Bear Bonanza in Alaska - August 22-23 2008

We had a red-eye flight which landed past midnight. We caught a cab to take us to B&B RV but we never saw the B&B office. Our RV was parked in an empty parking lot where we retired for the night. There was some traffic noise but we tired enough to fall asleep. The next day morning we had an employee give us an overview and off we went first to the nearest Fred Myers to stock up with fruits an groceries as we would be somewhat cut off from amenities during our stay in Teklanika.

We left Anchorage behind and Knik's glacier and Denali State park passed by. We stopped at the viewpoints hoping to catch a glimpse of Mt. Denali but no such luck. But check this out - a black bear crossed the road (somewhere in Denali State Park area) - it was exhilarating and bode well for more wildlife sightings in the trip.

After checking in with the rangers we had a shower at the Riley Creek Center ( a good hot one and not timed I think). We filled up on water, gas , and emptied the sewage tank - all in preparation of spending the next 3 days in Tek cut off from the rest of the world (Am I exaggerating or what?)

Within minutes of driving on the Denali Park road, we spotted some moose crossing the road. We didn't even have our camera ready at that point. Just past the Savage River Campground, our decision to camp in Tek bore fruit. There was a grizzly bear eating berries quite close to the road. The fun part was that we watched that bear for over half an hour. Buses came by, saw and left while we could stay parked and inside the car, of course, as long as we wanted. Much against what I would have expected, we left before the bear did. Isn't this what you would call quality wildlife viewing? I have pictures of the bear as if he was posing for a photo shoot and I have tons of them ...

Driving over to Tek, we chose a site on a first-come, first-serve basis. None of the sites are by the river and the best you can do is get a good view of the mountains. The toilets were porta-potties and just about manageable. There were faucets for washing, drinking purposes and a sink (which you could use with water from a faucet few feet away) Unless your RV is equipped with large shower tanks (most rental RVs are not), you have to forget about a shower for two days. We cooked up a dinner with what we had (aloo parathas i think with tomato chutney and GB made subzi) and rice (with coconut powder) and packed some for tomorrow. (rice and potato sandwiches).

Not wanting to run out of gas, we did not use the generator for heat throughout the night. So we were pretty much balled up in our comforter in the night and only turned on the heat for a brief period in the morning when we got ready and started the day. G kept waking up in the night in the hopes of seeing the Northern Lights ... Wrong season for that- If you are wondering March April is a good time to see the Aurora ...

Black bear: 1
grizzly :1
Moose : 1