Autumn in Denali

Well, we are winding down now with only a few days left, however, we just had to share with you our "fall season" which has occurred over the past couple of weeks. As with most of our photos taken here in Denali, we find it very difficult to fully capture the wonder and grandeur of this beautiful park. Click the photo to see some more.

We awaken most mornings now with temps in the low 40’s or high 30's but have been fortunate for the past few days to savor midday 70's before the evening coolness creeps back once again. Autumn is truly here; the reds and yellows have burst forth and painted the tundra and mountains with a glorious patchwork. Ron, on an early morning hike a couple days ago, noticed how some parts of local streams are freezing at night. And, how some of the glacier-fed streams are turning clear as the temp drops and the glaciers stop thawing so the streams are now being fed instead by snow melt and rain. We have also been watching how the Ptarmigan, that were all white in May and turned brown after we arrived, are now turning white again. Winter is just around the corner!

The "Black Bear" is a coffee house across the street, where I occasionally go to enjoy a quiet moment and a "decent" cup of coffee and read, however I found myself yesterday content enough to just feast my eyes on the autumn changes in the surrounding mountains ~Yes I will miss the clear crisp air which I am sure will be most noticeable when we exit the plane at Tampa on Sept 30th.

We had a treat last week.......a free opera evening in the lobby of the Princess Hotel....... staring baritone David Cangelosi. He truly deserved the standing ovation ~ we heard ballads sung in Italian, French, German as well as English....he actually brought a tear to my eye when singing "Oh Danny Boy."

It is strange that our "constant daylight" no longer exists; it is truly dark now by 10pm. However, we have yet to see the "Northern Lights.” It has been either too cloudy or the moon too bright…we do hope that we get a chance to see them before we leave.

Everyone is gearing up for departure ~ deciding what clothing to donate to the hardy locals who tough it out year round and mailing boxes of accumulated stuff home. We have our paperwork submitted for our train ride to Anchorage and are blowing the dust off the suitcases. The air is filled with folk calling out their farewells.... So with this, we too will bid our goodbye to the Magic of Denali.

This has been a fabulous adventure and we hope you have enjoyed sharing it with us. Stay tuned for the next one – yet to be determined.

Salmon Fishing

So, Les, one of the bartenders in our bar, is also a fishing guide. He is a local, a bit of a character and calls himself an “Eskimo.” Five of us (Mary, myself, our friend Juanita and another young couple) decide to go fishing with Les to try our luck. We all set off one morning, in pouring rain so Mary wimps out and stays home, for the two-hour drive south to the closest salmon river from us near the town of Talkeetna. We all pile into Les’s beat-up old van and go flying down the road with all the gear, a cooler of ice and of course Les’s shotgun because there have been bear sightings lately near Montana Creek, our destination.

After buying our licenses, we wondered downstream to try our luck. By this time the weather has cleared and the sky was clear and blue like only it can in Alaska. There were lots of fish in the creek, some swimming upstream to spawn and others dead and floating downstream having competed their responsibility. I was using a fly rod and reel for the first time…a little tricky to begin but I quickly got the hang of it. We were using single hook spinners and began catching right from the beginning, however, they were all small pink salmon and we had expected to catch a few large silver kings. After a couple of hours of catch and release I suppose the group had caught about 25 or so. We then moved on to the mouth of the creek and found even more fish available…it really is quite spectacular to see all these fish making their way upstream.

We spent the remainder of the day catching fish along some of the most pristine scenery I have seen. We did see fresh signs of bear…tracks and scat (full of berry seeds…the food of choice this time of year)…so we kept the gun handy. Toward the end of the day we started keeping the biggest pinks so we could take a few back. It was a great day.

A couple of nights later the cook in the hotel restaurant grilled of few of the salmon and we all had a evening snack in the bar. It was a great day and another of the wonderful adventure we have experienced this summer.

Click the photo above to see a few more from the day.

Christmas in the Park

On Aug 25th we celebrated "Christmas." Apparently, back in the early 1900's some guests were stranded in Yellowstone by an early snowstorm, so, the resort workers decided to have a Christmas party to keep the folks entertained and the practice of "Christmas in the Park "continues toady at all the National Parks. Ours started off on the 23rd when our dining hall was decked out with red and green streamers, balloons and a Christmas Tree with an invitation posted on the bulletin board to gather for the making of paper snowflakes that evening which later completed the decorations (the genuine snowflakes had already fallen producing a dusting of snow on the nearby lower mountain range which we have hiked in the past.)

Dec 24th was the "cookie decorating" gathering...... neither event were we able to participate in due to our work schedules, however, we did get to enjoy the turkey dinner with all the trimmings on the 25th. ..... So, that brought us to "Boxing Day" 26th, our regular scheduled day off, we took a 7 mile hike to "walk off" the calories from the previous day's over indulgence. It was a raw cold day, the kind where you can see your breath and one needed scarf, gloves and several insulating layers, however, over a period of several hours while hiking through the wooded trails, the rain eventually stopped making for a very pleasant day. After a short nap! we had a night out at the Princess Hotel (our competition ) for a dinner/show musical evening, before calling it a day.

