Searching for Denali

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Geo: 62.77, -150.053

First things first, we awoke to an earthquake. The entire cabin felt like something crashed into the side of it. The earth bent it. We were startled but it was the shortest earthquake ever. Just to be sure, we poked around outside. No bears, no tourists messing around with us. Yup. Definitely an earthquake.

Chris cooked our backpacker breakfast. I might add, we're newbs, and the slop we created was not tasty. We brought our own camp stove and dehydrated food, along with other basic staples. I think we made our food too watery or something. My morning coffee was glorious, though. I enjoyed it out on the porch with the Resident Shrew. According to the communal journal, there was a shrew that inhabited the area around the cabin. I didn't even know what a shrew was other than a vague Shakespeare reference. Which, by the way, is why I named him Shakespeare when he did appear. Turns out its a little mouse-like creature.

I had no idea what Denali looked like... I knew it was a famous mountain but I hadn't ever seen a picture of it and I no longer had reception for the most part. So looking it up wasn't going to work either. I had thought you COULD see it from Byers Lake... but when the morning clouds cleared, we still had no idea which mountain it was. Turns out we weren't even close by a long shot. We only saw the closer mountain range.

We spent the day hiking around Byers Lake. We mostly had the place to ourselves. There was no one else staying in the other cabins at that time. We saw kayakers occasionally. We got eaten alive by mosquitoes as if we weren't even wearing our Deet, lol.

It was so peaceful.

Later afternoon, we drove up to the nearest lookout to see if we could find Denali. We finally just barely saw it poking out of some clouds!!

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Photos

Our Cabin Used to be a Visitors Center
...which not everyone seems to grasp... the used to be part...