Denali Nat'l Pk, AK

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Friday August 24, 2007 Denali National Park, AK
This morning the bus picked us up in front of the campground at about 9:15 am. Ten people had signed up for the Ranger led hike and only those people were on the bus. We stopped on the way to our destination to watch several elk in the distance and a bear that was way out there in the tundra. The day was sunny at the campground, but as we went further west it was gray and many of the mountains were in the clouds. We got off the bus about an hour from the campground at one of the rest stops. We hiked up and around several slopes, took in the view, had lunch and then hiked down a mountain to the road. We were waiting for a bus back to the campground by 1:45 pm. Of course, the bus we got on told us they had been 8 bears, including a sow and cubs close to the road! Tomorrow we are just riding the bus!
It was a nice hike, not too strenuous, not too hot and not too long. The Ranger was pleasant, but she didn’t provide any information about the area where we were hiking and we didn’t see any wildlife. I guess we expected more natural history about the rocks, plants, geology etc. All in all Frank and I enjoyed the hike we did the other day on our own much more. We were back to the campground by 3:00 pm and just in time. Rain poured down for about 20 minutes.
Right now the bears are gorging themselves on berries to get ready for the winter. They eat 18 hours a day. We have attended several ranger presentations about how the animals survive the harsh winters of Denali where it gets down to -40 degrees for a long period of time. It is amazing the way God has created them. The wood frog buries into the ground and as the ground freezes his liver produces glucose to replace the water in the body cells. This acts as antifreeze and prevents the cells from rupturing. In the spring he thaws out and is good to go. Bears go to sleep for 7 months, waking up occasionally. Their body uses the fat they’ve stored over the summer. The metabolism slows, but the kidneys handle the waste without them actually having to eliminate it.

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