We are still hoping to see "The Northern Lights" before we leave, though they are more commonly seen during the winter months, ~ it is all a matter of having perfect conditions, that being ~ a clear night .......lately it has been socked in heavy rain cloud, however, we really can't complain as overall the temp has been unseasonably warm these past 3 months. Each day now there are more and more employees leaving with a noticeable decrease in the noise level in the dining room ~ we will be off ourselves on the noon train for Anchorage on Sept 17th, it really feels strange now realizing we only have three more weeks left. Has the summer gone quickly? ....No I don't think so..... but it has definitely been a fun adventure, where we feel very lucky to have immersed ourselves in such majestic beauty and awesome wildlife.

Photo Update

We added a few photos to our Alaska album. Click the Puffin to see them.

The Adventures Continue

OK Folks ....... we know it has been a month or so since our last posting ......... will keep it as brief as possible.

Firstly, we had a wonderful visit with Patrick Aug 1-4th, the weather was good for the most part and he got to see more than the average guest during his 3 day stay. On his first day he and Mary took the 8 hour bus tour into Denali Park where he saw several of the animals, however, like most folks he did not get to see Mt McKinley due to the low cloud/rain. We have taken this ride several times and have seen the scenery change from bare trees/brown dusty ground, to lush green foliage, to now the autumn hues. Currently the aspen trees are turning golden and in another week or so the tundra will be completely red.

On day two the three of us took the 12 mile bus ride to an area called Savage River where we did a pretty strenuous hike and had a fairly close encounter with one of the "Dall Sheep." In the past they had been so far off in the distance that they looked like snowballs with feet. The views from the ridge were pretty spectacular as we sheltered from the wind behind a large rock and eat our peanut butter sandwiches. Later in the day we walked around horseshoe lake (a favorite 5 mile round trip walk of ours which we do quite often.) We knew that beavers were around and had even found what we thought was their old "lodge." While the 3 of us were sitting quietly beside the lake, out popped a beaver who then entertained us for quite a while.

Day three Ron and Patrick hung out, saw the "dog sled demonstration, walked some nearby trails and later were able to take a flight around Mt McKinley (on oxygen from above 12,000 ft) which made up for him not being able to see the mountain on his first day. Very spectacular!

We also wined and dined which was a real treat for us as our meals in the "employee dining hall" are starting to get old. By all accounts Patrick enjoyed his visit.

On Aug 11th a friend, Juanita, joined us on a 3 day excursion to the south coast to the town of Seward. On the way we took a small detour to a delightful, two block town of Talkeenta, spent a couple of hours browsing, tasting the locally brewed beers and enjoying lunch outside. To me it was like discovering an oasis in the middle of a desert, this little town is surrounded with mile upon mile of raw rugged open wilderness..... definitely a special treat and without a doubt my favorite place.

It was a beautiful clear sunny day and we were surprised to see Mt McKinley on our drive down to Anchorage, (our only other time of traveling this road was on our initial bus ride up here in May) so another photo op. Our scenic drive to Seward took us 7 hr and we were happy to pull into our lodgings......... oh boy was it nice to be the guest for a couple of days, the comfort of having a bath mat to stand on after a shower, not to mention all facilities being connected, this in itself made it a vacation!

The following day we were took a 9 hr Kenai Fjords boat tour....... it was pretty overcast but at least not raining........ WHAT a WONDERFUL day we had....... the otters, porpoise, whales, sea-lions, seals, plus the multitude of birds (our favorite definitely being the plucky puffin) kept us more than entertained, not to mention the majestic glaciers and magical waterfalls......... our captain was most knowledgeable and the day just flew by. It was with some reluctance that we checked out of our lodgings on the last day and made our way back this time stopping in Anchorage for a little shopping and a decent haircut!

Today, we awoke to a sunny but very cold day (the night time temps are dropping into the 20s!) We kept warm clothing on for most of the day but enjoyed ourselves hiking ending up at Horseshoe Lake again to sit and wait for some beaver activity. Our patience paid off for a couple of beavers popped out busy in the process of making a new dam…then to our surprise for the very first time at Horseshoe Lake we saw a Moose at the waters edge quietly and contentedly grazing on the underwater grasses. Amazingly we were able to get within 20 ft and she didn't seem in the least bit concerned....... THIS is the joy and reason for being here ~ to truly enjoy all this wildlife and scenery without having to use a huge camera lens.

