Thursday, July 15th

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Left Anchorage around 10:30 and hit the highway toward Denali. We made a brief stop in Wasilla for snacks. Continued on the Parks Highway and ran into a little road work, this slowed us down a bit. We stopped at the Visitor's Center right off the highway and decided to visit Talkeetna. This is one of the towns that the TV show "Northern Exposure" was based upon. It is a nifty little artsy town. There are many unique little shops offering anything from paintings to crafts made by local artists. We walked in the light rain and explored many of these quaint and eccentric stores. Anne was able to buy some Band-Aids at the General Store. She needed these for her foot blister that she got yesterday on the 10 minute walk. I shouldn't be so hard on Anne- she's no spring chicken- and I'll be old myself some day! We watched a movie at the Talkeetna National Park Service Ranger Station about climbers and their adventures on Mt. McKinley. This is where you need to stop if you are insane enough to attempt a climb on Mt. McKinley. They assess your skill levels and preparedness before your climb. After purchasing a few souvenirs, we were back on the road. We checked in at our hotel in Healy for the night and then headed to the Black Diamond Grill for dinner. Our server, Veronica, was a hoot. She considered herself to be living the "ghetto-fabulous" lifestyle. She was waiting tables for the summer in order to pay for her travels throughout the year. Anne and I were chomping at the bit to get into Denali. We had to beg Greg to drive over there. I'm sure he's glad we convinced him to go because we had a close experience with a mom griz and last year's cub. Our goal was to drive down to the Savage River and walk along the Loop Trail for awhile. We stopped several times to enjoy the scenery. At one point, a gull perched on the car and became friends with Greg. It rode on top of the car for almost half a mile before flying off. Right before the entrance to the Trail we saw about 4 cars on the side of the road and people pointing over the edge. They were snapping pictures like crazy. We decided to pull over and see what all the fuss was about. When we walked up we couldn't anything down the steep side into the valley. A lady told me there were 2 grizzlies romping around down on the valley floor. We heard people yelling from the bridge about 200 feet away. Suddenly, the Ranger pulled up in her personal truck and yelled for us to get back in our vehicles. People scattered but we still didn't understand what was happening. We turned around in the parking lot and headed back to the area where people had congregated. When we got there, maybe a minute later, two grizzlies came up the embankment from below and walked onto the road. Not believing our good fortune, Anne and I readied our cameras and began snapping photos. As cars moved on ahead of us, we found ourselves side by side with the mother grizzly and last year's cub. They were both slightly wet from the rain but still majestic and awe-inspiring. We took countless pictures of them walking, digging for grubs or roots, and generally being oblivious to all of us. We don't know what happened but at one point the mother's ears pricked up and she jumped to her feet- ready for action. I guess she decided it was not a threat and settled back down. We could have stayed there for hours, enjoying the show. Since there were 2 cars behind us that hadn't been right beside the bears, we decided to bow out gracefully and share this rare opportunity with others. Greg says perhaps others in parks could follow this example so we can all share in these rare experiences. We left still shaking and in disbelief that we were able to get that close to the grizzlies. We drove back to the Healy for beverages at the mini mart. As we were getting back into the car, a fox ran across the road. On the road back to the room we briefly saw a full rainbow in the sky. A perfect ending for a delightful day.

Grizzlies at Denali

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We had a very eventful day. As it is very late and we have to be up very early for the Wilderness Bus Tour, we will detail today's events tomorrow night. However, there was one of those lifetime events that happened and we couldn't wait to share. We saw 2 beautiful grizzly bears (sow and cub) just feet away from us on the road in Denali National Park and Preserve. We will relay in detail this hair-raising adventure tomorrow night. In the meantime, enjoy our great photos.

July 14th

My friend, Anne, made it into Anchorage last night. We stayed up way too late and were slow to get going this morning. Greg had to go into work so Anne and I were left on our own. We started out with a short walk to a small local bakery for a chocolate croissant. Yum. We then headed to downtown for the free Ulu factory trolley ride. Ulu knives are the traditional knives used by the Native people of Alaska. We walked behind the factory and saw a few men fishing in Ship Creek for salmon. Since they weren't catching anything, we headed back downtown to meet Greg for lunch. Anne got to eat her first reindeer sausage. She says they are yummy. We rode the city trolley tour. You learned some pretty interesting stuff and saw some incredible sights. We saw a float plane land on Lake Hood. Anne was excited to learn the statistics show that there is 1 woman for every 2 men in Anchorage. The odds are in her favor. We've seen no potential but she found out she could bid on one at the Bush Pilot Bachelor Auction. Some men are auctioned off for as little as 10 cents. You know what they say about Alaskan men- The odds are good, but the goods are odd!!! We walked a small part of the Coastal Trail. When we got off the trail at Elderberry Park, we had to walk a small incline of the road. Anne has continued to whine about "walking up this mountain" since the episode. She was gasping for breath at the top of the hill and tried to sit down in front of Wells Fargo. Being ruthless as I am, I made her walk on home. She thinks we may have walked about 50 miles, I'm thinking maybe 1 mile. Last night, Greg drove us down to Portage Glacier. The ice was so blue and beautiful on the mountain. It was very cool there looking at the spectacular views. The wind was brisk. Air temperature may have been in the 50s but the glacial melt water in the streams was probably in the 30s. Anne didn't leave her hand in the water long! We saw a mountain goat near the edge of the Seward Highway. Hope he made it back onto the rocks and safety. We also saw a few Dall sheep and there was a moose right in the middle of Potter's Bird Marsh. Hope we see even more animals on the Denali trip over the next few days.

