Last week we finally made it into the Park proper! Yahoo! Not very far, I have to admit, only 17 miles, which is how far you can go in with your own vehicle, but I think it's far enough for us.

Actually, we've been listening to the guests that came back from the bus rides into the Park and a lot of them found them way too long, very uncomfortable and off course it kind of depends on luck if you'll see any animals or not.
For bears and wolves we do need to go in farther but honestly we've seen so many bears on the way up through Canada that we're fine with missing a few.

The landscape is stunning wherever you are:

 

This is a typical tundra 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wide river bed of the Savage River

 

 

 

Caribou like to hang out around the rivers where it's cooler and windier so they have a little reprieve from the mosquitoes and black flies. 

Which is exactly where we spotted this beautiful male. Look  at  that  RACK!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, go ahead, show it off a little better...! 

 

 

 

 

 

  Did you know ... ... that Alaska has almost twice as many caribou as people? Alaska's human population numbers around 600,000, while there are over one million caribou in the state. ........that caribou are almost constantly on the move? Some caribou migrate more than 3,000 miles each year—farther than any other land animal.  ......and that their large, concave hooves hold them up like snowshoes—both on winter snow and on the soggy summer tundra. In water, those hooves become enormous paddles and the hollow hairs of their coat help keep them afloat. 

 

 

 

We parked the truck in the parking lot at the beginning of the Savage River Loop trail and hiked the beautiful, easy 0.6 mile along the winding river.

  

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful quiet evening and although we didn't come across any other wildlife we spotted these whitish gentians that I still haven't found the name of. Anybody? 

 

 

The bridge halfway the loop brings you to the other side where the trail continues.






On the way back the sun started to set:

The end of another beautiful day here in Denali Park Alaska!

 

 

 

 

 

 

May I present to you....Mount McKinley...... or Denali, as the Atabascan Indians call it, which means  "The High One". It is the highest mountain peak in the United States and in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. Measured base-to-peak, it is the tallest mountain on land. Measured by topographic prominence, it is the third most prominent peak in the world after Mount Everest and Aconcagua.

We finally saw the mountain, and how...!

We managed to get 2 seats on a 'flightseeing' tour with glacier landing,... as a Denali-business-employee-comp, ...yep, as in...for FREE!

Is that awesome or not!

We were on standby already several times but the flights always filled up with paying costumers but finally we got lucky and went up in the air on a beautiful clear, windless and warm evening at 6 pm.

The blue one was 'ours', a classic deHavilland "Beaver", and besides us there were 5 other people, and the pilot of course. We all got a headset so we could communicate with each other and hear the pilot as he told us everything we needed to know and than some about the Park and all the mountains and glaciers we flew over.

This is the Nenana River.. 'as seen from above'....

And these are some images of the Parks Highway and the Denali 'village' or 'canyon' as it is called.

Soon we started to see the colorful foothills from the

'Alaska Range', a relatively narrow, 650-km-long (400 mi) mountain range in the south central region of Alaska.
It is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the Denali Fault that runs along the southern edge of the range is responsible for a number of earthquakes a year.

Because of the various different metals and minerals in the rocks and soil the lower hills and mountains came in a beautiful range of colors.

They were quickly  followed by the first snow capped mountains

And a whole bunch of beautiful glaciers and gorges, one of them being the Great Gorge of the Ruth Glacier – the World’s deepest gorge:

Than finally the really big guys appeared:

Mount Hunter,  or Begguya, the third highest major peak in the Alaska Range (13,965 feet). "Begguya" means child (of Denali) in the Dena'ina language. 

                Mount Foraker, the second highest peak in the Alaskan

Range at 17,400-foot

               

And Mount McKinley who as you can see has two significant summits,  the South Summit is the higher one, while the North Summit 'only' has an elevation of 19,470 feet.

Isn't it a beauty?!

Finally we landed on this glacier, close to Mt Mckinley's base camp at 7200 feet, where climbers start their adventure to the top. Only 58% make it and since the early 1900's the mountain has claimed more than 100 lives:






I was a little nervous about the landing but it went without a hitch and after a smooth turn while sliding around on the planes' skies we stepped out into about a foot of pristine snow (fallen last week when we had such nasty weather that they had to skip the glacier landings for 5 days in a row!)






The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny, not a cloud in the sky and no wind. They had warned us it could be chilly up there but it was so warm, we actually didn't even need a coat.











Its hard to put into words how beautiful it was up there, I'd say it was definitely one of the highlights of our travels so far! If you ever get the chance, do not pass up on it, it's money and time well spent (although the $449 pp is probably not in everyone's budget), we will never forget this place nor will you once you see it.

Just breath taking.....

On the way back it started to cloud up a little as it does so often around these mountains, they sort of create their own weather. Mount McKinley is very often in the clouds and if you are so lucky to see it from the ground somewhere along the Parks highway or from the various viewpoints in the Park itself you may call yourself the proud member of the 29% (that actually see it) club!

I'll end with this shot of a herd of white dots......  :)

They're Dall Sheep. Honestly!

After a couple of cloudy, cool and windy weeks summer finally arrived, just in time for the annual Anderson Bluegrass Festival!

For three days each July, 600-acre Riverside Park in Anderson fills with campers, tents, RVs and motor homes as bluegrass fans flock to this otherwise sleepy little town.
We decided to go Saturday night, which is the main attraction, with bands taking the stage to past 3 a.m., only stopping their performances at midnight for a surprising massive fireworks show.

We arrived around 6pm and listened to a few local bands who, to say it gently, could do with a little more practicing but around 8 pm the better bands took the stage and we enjoyed some rally good bluegrass music, and dancing, from than on while having some nice beers in the beer garden.

Bluegrass music, by the way, is a form of country music, originated in rural dance bands, has mixed roots in Scottish, Irish and English traditional music, and also has jazz elements.

It's traditionally played on acoustic stringed instruments like the fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and bas and (occasionally) harmonica.

The pic on the left was taken at 1 am, notice the light!

It attracts a lot of 'free spirited', 'flower power' hippies from the 60's with lots of tie-dye and Birkenstocks and a swarm of bare footed, very dirty little children running around. Peace man!

How about these tie-dyed long johns on the right!






The fireworks at 12 midnight were huge for such a small village. Despite the light sky it was very visible!

When we got home around 2am it was finally getting darker:

Most of the wild flowers have come and gone, there's still some Fireweed and Monkshood flowering together with Arnica and  Yarrow and this fluffy Cotton Grass in the 'moose-marsh' in front of us.







I'm trying to keep the hanging baskets and wall boxes of the hotel alive although the wind does a good job breaking off stems and drying out the soil.
They're still looking good though, I think!

James has started the job that's probably going to take him the rest of the time we'll be here; the painting of all 3 train cars! He's started with the roof of the lobby:

As you can see by the clouds he has to fight the rain....

And while some of us are working for a living , others are just laying around doing absolutely nothing.....

       

Well....be that way Merlin, you're missing out on some good tips driving the shuttle. Yes, that is a $50 (!) dollar bill in there! Not bad for 'volunteering' !

One of these days we're gonna make it into Denali Park, I swear! Can you believe we still haven't gone there! We're still waiting for a nice, clear and sunny day  (yeah, good luck on that one) so we can see the elusive (because often in the clouds) Mount McKinley!
Next Monday so far looks good or maybe Tuesday, we'll see.

In the meantime I'm watching the Olympics. Once I start watching I just can't walk away from it!
Oh, and I bake. Banana (mini)muffins anyone......?