Teklanika Campground, 17 Aug 2011, Denali National Park, AK, USA

Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Teklanika Campground, Denali National Park, AK

OK, here we are still at Teklanika CG in Denali National Park, planning to leave Thursday morning. On Thursday, we expect to spend a couple of hours at the main entrance Visitors’ Center, and then head down the road to Talkeetna, where we have a flight-seeing trip scheduled for Friday, weather permitting. I started this Wednesday night, but bagged it for bed before finishing. Now it is after breakfast Thursday morning. I’ll work on this note, while Lin makes potato salad and the generator finishes charging up the battery so we can bring in the trailer slide-out; on with the narrative…

We were up early Wednesday morning, and got ready to catch the camper bus to Wonder Lake. With lunch sandwiches put together and breakfast done, we loaded our packs, gathered binoculars and camera gear, and headed to the bus stop. We were the first ones there, but shortly there was a small crowd waiting for the bus. First one, then another passed by as we waited for ours. Eventually the camper bus came and the driver said backpackers should load up. We weren’t backpackers, so we waited for the bus that said Wonder Lake. Then we looked at our tickets and realized that we should have gotten on the camper bus, anyhow… Oh well, we took the Wonder Lake bus, which came in about five minutes later. Barr, the driver, said that she thought we’d catch up with the camper bus at the Teklanika rest area, about a mile up the valley. She was right, and hopped out of the bus to tell the driver of the camper bus that we wanted to get on. The camper bus waited for us and we met Cindy Muller, the driver. We didn’t know it then, but the choice to switch buses was a fortuitous one; she turned out to be a wonderful driver, and we had a truly outstanding day.

The camper bus was lightly loaded, so we settled into separate seats near the front. Cindy took off, and we were on our way to Wonder Lake; next stop -- Toklat rest area, about an hour up the road. The ride up to Toklat and Eielson VC was exciting; the weather was great for a change, some high clouds, but plenty of sun and clear views of the mountains and tundra on every side. The first wildlife we saw was a brown bear with her two cubs:

Mountains, looking south from Toklat River Rest Area.

Brown bear sow and cub near Toklat River Rest Area.

Brown bear sow and both cubs, near Toklat River Rest area.

Brown bear cubs near Toklat River Rest Area.

Next a sharp-eyed rider spotted a group of four Dall sheep coming down the hill side to the south, seeking to cross the Park Road to go up north. It was interesting to see the sheep off of their normal heights and down on the flats where they were at high risk for attack by predators. Their cautious haste was very obvious. In both instances, Cindy stopped the bus so everyone could get a good look and take all the photos they wished:

Dall Sheep crossing road, west of Toklat Rest Area.

Cautious approach to roadway...

Over the road and up the hill...

At Polychrome Pass, we were again prevented from taking a break; this time by a bear sighting. We got word from the driver of the bus in front of us that there was a bear just down the hill from the overlook, so we stayed inside and took a quick look around and then went on. The views were great, but it would have been nice to get out and look around a bit more.

We got out again at Eielson Visitors’ Center and spent a few minutes looking around to see if we’d missed anything on Tuesday; not really.

View to the south from Eielson VC, some blue sky at last.

Looking towards Denali;
I know it is up there behind the clouds, somewhere!

Red squirrel, along Parks Highway, west of Eielson VC.

Along the way to Wonder Lake, we spotted a pair of moose down a draw south of the road and got a few pictures.

A moose, walking through the willows...

joins a second, more reticent moose.

We arrived at Wonder Lake, and the views were excellent this time.

Wonder Lake, with some blue sky above it.

At Wonder Lake, lunch time.

When we were here in 1997, we made the entire trip in clouds, fog, and rain; this time, on arrival, we had sunny weather with clouds in the distance, and we were able to see the entire spectacular setting, except, unfortunately for Denali, itself. What fun. We stopped briefly for a picnic lunch,

Wonder Lake area, view toward Denali from our picnic table.

and then took the bus to Kantishna Ranger station to pick up hikers in that area. We were glad to have this bonus because we hadn't considered that we would be able to get into that area.

Trapper Joe's cabin at Kantishna.

Air strip at Kantishna.

It was a good trip, and we saw at first hand how varied the environment is within the Park.

The return trip turned out to be special, as well, though the clouds had closed in and we were not able to see as well for most of the trip back. We stopped briefly at Eielson VC, and didn’t stop at Polychrome Pass (nothing to see in the clouds and rain; so we never did get to stop at what is reputed to be one of the better stops along the Park Road). That said, it was still a very interesting return trip. We took our break at the Toklat River Rest Area, reboarded the bus, and started back to Park Road. Then the bus ahead of us stopped and signaled a bear sighting; we edged up and there was brown bear sow and her cub feeding on soap berries right at the roadside. We stopped to watch them for about 5 minutes, and I got some very nice pictures (these are selected from some 84 images taken over 4 minutes, which seemed like 40 minutes, but wasn't):

Brown bear sow and cub, by Toklat River Rest Area exit.

Who's there?

Taking a look around.

It's OK.

Digging for roots.

Busy time.

Who made that sound?

Looking around.

I'm startled!

OK, I guess.

All clear.

I think so, anyhow...

Back to hunting for roots...

Ranger Cabin on Toklat River.

Finally, we were on our way, and everyone was taking it easy. Then Cindy, the driver, spotted a wolf loping along the road.

Wolf says, "This is my road; what are you doing here?"

She slowed to let us take pictures and then speeded up to catch up again. The wolf was not interested in leaving the roadway, which was its easiest travel route. We followed that wolf for quite a distance, with windows down and everyone taking what pictures they could. Then we heard a coyote start howling; he was way up the hillside to the south, and not at all happy to see the wolf on his turf. He bounded down the hillside and gave chase to the wolf, so there they both were, running down the middle of the road. Then the coyote got too close to the wolf and suddenly he was the one being chased. Again, we followed them for quite a ways until they came to a creek and went up the draw beside it. The last we saw, the coyote and the wolf were chasing each other up the hills to the north of the road. I don’t know who won, but the chase provided us with some good entertainment. Here's the sequence of pictures I've selected: