Camping in Denali State Park - Sept 2011

We were lucky enough to get a camping tag for Wonder Lake in Denali State Park. Wonder Lake is the farthest most point a gravel road can go in the State Park.  So off we went, Beth, her father, Niki and myself.  It was a nice weekend but it turned cold a few days before we left.

 

Inside the museum I am taking my picture with my Alaskan Totem.  A totem is your personal good luck charm. In my great adventures in Alaska, a moose has been a big part of my adventures. I have adopted the moose as my Totem.  Beth has adapted the Bear as her totem.

This is a 55 year old white spruce tree.  I placed a penny on the left side of the tree slice. The trees in Alaska grow quite quickly due to the huge amounts of sunlight and never ending glacier melting waters to feed the trees.

This is bear scat (poop) that can easily be seen in the spring.  Again I placed a penny next to it so you can get an idea how big their scat is.  If you remember we saw fresh bear scat on our canoe trip last weekend.  It was still steamy so we new not to waste time moving along to the lake.  This is the four of us and all our camping gear for our adventure.  We were at the bus stop waiting to take us to Wonder Lake. We took a bus, a very old school bus minus 8 rows of seats, where we put our gear and some placed their bikes in the back of bus as well.  The bus ride took about 5 hours (85 miles into the Park) to get us from the museum to Wonder Lake camp site.

It didn't take long on our bus trip to see some majestic Denali animals.  Denali means the "High One" in Athabascan native language.  It is the largest peak in the 600 mile long Alaskan Range.  The Alaskan State Park was named after president William McKinley who designated it as a National Game Refuge in 1917.

This bull moose was posing for us on a hill top near the bus.  The rack was amazing.

 

The three girls, Niki, Sheryl and Beth ready to take hundreds of spectacular photos and have fun camping.

Shortly after passing the East Ranger Station (about 2 hours into the bus ride) we were next to the river bed and saw these two bears. They were unknown to each other until we had been observing them for about 30 minutes.  This female grizzly was looking for berries and was very unconcerned about us.  Then enter the male grizzly and the female got alarmed.  She stood up and was very focused. Once she discovered a male nearby she got on all fours and ran to the wooded area on the river's edge.

There were plenty of Dall sheep to be seen on the mountain side.  The amazing animals have suction cups on the bottom of their hoof so they stick to the rock on even the steepest angle of the mountain.  This is a horn of an adult sheep.

This artist was on day 3 of her 5 day session.  She was from Oregon and loves the scenery that Denali Park has to offer.  It sprinkled a bit during the day and she just covered the canvas and then resumed her work a few minutes later.  She tries to complete a painting every time she comes to visit the park.

Goodness Gracious look who crossed right in front of the bus!  He was BIG!

Now we know why he was in such a hurry to cross the road.  He was going to have a confrontation with a few fellow bull moose.  This is rutting season for moose. Since these were all bull moose we concluded they were trying to determine who was going to be the "king" of herd when a female entered the area. We were close enough that you could hear the clanging of the horns with each other.

This is the Alaskan State Bird - ptarmigan.  It has a pretty good disguise.  What I think is so funny about the state bird is that it is hunted and eaten.  How many states can claim they eat their State Bird?  One of my students at Airport Heights went on his first hunt with his father when he was 9.  It is traditional for the hunter to give his catch to his "village" as a thank you gift.  His father told me how proud he was of his son but grinned and said, "You can imagine 20 people sharing this bird."  A ptarmigan is not much bigger than a quail.  There are about 160 bird species in the park.

 Our camp site.  Beth called Niki's and my tent, "The Charlie Brown Tent".  I think it looked pretty good. This is before the night rain. It did look a bit worse in the morning but it kept us very dry.

 This was our Bear Food Storage area.  It was a very large, metal closet with lots of shelves.  We took up the top row with all our our goodies.

The evenings have to end with a little refreshment.  This wine comes in a plastic container.  Remember, what you bring in you have to bring back out.   Of course you have eat and drink everything you packed into the campsite otherwise the load will be almost as heavy when you leave.  Now that doesn't make sense. So we ate, drank and had fun to make the backpacks lighter when we left.  Below was our morning breakfast.  yep, that is a roll of TP. We had flushing toilets in the rest area.

This is how you cook in a park that doesn't allow fires.  The jet boil heats up the water which we add to dehydrated package food - chicken and noodles or beans and pasta.  YUM!  I ate my bagels with peanut butter and jelly.  We all ate the Pringles.

Here we are bright-eyed and bushy tail ready to hike and take more pictures.

Denali National Park is 6 million acres and that makes it larger than Massachusetts. 

This is our Wonder Lake Camp Site. Can you find Sheryl among the pretty colors?

