The day started off cold. After a cereal breakfast, we warmed up (?) waiting for the bus in the Tek bustop. We realized they are never on time at the Tek but we did meet up with the fellow campers and exchanged travel notes. O what a beautiful clear-blue-sky day it was and what that meant was we get to see the Denali mountain. (Only 30% of the visitors get to glimpse any part of the mountain) We weren't even focused on seeing the mountain since we were all about the bears and wolves.
We saw many Dall sheep and caribou - some so far off that we could hardly discern them but some close enough for some herd pictures with a zoom lens. Our first bear sighting for the day was at some distance by the river before we reached Polychrome. We thought our best bear viewing was the day before and that it could not get better. This did not compare. Just past Polychrome was our second bear viewing and I am not even sure we saw a face :-) But who is complaining ... 2 bears in two hours ...
The bus stopped so that we could take pictures of the Denali mountain, in the fear that it might disappear beneath the clouds before we reach Wonder Lake. We needn't have bothered since the visibility was the same till the next morning. We also saw nervous Arctic squirrels which screech louder than you would think to warn their family of impending danger. The ones near the road are not that afraid anyway. Our next stop was at Eilson visitor center. As we rode into Eilson visitor center, there was a bear on the hillside across the road. While others went to get their shots of Mt. Denali we went photo hunting our target bear. Again, we left before the bear did. It was a little windy but we got a good view of the Denali mountain range. Eilson visitor center is very modern with flush toilets (unlike Tek bus stop, Polychrome, etc) and lots of good resources. G got some berries for me when he hiked down to the river. ( I relished them even more than I would have otherwise :-))
Half an hour past Eilson, one of the passengers noticed a golden eagle camouflaged on the hillside and within minutes on the opposite side (cliff side) we saw our fourth bear by the river. The landscape was dotted with white wildflowers. Soon we reached Wonder Lake - it was cold and windy but Denali was up and about in the blue sky as clearly as it could be seen. Clouds were rolling in but the peak was visible. The campsites are beautiful if you are ready to brave the cold, the mosquitoes and the isolation. We only saw a small part of Wonder Lake so I was told. One family opted to stay behind and hike around the area. We opted to take the bus back so we could wimp out from the wind and continue our wildlife safari.
On the way back from Wonder Lake, we observed some beavers and really missed the binoculars for this one. We also saw some ptarmigans which are the state bird of Alaska. They live there year round and grow fur even on their claws to survive the cold winters. Between Eilson and Toklat we stopped by a fox den on the hillside and observed a pair for sometime. Then within 10 minutes we were treated to the sight of a pack of six wolves with atleast 3 young ones playing with each other and roughhousing. This sight is supposed to be rare in Denali which supports a very small but steady population of 200 wolves. Since wolves hunt by stealth, Denali's arid open tundra is not exactly the nurturing environment for wolves.
Then we stopped at Toklat. Though not as fancy as Eilson the surrounding area is beautiful with the Toklat river running close by. The glacial rivers in Denali are braided in that they never run bank to bank but keep depositing glacial debris and changing course giving an appearance of silver ribbons (braids). This visitor center has a huge bookstore and samples of caribou antlers you can lift and take a picture with. (They are quite heavy) Moose, elk and caribou shed their horns every season and grow bigger ones appropriate to the age of the bull. We even heard about two caribou bulls whose antlers got entangled, that died without being able to free themselves. Would you call this a flawed design or Darwin's design of natural selection?
Ten minutes after leaving Toklat we spotted a bear and a cub weaving in and out of the shrubbery below. The fur of mother was a light brown (tan) while that of the cub was a dark brown bringing the count up to 6 for the day. All these bears were in hypophasia - constant eating in preparation of the winter. 80% of their diet is vegetarian and consists of berries. The years in which the berry harvest is suboptimal, they go after the moose and the caribou. Speaking of caribou, we saw more of those and captured some pictures of them against the beautiful colors of Denali. We saw two more bears (8 total) before we reached the Tek bus stop from where we walked to the campgrounds. Since in the morning fellow campers mentioned seeing wolves by the Tek we decided to try our luck. Didn't see any. We also attended the ranger talk in Tek both days. It was good but can get repetetive. Will be great for kids though. An eventful day, won't you say?
Bears: 8
golden eagle : 1
Wolves : 6
fox : 2
caribou, dall sheep, arctic quireel, ptarmigans
Then we stopped at Toklat. Though not as fancy as Eilson the surrounding area is beautiful with the Toklat river running close by. The glacial rivers in Denali are braided in that they never run bank to bank but keep depositing glacial debris and changing course giving an appearance of silver ribbons (braids). This visitor center has a huge bookstore and samples of caribou antlers you can lift and take a picture with. (They are quite heavy) Moose, elk and caribou shed their horns every season and grow bigger ones appropriate to the age of the bull. We even heard about two caribou bulls whose antlers got entangled, that died without being able to free themselves. Would you call this a flawed design or Darwin's design of natural selection?
Ten minutes after leaving Toklat we spotted a bear and a cub weaving in and out of the shrubbery below. The fur of mother was a light brown (tan) while that of the cub was a dark brown bringing the count up to 6 for the day. All these bears were in hypophasia - constant eating in preparation of the winter. 80% of their diet is vegetarian and consists of berries. The years in which the berry harvest is suboptimal, they go after the moose and the caribou. Speaking of caribou, we saw more of those and captured some pictures of them against the beautiful colors of Denali. We saw two more bears (8 total) before we reached the Tek bus stop from where we walked to the campgrounds. Since in the morning fellow campers mentioned seeing wolves by the Tek we decided to try our luck. Didn't see any. We also attended the ranger talk in Tek both days. It was good but can get repetetive. Will be great for kids though. An eventful day, won't you say?
Bears: 8
golden eagle : 1
Wolves : 6
fox : 2
caribou, dall sheep, arctic quireel, ptarmigans
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