Denali National Park Hotel Healy

09-09-09

Val had a good day on her birthday. She met with Jane Lakeman, and chose some items from the park archives she wished to have. Jane scanned them and then copied them to disc for Val. She got some pretty cool stuff.

Her day actually started out well before she met with Jane. On the way to park headquarters she got in a moose jam and ended up with some pretty cool moose pictures. "Not another moose ...

Last trip out into the park…

Val has wanted to go to Wonder Lake for two summers, and Dave does not want to ride the bus. As the season comes to a close, Val has decided to take the bus to Wonder Lake by herself. It turns out to be a good choice. Val says there is not a lot of narrative to go with the story of her day; the pictures tell the story.

They saw everything on the park road except...A BEAGLE!

Your rare breed,

Remington Beagle

... br>
Last year we collected blossoms and made jelly. It's pretty good, but questionable if it is worth the work. You need something like 200 blossoms. You can also make Fireweed honey. (Haven’t tried that.) My wildflower book also says that in the spring the new spring shoots are edible. (Haven’t tried that either.)

Your horticultural beagle,

Remington

... and businesses and there is a pretty little lake on the right with one lone cabin on it. Then the road turns into a two track, and Dave is afraid there will be nowhere for him to turn the truck around. So this is where we get out and walk around for awhile.

Stampede Road ends at the George Parks Highway. When you cross the highway the name of the road is Lignite Road. Down at the end of Lignite Road (there is no outlet) we find a big beaver house, and a ...

... has a diamond pattern in the wood. They make nice walking sticks or whatever…

I took Val for a walk-about today and as we were walking we noticed two red squirrels chasing each other down the road towards us. They were so intent on chasing each other they did not realize that they were running right at a ferocious beagle until they got about two feet away from us. Have you ever seen a red squirrel apply the brakes? This stupid squirrel slid ...

... they did last year. They flew to the Ruth glacier which falls from Mt. McKinley. So you get a great close up view of Mt. McKinley, you land on a glacier, you get out of the plane and walk around on the glacier, you get to see the Sheldon house, you get the **** scared out of you on landing and takeoff from the glacier…

When you land on Ruth glacier you get a view of the house, and the outhouse, that Don Sheldon built. Don Sheldon was an air ...

... the baby moose. He tells us that the bleats of the baby moose are getting weaker as the time goes by without any nourishment from its mother. We take some baby moose pictures, talk to Vic and Lin the bear tech, and then move on down the trail. We continually search the heights trying to see Dall Sheep, but without any success. We enjoy walking along the river though, and listening to the sounds of water over rocks and the many different birds ...

... in front of a fan, laid my bike cover on the floor, and after a few hours everything was dry and repacked. It has continued to rain steady all day, no let up at all. At 5:00 pm, I walked over to Rose's for dinner, and got a bit wet, but I have time to dry out before morning. We get five channels on the TV, so I hope the Olympic Games show up on one of them. I find that the locals are less ...

... a guy on a mountain bike. The bear headed straight for him (I bet he thought his days were numbered!). Any way, one of the vehicles came up behind the bear and spooked him, so he would bolt, which he did, off the road and into the tundra - much to the relieve of the biker! We also saw a wolf, 3 Caribou, and then on the way back we saw another grizzly bear with its cub. It was just off the road and we got some great pictures.