This is Denali in her glory.  There are thousands of visitors to the Park every year but only 15% of the visitors get to see all of Denali.  This is my 5th visit and it is the first time I couldn't see the entire Mountain. Mt. McKinley is measured from the 2000 foot lowlands at Wonder Lake and up to the summit at 20,320 feet and a vertical relief of 18,000 feet.  This makes Denali the highest mountain on the North American continent.  What I find amazing is that the mountain is gaining about one millimeter a year!

This was taken at Kodachrome Pass. It was spectacular.

I have been so blessed to have the privilege of living among Alaska's beautiful scenery every day.  Thank you Mother Nature and thank you David.

I felt sorry for this young man because he did not have waterproof boots and he had been hiking all day.  His solution was to wrap his feet in plastic bags.  I think I use to do that with my snow boots.

 This is Wonder Lake's famous reflection pond.  I have a print of Wonder Lake and the reflection pond hanging above my fireplace in Alaska.

Another Totem!

 The gravel road ended just past Wonder Lake.

Dew on the leaves early in the morning.

 We had time to pick blueberries and cranberries.

The early morning sunlight was peaking through to greet us.

 Denali is framed by a humongous caribou rack

 On our way home we stopped at Hurricane Gulch for one last scenic photo.

Thanks for viewing another great adventure in Denali.  I will post my halibut/salmon fishing trip next.  I have a big fish tale to tell you about.

Our weather is wonderful - sunny and about 60 degrees.  Our nights are getting colder which make for great sleeping.  We have just a bit short of 13 hours of sunlight.  We are losing about 5 minutes of sunlight a day. 

I am leaving for Chicago to attend the wedding of my nephew Christopher and his love of his life, Kerry.  It will be a fun family event and I can't wait to see everyone. 

Until next blog

Be thankful, be blessed and be save.

Sheryl the Nanuq of the North

Nancy Lake Canoe trip and State Fair 2011

 We girls, a.k.a. The Prodigal Midwest Vixens, decided to a wonderful canoe trip to Nancy Lakes, Alaska.  We left early on Saturday and drove north to these wonderful lakes.  Nancy Lakes is one of the few flat lakes studded with 23,000 miles of spruce, birch and a sundry of other forests.  We were so surprised to be greeted by the State Forest greeter - an Artic Fox.  He sat there next to the car and poised for us for as long as we clicked our cameras.  It was remarkable.

We decided to take the canoe challenge of the Lynx Loop Canoe Trail.  This very popular trail is 14 miles of lakes and portages.  Most people do this trail in two days.  Nope, not us Prodigal Midwest Vixens. We are too Alaskan to be 2 day wimps.  There were no maps to be handed out so I took a picture of the trail just in case we needed it.  As you can see, it is difficult to read and would have helped us ZERO!!!  For those who have never canoed before, a canoe is paddled power. If you don't paddle you don't move.  So it takes two people to get the canoe moving to your destination.  Beth, my canoe partner, reminded me that canoeing was a "team" effort more than once.  If you don't know what a portage is I will explain it in one word - HARD!!!!!! In order to go from one beautiful lake to another beautiful serene lake you must lift and carry the canoe over land (which was mucky and wet, swampy, and full of tree roots) by the "team".  UGH the first portage was about 1 mile and then they got shorter but one was uphill for about 1/2 mile.  HARD!!  So you will see these neat canoe porters we attached to the front and back of the canoe to carry it across the land.

These were some of the vibrant berries we found along the portages.  Note the big thorns.  If the bushes were too close to the walking trail our hands had a first hand meeting with the thorns.  Ouch!!! On a couple of our portages we found fresh moose and bear tracks.  We were very careful and talked loudly as we carried these very heavy canoes (about 75 pounds).

This is the outhouse and food storage at the camp site on Chicken Lake.  Is that a great name for a lake?  We have already canoed Nilo, Noluk and Big Noluk Lakes.

Loons accompanied us on almost every lake.  They make the most soothing sound.  On more than one occasion they allowed us to come close for pictures but for the most part we were so noisy they stayed far away from the canoes.

 Lily pad and sea grapes were plentiful.  On lily pad was floating so we brought it on board.  It was about 10 inches in length and about 8 inches in width.  You know what they say about Alaska, "We grow things big up here."

The pathway on the other side of Frazier is called Jackknife.  This was so cool because the lakes passages meandered through the bogs and swamps.  This is Niki and Kim catching up to our canoe.

 When we finished Ardaw Lake Niki and Beth decided it was time to take a refreshing dip. Can you see how refreshing it is?  Look at Beth's expression.  Her scream of delight, or should I say freezing plunge, was heard around at least 3 lakes.  Niki took the slow path in and finally had to take the plunge.  Both of them feel they are official members of the Polar Plunge Club.  Don't forget that Alaska Lakes are so very cold even in the summer.

