Alaska – Day 5 (or FUZZY WUZZY ANIMALS!!!)

This day was our bus tour into Denali National Park.  We were so excited to finally get a chance to see all the big sexy critters that most biologists tend to poo-poo (ostentatiously because they aren’t the really important part of the ecosystem; but honestly it is because they didn’t get the opportunity to work with them).  Going into Denali, everyone has their “I’m going to just die if I don’t see a… (grizzly, moose, caribou” list.  Ours had grizzly and ptarmigan (a type of bird).  And, really, ptarmigan was on there because my dad never saw one while he and my mom were in Alaska.  Well, we more than made up for it.

We boarded the bus at about 8am and the first thing we saw going into the park was a female moose and her calf.  Not a bad start, however it took us quite a few miles before we saw anything more exciting than a snowshoe hare.  Eventually, we came across a porcupine meandering across the road.  Those never seem to be in a hurry, although if I had a back covered with sharp pointy objects, I would probably not be in a hurry to go anywhere else either.  We did make an unscheduled stop at an overlook for an opportunity to get a picture of Denali.  We saw most of it, but the very top was covered by clouds.  Our bus driver assured us that the view got us into the “30% Club” (the people who are fortunate enough to view all of Denali), but we were a bit skeptical.

Moose cow with calf behind her.

Back of a fairly unconcerned porcupine.

Scenery along the drive.

Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley), with a little bit of cloud cover.

Our next stop was to a trail that would take us to the Savage River campsite, an old cabin made to be used by the backcountry park rangers.  On our way there, we managed to catch a good look at a red-backed vole.  We got to the cabin, which looked like one might expect for an old building circa the 1920’s.  It wasn’t massive, but I will admit that it was roomier than I expected.

Red-backed vole, hiding in brush.

Savage River backcountry cabin

We went back on the road (seeing a marmot on our way back to the bus).  We saw some moose and a caribou on the way to the Savage River.  We arrived at the Savage River, where you could only go further into the National Park if you had a permit.  While talking with the ranger, our driver spotted a grizzly bear.  We were able to move on and get a really good look at the bear, which was walking in our direction.

Pair of moose

Savage River

Grizzly bear

Further along we found some caribou close up and a male willow ptarmigan, which unfortunately I had to try to get a picture of while we were moving.  We had a cultural presentation from a member of the local Athabascan tribe and at that location we were finally able to get pretty close to another male willow ptarmigan (and no movement, glare, or dirty bus windows to try to work around).  We had an interesting lecture regarding the Athabascan culture, although most of it rang similar to what we had heard on our riverboat excursion.  I’ll be honest, I was more interested in getting a good photo of the white-crowned sparrow off to his right…

Caribou

Denali landscape

Male willow ptarmigan

Denali landscape

White-crowned sparrow

We headed back to the Denali National Park Visitors Center, where Melissa and I were able to get off the bus to look around the Center and walk a couple of trails.  When we went back to the Denali Princess Resort, we walked along the Nenana River at the back end of the property a little bit and did a bit of shopping.  We happened to come across a mew gull that was trying to figure out how to eat a piece of bread that he/she had either been given or stolen.  It decided that the best course of action was to soak the bread in water.  Amazing how intelligent some of these bird species are…

Red squirrel at the Denali Visitor Center

Denali Visitor Center

View along a trail in Denali NP.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Nenana River, behind the Denali Princess Lodge.

Mew gull soaking bread to make it easier to eat.

We had dinner at the Grizzly Bar, after determining that the highly recommended King Salmon Restaurant was a little too pricey for us.  After heading back to our room, we promptly passed out (and I missed another opportunity to write about my day).  The next day we were taking the train out of Denali National Park and going to Denali State Park, and the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge.