Day 24 - more adventures in Denali

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Had a sleep in this morning till 7.30am....yes that's a sleep in when your in Alaska. We have so much too fit in and the days are long so we don't want to waste any of it!

This morning we were off to the visitors centre to catch the bus to go see the parks dog sledding team and then the afternoon doing a river raft down the Nenano river. Today we will be making use of the parks laundry and hot showers. Even though the RV has good hot water in the shower, the pressure is not good enough to wash my hair. There are lots of places around Alaska that offer pay showers which usually include use of a towel as well. Generally they cost around $5 per shower. I guess back packers and campers would use these facilities a fair bit but for me make use of them to give my hair a good wash.

Went to the dog sledding demonstration in the park. It was awesome. They have a team of 30 dogs in the kennels including 3 puppies. These are alaskan huskies and are especially bred for the tough job of pulling the sleds across the tundra during the winter months. Each dog can pull around 100 pounds each and sometimes as many as 18 dogs are hooked up if there is a heavy load to be pulled. These dogs get so excited when they see the sled being prepared. They howl and bark - each wanting to be chosen for the excursion. We were given a talk by Ranger Jenny and then shown. Demonstration. 5 dogs were chosen to pull the sled and what a job they do. Once all connected they certainly get moving. We both really enjoyed this experience today.

This is this mornings blog. Off to river raft now!!

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Photos

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Tolkat River book store

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Playing around in the book store

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Magpie in the campground

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Berries in the tundra

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Words of wisdom by John Muir

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At the dog kennels

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Its a hard life!

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The pups

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Ranger Jenny

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Ready to Ride

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Pretty flower pots line the kennel cages

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The sled