Paxson and the Denali Highway

Trip Start Sep 05, 2008
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Trip End Sep 16, 2008


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Flag of United States  , Alaska,
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

When we woke up the weather had not gotten any better; still cold and rainy.  The weather had left a little present, though: a blanket of fresh snow on the tops of the mountains.  After a muffin and some hot tea for breakfast, we headed out into the cold to explore the area.  We drove up the Denali Highway west from Paxson.  It would over the tundra at the base of the Alaska Range.  It was beautiful, despite not being able to see very far because of the low clouds.  We drove up to Tangle Lakes where the pavement ran out.  The dirt road looked in pretty good shape, so we violated out rental car agreement and left the pavement behind. 
 
He hadn't seen much wildlife, but we spotted a big bull moose sitting in the blueberries off the side of the road.  We pulled over and I took some pictures with my awesome telephoto lens.  We left the moose to his berries, and continued down the road and eventually decided to take a hike at ? Pass.  We donned our gloves and cinched up our jackets and marched through the tundra in the rain.  We scared up several flocks of ptarmigan, but didn't really see any other creatures brave enough (or stupid enough) to hang out in such crappy weather.  After a little while, we realized we were getting colder and soggier, while the weather wasn't getting any better.  We turned around, jumped back in the car, and headed to a lower elevation where it wasn't raining.  We hiked a little more around the Tangle Lakes and had a PB&J picnic lunch.  Before long we had our fill of cold, wet hiking, and we returned to the cabin for a cozy afternoon of reading and napping. 
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