Denali NP |
We left the park and proceeded south along the Parks Highway. This provided us with ever improving views of Mt Denali, also known as Mt McKinley. The Inuit call it Denali, the high one, so I take it as it’s original name. Below are some photo’s from varying spots along the road.
The photo below with the Trumpeter Swans on it in the foreground was taken, after driving past this lake, taking 5 miles to find a turn around spot for the 30’ RV, and then having to go about another mile past it on the return to find a safe enough spot to pull off the road. Then Joshua and I hiked back in a strong wind, the wind chill factor was almost unbearable. I saw an approach to the lake that avoided having to walk though the dying blueberry bushes and the mounds of Peat, however when we started on this ‘grassy area’ we were to find out it was in fact the lake, it was icy but I didn’t feel it would hold up our body weight and I did not consider falling through this ice to be a good option, so we had to scout around up and through the icy peat bog and blueberry bushes, but we got there, not as close to the waters edge as I’d hoped, due to the ice, but, felt the hike was worth the photo, though Joshua may disagree.
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| Mt Denali |
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| Trumpeter Swan's under Mt Denali |
After thawing out back at the RV and checking Joshua fingers for frostbite, we turned around and headed south again. The road then ran along side the Nenana River for a while, so we were able to stop and wonder at this large river icing up. We also took a movie of it, as the river produced interesting sounds as the ice proceeded along the river.
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| Nenana River ice flow. |
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| Ice Flow - Nenana River |
Joshua and I were in search of a viewing point we’d seen Mt Denali from back in 2006. Having revisited the Veterans memorial and checked out Byers Lake, where we’d camped last time, in hope of finding water to fill the RV but again we were to discover the water turned off. Due to the freezing of the ground, campground water is turned off, hence why all the RV parks were closed. Soon after this, we found ‘South View Denali’ day use area and dry camping.
We found the spot, Denali View South. A hike up and out toward Denali provides the best view from this point.
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| Mt Denali from Denali View South |
We decided not to camp here as our water was low. We stopped to get some fuel at Trappers Creek, to find that they also had showers and access to water. We spent a few hours here after refueling, enjoying hot showers with no time limit, ice creams and afternoon tea. We chatted to some of the locals. As Linda put it, it could get a bit scary here after dark, as some of the characters were fine in the daylight, but….
We were to learn that their power had only just come back on, as three days before there were winds of 125 mile an hour that had blown through and taken down the powerlines. Most of the area south of here was blacked out for 3 days. It explained the huge trees that had broken off about 3 metre off the ground and the other debris at the Veterans Memorial back up the road. We hadn’t experienced any of that back at Fairbanks.
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| Veteran's Memorial via Byers Lake. |
Weather: Bright and Sunny Clear Sky. Morning Temp at Denali NP minus 22 C. High at Trapper Creek warm and sunny 5 C.
Wildlife: Bull Moose, Trumpeter Swans.
O/N N 62 10.282 W 150 10.921 (Yes this may appear we are in the middle of the river, we were out on the gravel bar, this would be under water in the thaw)
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| Camp beside Susitna River. |
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| Moon Rise - Susitna River |
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