So once again we will pull the covers up tonight and say ......... It was a very good day. :)

Close Encounter

Well, we had our first close encounter today with a Grizzly Bear. Three of us, Mary, myself and a friend named Juanita took a hike to check mail and go to the park visitor's center. The trail goes through a campground and down by a creek and under the railroad trestle. Just as we rounded a bend under the trestle there (right in front of us) is a huge bear walking on the trail...it was about 30-40 feet away and lumbering right toward us.

I can tell you - all three of us were in shock...trying to remember NOT to run...make some noise...and back away. We sort of did those things...but we didn't waste any time getting away from the trail (no time for pictures!). We scrambled through the brush, along a social trail and up a bank and found ourselves on the railroad tracks. After a sigh of relief that we had put some space between us and the bear, we looked down the tracks and there it was about 100 feet away and heading right for us. That got us moving again, but after a short distance it turned and went into the woods.

By this time we were right by the train depot so we felt a bit more safe. There had been warnings about a bear in the area the last week or so, but we never thought we would be close enough to be concerned. For all of our other bear sightings we were safe and sound in a bus...it is very different when there is nothing between you and the creature. Just a reminder that we are living very close to the wilderness and, of course, that is why we came in the first place.

From Mary: It was an exciting encounter to say the least, what Ron omitted to say was MY
first reaction was to do circles like a cork screw in the same spot before my brain registered that what i needed to do was just back away... when really all i wanted to do was turn my back to the bear and run!

In the few seconds i had before putting any distance between us i was able to take in just what a magnificent creature this was........ no sign of aggression, but very large, at least 300 pounds, light blond thick coat, huge paws......... my camera was very accessible and how i wish i had had the courage to remain still and just get a photograph.

Mary's Glacier Landing

We are now finding the weeks blending into one another and realize it has been nearly a month since we did a posting so, hopefully without boring you, I will attempt to catch you up.

On July 8th I was fortunate enough to experience a glacier landing which Ron had enjoyed earlier..... it was simply marvelous. The only detraction was the presence of smoke in the air (it is estimated that there are presently fires covering 600,000 acres, the closest one was about 30 miles away) and depending on the direction of the wind it was either clear or very smoky for about a week. During that time I did feel sorry for the visitors, for not only were they unable to see any of the wildlife in the Park on their organized bus tours but they were also deprived of seeing any of the magnificent scenery, not to mention those folk who had asthma/allergy problems.

Our days off are usually spent taking a long walk on one of the trails nearby. Last week we went to an area called Savage River after catching a bus to the trail head some 12 miles into the Park...... It made a nice change to walk along the riverbed, even though the weather was threatening and somewhat ominous. We had our first really close up look at the Ptarmigan (state bird) which until this point had been quite elusive. We also witnessed the Mew Gulls attacking and successfully chasing off a coyote that was preying on their youngsters that had not yet developed their wings. We then ventured off into the tundra where few had been before us; it was just like walking on a soft springy carpet of moss. After a while I began to feel somewhat uneasy as this was territory where moose and bear preferred to hang out and eventually our wanderings brought us to a very steep bank which we managed to haul ourselves up ONLY by clinging to the short stubby bushes. I can say I was greatly relieved when we eventually made it up to the road because we had reached a point where to turn around and retrace our steps was not an option. A "campers bus" passed by shortly which picked us up and within minutes we saw a moose and her youngster plus several large caribou with enormous antlers which are now turning reddish and fuzzy.

Yesterday we did a 9-mile walk beside three lakes, so peaceful (only sound was the buzzing of bees) and the scenery just lovely, but strangely enough very little sign of wildlife, only the odd squirrel. Our feet and legs were protesting toward the end, so we waited for the van that runs every hour and treated ourselves to a half way decent pizza and a beer at a place some 17 miles away from our resort.

We are planning a mini trip (hiring a car) Aug 11/12/13 and driving to Seward, which is about an 8 hr drive south passing back through Anchorage first. We are booked into a lodge for a couple of nights and plan on taking a 9 hour day cruise through the Kenai Fjords National Park to the massive tidewater glaciers hoping to see whales, puffins, and sea lion colonies. By then the season will be nearly over and the temp much cooler but hopefully not snowing, which I believe we will experience before we leave in mid Sept. In the meantime we have Patrick's visit July 31-Aug 3rd to look forward to.

I would say we are in a routine now, my work days vary, some starting at 7 am and others not until 3 pm but at least I am now getting 8 hour shifts with a total of 40 hour/week. The time goes by quickly, my first experience really in retail, which has been a bit of an eye opener. My co-workers are for the most part our age. We are known as " The Silver Fox" group! which I suppose sounds better than " The Geriatric" group. Whenever we are not in uniform we are always mistaken as guests, which brings me to mention that last week Ron and I were chosen as a select few to do a 3 hour photo shoot, posing as guests in various locations to be used as “stock photos” for their brochures, web sites, etc promoting this resort. So once again Ron gets to add this to his "acting resume".