July 1--Denali National Park

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July 1, 2011, Friday Teklanika Campground, Denali National Park Left Rosie II at 8:30 after repacking our lunches, drinks, and snacks. Rained in the night and it is currently 42 degrees. Foggy out.

This day is an excellent example of how capricious wildlife viewing can be. It was raining and grey out when we walked to the bus stop. We drove the same road at approximately the same time and saw one hoary marmot on a rock next to the road and Dall sheep on three different mountain sides in three different places. Since the bus driver had nothing to talk about as far as wild life goes, she pointed out the wooden sign that is chewed up by bears every time it is put out. They solved the problem by putting long metal spikes all along the sides of the sign.

Continuing our ride west, beyond the Eielson Visitor’s Center, where we had not been before, we saw more evidence of glacial action as we traveled along a glacial valley. Many ponds were in the valley and along the road. In some of the ponds we stopped to look at the birds and ducks. Near one pond we saw a pair of yellow legs. The male was at the top of the tree and the female was on the side of the ponds with what looked like their chicks. There were also some ducks, we had seen before, but I have forgotten what kinds of ducks they were.

We drove around the fairly large Wonder Lake where we saw a group of hikers/campers wearing mosquito net “hats” covering their heads and faces. The Lake was really no big deal---no wild life, ducks etc. just mosquitoes! We did see something in the water but couldn’t tell if it was a muskrat or what swimming along the surface.

At the end of the Park Road we drove out of the Park and into the community of Kantishna at mile 92. Here were several parcels of property privately owned and operated by lodges and such. There had been a gold rush in this area and one of the families that stayed and continued to live, mine for gold, and hunt and trap year round, were Fannie and Joe Quiggley. Their cabin is maintained by the Park Service and we looked around it for a bit.

On the drive back, the fog had cleared some, and we saw the same grizzly family as before in the general area as before and some far off caribou here and there. Then we saw a fox run along side of the bus in the dirt gutter for quite some time.

Worn out by the time we got back to camp. Disappointed at the lack of wild life, but had not expected the same experience as the day before. Extremely glad we went on the trip the previous day. Started raining again.

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