Hey everyone, Nick here, Court asked me to take over the update today. So yesterday we left Denali National Park and our very cold tent cabin. Here's a little recap of our adventures there.
The thing about Denali National Park is that private vehicles aren't allowed to drive up the one road that winds through the park. You have to take a bus from the Wilderness Access Center which is located near the Visitor Center. You CAN however drive to "Mile 15" which is as far as you can go up park highway. Once we got there we debated as to whether we would take the bus into the park then decided, "we're here we might as well do it.
There are several bus rides (they're not really tours as much as they are bus rides) that leave throughout the day, each going a little further than the next. We opted for the Toklat River ride, which means the bus would turn around at Toklat River about 53 miles from where we started. It was a 6 1/2 hour ride and $25 but it was totally worth it! Because we decided late in the day to take the trip we didn't leave the bus terminal until about 5pm which we thought might be kind of neat because we knew the wildlife would be more active the later it got. We were right. About an hour and a half into the trip we spotted a grizzly and cub. A while later Courtney saw a grizzly and a lynx sort of chasing each other on the hillside. Court was the hero for the rest of the day because she had seen it first and it was very rare to see a lynx let alone a lynx chasing a grizzly bear.
There were only about 11 of us when we started out, four of the passengers were backpackers that were literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere. There are no trails in Denali, it's above tree line and it's mostly tundra so you can walk for hours and hours and see in any direction. Then we picked up about six or seven hikers that had ventured out for the day and needed a lift back. They managed to jump on a bus heading down the hill and we were a small group again.
The road we were on was gravel, but a well maintained gravel road and in some sections it was only as wide as the bus with a sheer drop off to one side but beautiful scenery the entire way. We finally made it to Toklat River where we took our final break before heading down. I had given my flannel to Court so I was freezing in a t-shirt as much as she was with my thin long sleeve. It was windy, cold and completely isolated.
On our way back the driver spotted something on the road ahead near where we had just dropped off some backpackers. As we got closer we realized that it was a grizzly in the road! It was walking slowly along the edge. There was no room to pass so we followed it for about 15 minutes taking pictures and whispering about how huge its paws and head were. Finally, the driver managed to pass and we all sat in awe of this animal that had a blood stained neck and back. It was amazing. An hour or so before we saw a moose with two young ones, the driver said the blood on the bears back could very well have come from one of them.
We made it back around 11:30pm in one piece without being mauled and of course it's still light as day out. We slept as well as we could in the drafty canvas walled tent and woke up to a cold and cloudy morning. While I was getting breakfast together Court had decided to take a shower. Unfortunately, she stayed in a little too long in the very small, no ventilation room and decided to pass out. I was wondering where she had gone until I saw her hand push open the door of the outdoor shower from the kitchen window. We sat there for a minute until the room cooled down and she got her legs back.
Other than that little mishap things have been great, Court is feeling better from whatever struck her that sent us to the emergency room in Fairbanks. She has been so much fun traveling with, she's always so positive, worries about nothing and is up for anything. I've been blessed to have such a wonderful travel partner.
Photos coming soon!
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