Denali National Park & P)reserve, part 3, June 23, 2013

When we left you last we were at Eielson Visitor Center, 30 miles from the end of the tour bus ride into Denali National Park & Preserve.  Eielson VC had some very interesting things going for it.  Good view of Denali--which you have seen--plus other vistas.

Locked Moose antlers

Clouds are starting to move in on Denali.

Weather information on the board at the Visitor Center

One of many great quotes around the Visitor Center

Outside of the Visitor Center

Fireweed, the 'summer calendar' of Alaska

Denali thru Caribou antlers on the VC's green sod roof!

We quickly reviewed the informational exhibits at Eielson, then continued our bus tour to the end of the road, Kantishna.  Nothing too exciting there, in fact it was a bit boring.  At the end of the road was a sign just saying  "YOU ARE AT THE END OF THE ROAD".  There was a little resort there and the only ways to get there--the road, or by air.  There was a little airstrip.

 Think I will stick to the bus.  There was a rest stop but the mosquitoes were so bad we decided to stay on the bus until we got to Wonder Lake

Denali barely shows in the distance in this photo

The bugs were just as bad there so we did not explore very much.  The moose pretended we were not there.  So we will head back.  I noticed there were a lot of the riders of the bus were napping & waiting for someone to holler "critter".  

 

We saw another grizzly bear, again pretty far off.

We saw more Dall Sheep, the same as we saw earlier. 

The top of Denali has pretty much gone behind the clouds so we counted ourselves lucky to see as much as we did.

Muldrow Glacier

Yep, we learned that all that dirty black in the foreground is actually a glacier!

As you can see there is glacial ice under the dirt. 
Why dirty?  Who knows.

(Actually the dirt & rocks are left as glacial ice melts.  This slowly forms a terminal morainne--rockpile/hill--as the glacier recedes.) 

Chuck made nice panoramas from his pictures

 A few of the views on the way back.  Well, guess we saw them going both ways.
We made another stop at a rest area and My Dear Brides took pictures of different caterpillars (No!  Pussy Willows!) 

We saw a few more Caribou, a few more Dall sheep, and maybe a bear.

So it was a bear, so there...........

 By then every one was weary of the bus, and the dust, and the bugs.  12 hours is too long to spend on the hard seats of a school bus driving over bumpy gravel roads.  My Dear Bride is getting very good at filling the Tally Bag (our nickname for the shoulder bag we got at Taliesen West in Arizona) with lunch goodies, but not for that 12 hr. ride!  We were scraping crumbs off the bottom by then.  So finally off the bus, to the RV and dinner.

The next day, our last at Denali NP&P, "WE" decided to go for a hike.  So off we go to 
Savage River, again out the only road in the park just about 14 miles.

This is Savage River.  We will go on a trail beside it for about 5 (he means 1.5mi.) miles, where there is a bridge (I hope) then five miles (1.5 mi.) back.  One of the big points of the trail is we will be passing some of the oldest rocks in the world.  (They were very pretty & interesting rocks!)

I guess we have to take their word for that.  But there were other things, like

Looks like a tiny Rhododendron

We were both very busy taking pictures of our favorite subjects. 

Then on up to the bridge--or more flowers--which ever came first.  Note the mosquito netting jacket--they SAVED us!  Lots of very hungry mosquitoes.....

Yep, you guessed it

 Finally after about five (1.5 mi.) miles the bridge is there and still up.

Now five miles (ha!) back on this side.

Another caribou near the end of the hike.

Couple more Caribou where the Savage River spreads out.

It wasn't too late by the time we got back, so we decided to go see the Train station.  That and tour buses are the way most people travel here.

 Big trains and lot of folks with big tour buses to meet them.  Every day at four PM another load is here.

 So we will take a look at the tourist trap where all the big resort and "Gift" shops are.

If the ones off the train don't go by bus up to Eielson VC they look at it from above.  This is a common sight all around.
This was June 24th and we saw this under a bridge---

Yes, that is ice under that bridge.  There is a steam line in the middle to prevent an ice dam, which can damage the bridge.
The name of the town is Healy.  Summer time population between 3 - 10 thousand.  Winter, 17.  Mostly park workers.  The Nenana River flows, for lack of a better word, through town.

This poster gives information on the river route and that is the river flowing behind the sign.  Remember the silt/glacial flour is from the glaciers, very cold!  Now you see it.  
 And as dirty as the water is, they still run rafts on it.

  The canvas is the way they get the rafts up.

We went to a restaurant where we had eaten before.  The first time we got a cup of Reindeer chili and it was good so we went again and got a couple of big bowls.  Tasted like beef, who knows?  It was good chili.  (We had our 48th (month) anniversary celebration at the restaurant.  The waitresses were impressed--didn't tell her it was a "month-iversary". )  ;-)
Then back to our comfy, snug, & mosquito-free RV to relax & batten down the hatches to get ready to head out tomorrow, traveling South.

We found we could see Denali again from the south side.  All the pictures so far have been from the North.  Sooooo, here is the South side of Denali.

We are now on the road to Anchorage.  Hope you all are enjoying this trip as much as we are.