 Niki wanted to show off her athletic skills and balance by standing in the canoe.  How many times do you tell your children "Do as I say not as I do!"  Sit down Niki before you fall in the water.

Getting into the canoes from the small and sometimes slippery docks was tricky.  You can see that I am holding on to the tree - not for my life but to steady the canoe. 

 Beth and I had a wonderful time canoeing.  We tried to keep our posture correct and to paddle together.  I have to say that Beth was an excellent captain and steered the canoe perfectly.

Can you see the beautiful reflection in the lake?  All of these lakes were crystal clear and smooth as glass.

How picturesque?

Our car trip home was a bit more quiet than our trip to the canoes.  Eight (8) hours of canoeing and portaging makes a person very tired. 

Sunday we decided to visit the State Fair.  It was the 75th year for the State Fair.  In case you forgot Alaska has only been a State for 52 years.  This wonderful State Fair has a very rich history so this year if your were 75 years old you got to attend the Fair free of charge. How nice!

Our first stop was the vegetables.  They sure grow them big in Alaska was a phrase we heard from visitors as we observed the humongous vegetables.

 Yep, you see that weight just fine.  This family is the same family that wins most of the time as they near the world record weights for vegetables.

 This is one big cucumber almost 11 pounds.  Think how delicious those dill pickles are going to taste.

This is a very unique - a broccoli cauliflower

I am sure an artsy pumpkin carver could do something great with a 213 pound pumpkin.

This little piggy went to the fair.  She had to bring along all the little piglets to keep them fed.  Wow! that is a log of nursing.  No wonder mom is trying to nap when the kids are napping.

Can you say llama? 

This is a great little goat!

hherThere was all sorts of free entertainment.

 Lots of fun face painting!!!

We watched the Beard and Moustache competition.  Did you know that there are Beard and Moustache Clubs around the United States and world? There are a lot of men in Alaska with beards and moustaches.  I am not sure how there were judged but the audience was allowed to go up and touch the beards.  We did not participate in this activity.

  A double-pull!

 Long but not very full!

 Really burly!
 Grew his beard in one year and 4 days.  He lost a few years ago and decided to participate again this year.

 His beard did not win and neither did his hair style.  His left side of his head is suppose to be the State of Alaska flag and the right side of his head the American flag.

 More beautiful flowers.

 This Mom and daughter both got a hair do and face paint.  Do you see the heart in the back of the little girls hair?  We had several students show up for school this year with such colorful and poofed hair.

Mother and son beauty bonding!

This is my favorite shoppe.  I have several Bad Girls of the North shirts.  I had to replace the one I have because the Clorox bottle got the better of my shirt. 

 
 This Lumberjack Show was FABULOUS!!! I have never attended one before.  These lumberjacks were brought to us from upper Wisconsin and they were soooo cute.  The script was full of humor and adult innuendos.  In some parts it might have been considered "R" rated but the little ones didn't get the humor. Thank goodness. 

This is the Lumberjack competition. Throwing a double sided ax 40 feet.

Saw-tooth cutting.

The lumberjack Super dooper chain saw.  They put some kind of extra engine to give it more POWER!!!! Gosh wouldn't Tool Man Tim be proud.

Platform cutting.

There is no fighting allowed in a logging camp. So the men are encouraged to settle disagreements with water punchers.  The loser falls into the very cold water.

Of course there is log rolling. This skill is necessary to maneuver logs in small channels.  It is legal to kick splash an opponent during this competition.  We were so amazed at how fast their feet move in either direction.

More fun face painting.  Any Halloween ideas?

Mom and son State Fair fun!

Great painting on a cute student.

 Here is how I want to wear my hair to school tomorrow!

 As we left the State Fair we stood and watched the kite flying competition.  It is amazing what they do with kites.  That is Pioneer's Peak in the background.

So it is back to school tomorrow.  It was a fun weekend. I want to share with you the new guest on our school ground.  You all know I love to go and blow the moose horn so we can get the students to the bus or off the playground.  Well, here is one school chore I have not volunteered for - Bear patrol.  Seems our local bears are a bit hungrier than the food sources in the wooded area.  We have had a lot of moose and deer scat (poop) in our school yard.  This little guy is hungry and I will promise you I will stay in my class room until the "OK" bell rings. 

It has cooled off a bit and the sunlight hours are disappearing.  We are only 14 hours of sunlight these days.  I am so blessed to have this opportunity and see the beautiful mountains and blue skies every morning I wake up.  I hope you all had a fun and safe Labor Day weekend.  I will be returning to Chicago in a few weeks to be with my family when my nephew, Chris, gets married.  It will be a wonderful family event full of wonderful memories.

Until next blog.

Do what you love and love what you do.

Sheryl

Nanuq of the North.