Bear, Moose, Lynx
Trip Start
May 05, 2009
1
18
48
Trip End
Sep 20, 2009
Healy,
Alaska,
United States
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Our routine here at Savage River is that Val and I get up early and are in charge in the mornings, and Dave stays up late and puts the park to bed. The sleeping and rising routine follows into our days off as well, so Dave was sitting out by the fire about 10:00 last night, and Val and I were in bed. All of a sudden we heard a lady shouting, "Bear! There's a bear!" Val and I jumped up, and Dave headed from the back of our site to the front of the site where the lady was standing on a rock shouting that there was a bear. I'm not sure what the standing on a rock was for but anyway... She told Dave that she was walking down the road and heard a sound behind her. When she turned to see what had caused the sound she was looking at a bear. Yikes! She said that the bear walked past her, down the road, and into the trees. Dave hurried down the road to alert the boy scout troop staying on group sites B and C. When he got down there the bear had already passed by evidently headed for the river. I have a picture in my little beagle brain of the bear silently chuckling to himself about scaring the heck out of the lady who jumped up on the rock. Beagles can have kind of a warped sense of humor sometimes.
Val was in at the EDR (Employees Dining Room) doing her blog, and multitasking because she was also listening to the bus drivers chatter. One bus driver says, "Did you see anything interesting today?" The other driver says, "No, only some stone sheep." It took Val just a minute to think about that and then she asked, "Were they moving around very much?" "Well not since the last ice age anyway." LOL We know from driving out into the park looking for Dall's Sheep that sometimes what you think are sheep on the mountainside are really white rocks. If the white shapes don't move, and are in the same spots on your return trip you can pretty well be assured that they are "stone sheep" and not Dall's Sheep.
Val is excited because we are going to town today. I am not excited because it will be a boring day for me. Riding all the way to Fairbanks, and then waiting in the truck while Dave and Val shop is not my idea of a fun day. However, Val is worried about leaving me too long in the truck so they are in and out pretty fast. They both go in and rush around the store, and then Dave is left to pay while Val comes out to let me out and give me a drink. When the shopping is done they always go to Subway and then come out and eat it in the truck in order to share it with me. I can't decide if I like the double ham and cheese Dave gets or the Subway Club that Val gets. They are both pretty good. Top those off with some ice out of their soft drinks and a chip or two and I'm good. On our way home from Fairbanks we get behind this guy who is pulling a trailer made out of an old truck bed. Pretty ingenious don't you think? And it comes complete with a fish with buggy eyes looking at us. Can't beat it.
June 14
Carol and Larry asked us to go out for dinner on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day. When we got to their place they were kind of bummed because none of their kids had called until they realized that it is not Father's Day until next weekend. So we celebrated an "un" Father's Day instead. We had a great dinner at the Creekside Café at mile 224. After dinner we checked out the nearby Carlo Creek and Carol tried her luck at panning for gold.
There is a mother moose and her baby in residence at Riley Creek. The mother is a collared moose, and can get quite cantankerous. They were across the road from Carol and Larry's, and of course we did not have a camera with us.
Val went to Mass at the WAC (Wilderness Access Center) tonight. The priest from the mission in Healy comes into the park to offer Mass during the summer. The mission has a problem - their septic system must be replaced, and their furnace has gone kaput. There are so few people supporting the mission, and the priest covers a huge area - even flying to villages to offer Mass once a month. They have no money to save their flush or be warm this winter. So they have a wax milk carton decorated like an outhouse, and it's labeled the "Flush and Furnace Fund." If you would like to help these good people you can send your contribution to Val at P.O. Box 335 Denali Park, Alaska 99755. You can make your check out to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
June 15
On our way into town today we spotted a lynx in the first drainage wash next to Savage Camp. This time we did have our camera. We hope that you like the lynx picture.
We drove out near Clear Air Force base and Anderson to cut some firewood. After we loaded the back of the truck with wood Dave tried his luck in the beaver pond on Lignite Road - but no fish were found. Val and I walked around the area and took some pictures. Pretty soon it was time to hurry back to camp to turn the generator on and charge up those batteries for a warm trailer through the night.
Regards,
Remington Beagle
P.S.
Val was reading a book on Denali, and guess what?! There really is such a thing as Stone Sheep. They are black in color and from the same family as the Dall Sheep. Guess there's stone sheep, and then there's Stone Sheep.
