Palmer Alaska

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After I signed off on the blog last night, I realized that I forgot a few things. If you are tired of hearing about the sled dogs, you can skip over this portion. Denali is the only national park in America with a working sled dog kennel. Denali has nearly two million acres of legally designated Wilderness where no mechanized forms of transport are allowed - no snowmachines, no cars, no airplanes landing, no motors. When the Park has a choice between flying a load into a remote location or using the dog teams, they will use the sled dogs when feasible. As soon as there is enough snow, the patrol trips begin. Patrol trips can range from one day to many weeks. As the dogs' endurance increases and the rivers freeze, patrols push farther into the heart of Denali wilderness. Late February and the month of March are the height of the winter season for trips into the park, both for visitors and park personnel working on research and other projects. At this time of year, the dog teams spend solid weeks on patrol. At least one team and often more, is based at the Wonder Lake Ranger station which is 83 miles inside the park. Sled travel is generally restricted to between minus 30 and plus 30 degrees F, more for the safety and comfort of the mushers than for the dogs. Mushers and dogs risk frostbite when running at temperatures below minus 40 degrees. On the other extreme, the dogs risk overheating if running in temperatures much above 30 degrees. I hope this was as interesting to you as it was to me. We left Denali this morning and headed south toward Anchorage. On the way we stopped at the Denali State Park Alaska Veterans Memorial. They had monuments there honoring the Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. Also plaques for the Merchant Marine and Alaska National Guard. I also had a history lesson from this visit. I vaguely remember(note: I graduated from High School 50 years ago!) studying about World War II. I didn't realize when they mentioned the Aleutian Islands that they were near Alaska and that the Japanese were that close to America. There was a marker there telling about the Battle of Attu. Attu Island is at the western end of the Aleutian Chain. For 19 days in May 1943, 16,000 Americans and 2,650 Japanes soldiers battled. The Japanese had the advantage of higher ground. Finally on May 30 it was over as the Americans trapped the Japanese in Chichagof Harbor. 549 Americans were killed, 1,148 wounded and 2,100 were victims of inclement weather. The Japanese lost 2622. Only 28 Japanese were captured. American got an expensive but beneficial education from the Battle of Attu. Lessons on beach landings, fighting in inhospitable weather conditions and fighting well entrenched forces saved many lives during the balance of the war. Wind, fog, rain, snow and ice disabled and killed more soldiers and damaged more equipment than did combat during the Alelutian Campaign. Guess I am never too old to learn. We are now near Palmer Alaska which is about 40 miles from Anchorage. We are planning to stay here for a week. We will probably do day trips from here. Thanks to all for your positive comments about the blog.

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