Alaska - Day 3

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Day 3 - Alaska

Around 9AM we boarded our bus to take us to the Denali National Park for our Tundra Wilderness tour.

Our guide instructed us on the rules of the park, and why they are so strict on food. At no time, can we throw food away. That teaches the bears that people have food, and they don’t want that. When a bear gets the hint that people have food, they are relocated, or put down.

An event happened several years ago, with the hikers, that are trained before they are given their permit, on dealing with animal encounters. One girl had an encounter with a bear, and tried all the avoidance techniques, and the bear kept coming at her. She panicked and threw her backpack at the bear. He did stop. BUT, the bear clawed and got into the backpack, got her snacks and food, and at that point they closed the hiking and camping area that she was in. A researcher went out for 16 weeks, cooking and making food smells to try and attract the bear so they could tranquilize it and move it. It was a 2-year-old cub. They moved it 50 miles away, and reopened the area to the public. Four months later, a similar event happened, and the woman did everything right, except she dropped into a ball. The bear got into her backpack. She was not injured too badly, but again they had to catch the bear. Thy found out it was the same bear that returned, so they had to put it down. They try to keep the wildlife wild, and unfamiliar with people. Great care is taken to preserve the natural habitat of the animals and interaction with people minimal.

Another story that was covered by the local media occurred at the end of a public parking lot at the entrance. A moose gave birth to a baby, and everyone left her alone, and park rangers used it to educate the public and show a momma taking care of her baby. But bears need to eat also, and after some days, before the moose and baby left, a bear came out and had the moose baby for lunch, with cameras rolling. It was a sad event to see the food chain and how it works, but the park’s commitment to letting the animals be in charge of their environment was a key to their decision to educate the public with the up close and personal event.

We saw lots of wildlife along our 9-hour trip, lots of beautiful scenery, big and little animals and learned lots of information about the environment, the tundra, the permafrost, why the trees grow where they do and how the seasons affect the whole balance of life.

For example, rabbits eat the tree leaves, populate the area, providing food for the golden eagle and other animals. When the trees are stripped of their leaves, they put out a toxin that kills the rabbits, and they don’t get as plentiful, which then decreases the population of the birds, wolves, and others that depend on rabbit for lunch. It runs in about a 12-year cycle, and we seem to be in the 5^th year of increasing rabbit populations.

Interestingly, we saw trees stripped of leaves, dead, and were asked what stripped the leaves to make them die. Bare dead trees 20 feet tall, and higher, but no one had an answer. I thought about rabbits, but didn’t want to sound stupid by suggesting a rabbit ate tree leaves 20 feet in the air so I kept my mouth shut. Well, the correct answer was rabbit. How the heck does a rabbit strip a tree 20’ in the air? In winter, the snow puts them up at that level, and they can eat. As the snow melts, the level goes down and the tree is stripped.

It is so dry, and the trees are in the permafrost, so that when they die, they don’t fall over and rot. The guide said the trees have we were looking at have been dead for 75 years. It was a beautiful example of the natural preservation of the land, and keeping it natural.

The main goal of our trip was to be able to see Mt. Denali at least at some of our stops. Well, it was rainy, cloudy and the mountain was hidden by clouds. We got to the last stop, which was about 30 miles away from Mt. Denali, and there we saw clouds, that blended in with mountain, and with cameras, it make it hard to distinguish cloud from Mt. Denali.

We did see two herds of caribou across the valley on a patch of snow that had not melted. They looked like they were laying down on the snow to keep cool, while others looked like they were pawing the snow looking for bugs.

We saw some cyclists biking through the park. The rangers refer to them as “meals on wheels” for the bear population.

We returned to the hotel, with plenty of time for our evening event at the Gold Nugget playhouse. We had a meal, and were waited on by the actors, who after they cleared our tables, put on their actor and actress faces, and started a musical rendition of the story of the first assent of Mt. Denali, along with some humor. It was a pleasant evening.

After that, I went back to the room, to begin my trek of pump replacement. During the meal, my pump decided that it had a “motor error”. After 4 reset attempts, I called Medtronic support, and they tried it again, with same procedure and the same result. I borrowed a couple of needles from a diabetic traveler so I could dose up during the night, and during the day tomorrow. UPS is flying a critical package to Fairbanks, where we are headed tomorrow, and I will have a replacement by tomorrow night.

I have a backup insulin pen I travel with, but didn’t check to see how much it contained before I left because the last time I checked I thought it had 30-50 units, so I didn’t’ check. Bad move! I had 8 units. My perception of time is a bit warped as Vernell can tell you. She asked how old it was, and I thought maybe a year, but It expired 10/2016. Second bad move! I used the borrowed syringes to make it until I got to Fairbanks and a drug store.

I didn’t think this was the right time to discuss new pump, training, and scheduling its delivery with the Medtronic agent at that time. :-)

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Photos

Our Box lunch
comes with a map printed on the bottom of the park and our route through it. Snack packaging, food waste, and the box itself is all collected at the end of the trip for recycling. No plastic water bottles. Just aluminum because plastic only recycles 2 or 3 times before it doesn't work. Aluminum you can recycle over and over. They are aluminum screw top lids like some beers.

Tundra
The lack of trees and low vegetation mark this altitude in the park.

Such a pleasant view
Too bad I didn't move around to block the dude's hand behind Vernell's head.

We stopped because there was a bear beside the road
The animals have the right of way, and this one was really close, and we stopped to watch him eat. The bus window is in the picture.

Across the street, momma and the babies are playing
Mother and her two cubs playing across the road from the other bear.

Caribou taking the scenic route.
They love walking the roads. Less bugs, and easier walk. They don't stay on long, but all traffic lets them by, not just park buses like we were on.

Here we see what is ahead of us.
A caribou in on the road ahead of us.

Zoomed in on one group
A zoomed in view of the highlighted show of the caribou in the snow.

Caribou in the snow
The other group, zoomed in for clarification.

At the check point, the outhouses.
Running water indoor plumbing, and very nice public facilities.

Spruce trees are fewer
The tree line here is around 2700 - 3000 feet. In Colorado, it is about 10,000 ft. Moisture, and the permafrost have a lot to do with this.

A bird in the park and the bus parking lot.
He is curious, and not walking up to people begging for food.

This is the same kind of bird wandering around our buses.
Only, the hen is sitting on her nest, and the drake is in the water above her and a little to the right.

Mt. Denali
Yes, you will have to use your imagination. It is 60 miles away at this point.