We were up at a reasonable hour and returned to the music
venue for an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast.
Happily, the music had been dialed back to a background level;
unhappily, the food had not improved and sanitary precautions were in place, so
everything was served (even the coffee).
We got into gear, but without any thrill.
We had a little time before the bus into Denali National
Park and Preserve, so we identified the “shipping cabin” and a couple other
places and got the room organized a bit.
It was another beautiful day (we hope we haven’t used up our lifetime
supply of beautiful travel days!) so we opted to hang around the front of the
lodge until our bus arrived. We had a
LOT of time, it turned out, as additional buses had been added by the Park
scheduler, so ours was delayed a half-hour.
No matter, eventually it did come and we took seats on the driver’s side
again.
The entrance to the park is very nearby, so it was a short jaunt
to the welcome center where we enjoyed a 20-minute film on the early days in
the area and how the Park and Preserve came to be established. Many old photos, and some interesting
commentary from people who had actually been here back then. Gradually, we re-filled the bus.
The buses travel in pairs, and we had to scurry to catch up
to our lead bus. Our driver has been
here and on this job for 23 years, so had answers to very many questions. The first stop was at a cabin which had been
built in the early days to shelter rangers on winter patrol, complete with very
long nails driven from the inside out to deter bears from opening the shutters
protecting the windows.
Going forward, we saw a moose rambling around in a parking
lot and pair of caribou grazing in a field.
A little while later, another moose darted in front of our bus and the
driver had to really stand on the brakes.
Unfortunately, that moose pretty much disappeared into the landscape
after the near-miss.
Better news, though – The Lady had now revealed herself on
this clear, sunny day. The peaks near us
were all brown, but she was shining pure white in the distance – very special. The local lore is that only 30% of all
visitors get to see her clearly, so our luck has come through again.
But the best was close to our last stop … someone spotted
critters on the far side of a wide, shallow watercourse. Turns out they were mother bear and cub,
rummaging around for roots and the youngster splashing, tumbling around, and
playing with Mom. They headed slowly upstream. As our attention turned from them, a lone caribou
emerged from some high grass. We were a
bit surprised to see him in such proximity to the bears – weren’t they supposed
to be really hungry right now? Our
driver solved the riddle: the bears
would have the interest, but would lack the capacity to take down
such a massive beast this early in their feeding season.
The caribou meandered downstream and came over the shallows
to a gravel bed in mid-stream. That’s
when a shorebird dive-bombed him, literally making him jump. He backtracked a bit, then went forward to be
threatened again. He KNEW he wanted to
be downstream, so he trotted quickly past what probably was the bird’s nest,
and was left in peace then. When we
rounded a turn and proceeded over a low bridge, we could practically reach out
and touch him!
We now needed to make some serious tracks to our final stop,
Primrose Point. Here there is another
fine view of Denali, though some clouds were beginning to assemble again. A native Athabascan woman, whose parents have
made a point of teaching her their language and customs, made a nice
presentation on Athabascan culture. They
are the Native peoples of central Alaska, and are credited with being excellent
stewards of the land over the centuries.
We were standing in good hunting grounds (panoramic vistas to spot game),
but not in a good place to establish a village (rolling land, no water source). Each village had several sub-tribes; hers was
the Red Clay clan. One always married
outside of one’s clan, as clan members were family (whether blood kin or
not). She rued the fact that the
traditional songs were rarely sung now, and as a gift to us, sang a sort of
lullaby for a small child. THIS was the
music I’d hoped for LAST night!
Beautiful and touching.
Our driver had cautioned us at the beginning NOT to apply
insect repellant, first there weren’t that many bugs out this early and second,
we were traveling in an enclosed space and the stuff stinks. Got it!
But up here there were some mosquitoes, and mighty huge they were
too -- at LEAST an inch long. Though they stayed on the outsides of jackets, we were ready to get back into the
bus.
Enroute back to the lodge, we had one more wildlife
treat: a mature bull moose! These guys are rarely sighted, and (though
the driver earlier had quipped, “When did you last see a SMALL moose?”) even he
had to admit this guy was BIG. We were
amazed at all we had seen.
Back to the Visitor Center, there was an opportunity to
debark and take in various exhibits and presentations, but we came on home
again. Did a little light shopping based
on our test-drive last night, and got a couple of send-it-home boxes set
up. Once back in the room, we packed
them full and realized we’d need one more.
But the room was so hot I suggested that I muscle the items back to the
Packing Cabin so Angie could continue ventilating the room. Done deal!
Naturally, the staffer was at dinner when I arrived. But after a short wait, he arrived and we got
everything taped up and ready to go. Our
bags are lighter and our shoulders are DEFINITELY happier. We took ourselves to the
burger-and-bar place next door for a competent burger flanked by home-made
potato chips which were quite nice. On
the way back to the room we strolled over to the river view again.
Tomorrow we head up to Fairbanks; bags to be picked up at 8
and bus at 9:30. We could indulge in
breakfast across the street at Subway, but the plan is to dine in the “good”
restaurant on the grounds: many of the
same items as at McKinley, and less pricey than the buffet. We’re hoping for a good start to the day, as
there won’t be much time between our arrival at Fairbanks and the launch of the
riverboat tour there. We will be back in
accustomed time zones far too soon now…
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