Greg's Fishing Trip

I returned to Anchorage last week. The trip was wonderful, and I was able to see many friends and family. Hopefully, the friends and family I wasn't able to see this trip, I will get to spend time with at Christmas! I tell you- I don't miss the heat!! It has only been around 60 everyday since I've gotten home. That is a great improvement over the upper 90s I had to deal with while in Tennessee. Even so, I really enjoyed seeing everyone and driving a car for the first time in over 4 months.

The Saturday before I returned, Greg got to go halibut fishing with SBFs Mindy and Paul (you too can gain the coveted SBF status by taking Greg fishing- easy enough). They drove to Whittier early that Saturday morning and headed out on the boat into Prince William Sound. It was a cold, drizzly, and foggy morning. Most of the beautiful views were obscured. Greg caught his first halibut. This one weighed about 15 pounds. He thought it was going to be a lot heavier by the way it felt on the line.

As they were bottom fishing in very deep water, it was some what of a workout just to reel the line in. They caught a few over the next few hours. They were about ready to leave when Mindy said, "Let's give it 5 more minutes." Seconds after those words were spoken, she had a bite and handed it to Paul because she knew it was a large fish. Paul then agreed that it was big fish and handed it to Greg. And the battle was on. About 35 minutes later, Greg and Paul managed to get the fish into the boat.

It was 60 inches long and weighed 108 pounds. It had fillets on it that were 40 inches long. Quite a fish!! They ended up with a total of 5 halibut and a total weight of about 200 pounds. Greg said since he had limited out, he threw several back 2 or 3 times the size of that big fish....hmm. He does want to thank Mindy and Paul again for such a great day. Maybe next time I'll be able to go along for the adventure.

Denali Trip, Day 4

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Today was the last of our 4 day trip to Denali. We drove back into the park for a few more photos and a picture of the Denali National Park sign. When we left the hotel, we stopped at an overlook on the main road. We spotted a few rafts ready on the Nenana River for some adventurous tourists. As we were leaving the park entrance, we saw a very rare sight. A mother moose with 3 calves. That's right- triplets!!! We took several pictures but you still have to look closely and count the babies' legs to see all 3 calves. The mom was doing a great job of protecting them from people- let's hope she does as good a job while protecting them from bears! In Alaska, however, from 1/2 to 3/4 of moose calves fall victim to predators. We headed back down the Parks Highway. After a very close call on the gas gauge, we were able to pull over inside the Denali State Park for a view of Mt. McKinley. One picture really captured both the north and souths peak of McKinley. Both peaks are visible above the clouds. These pictures were taken over 40 miles from the mountain. You can still see the snow-covered mountain standing regally behind the others. It was really an inspiring sight. We had almost given up any chances of seeing it again this trip. In fact, only 20% of visitors are able to catch a glimpse of the mountain due to the massive cloud cover present on most days. We stopped at another state park area and had a picnic lunch. Headed on home- tired but happy.

We will be taking a break from the blog for a few weeks as I head back to Tennessee. Greg says he's too lazy to blog on his own.

Denali Trip, Day 3, Part 3

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Here are a few more photos from the Savage River hike. There are so many gorgeous views along the trail. We walked the trail twice that day for a total of 4+ miles. The second time around, had we been better prepared with extra water, backpack, bear spray, etc. we would have continued along the valley with it all to ourselves. Bear spray would be essential for any further hiking as there are a lot of blind spots and wild game trails that meander this valley.

Greg thinks after several miles this valley meets up with the Sanctuary River. Some hardy souls use small inflatable boats and rafts to float this river. The water must be frigid! The bus actually stopped to let a few people off to float down the river. You're kinda on your own, this is not a commercial rafting tour. Lots of people make a long day of a combo hike/float through the Savage River Valley to the Sanctuary River.

As you can tell from the photo, plenty of places still had snow covering the ground. This is the end of May no less- but you are at an elevation of 2600 to 3000 feet.

In these photos, Greg thought he saw a big animal moving through the dense brush. He immediately rushed up the hill to check it out. No, not really! The area was so wild and untamed that it beckoned for a photo. He carefully scanned and checked out the area before walking into the shrubs. He probably wouldn't have entered the scrub brush if he had heard even a ground squirrel. All joking aside, these places are generally best avoided to hike through if at all possible. Some quick bear tips from former Ranger Greg- make plenty of noise, talk, sing, clap, yell, do not surprise a bear. Don't hike alone in these areas. Supposedly here in Alaska, a grizzly has never attacked a party of 4 or more. Don't go in smelling like a bakery, carry a bear-proof food canister and use it. If you see a bear before it sees you, slowly back away and choose an alternate route.

As we left the park tonight, we were reminded of how vast it was. You could enjoy 1,000 acres of the park each day and it would take over 16 years to cover it all!

Denali Trip, Day 3, Part 2

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It was late in the afternoon by the time we got out on the Savage River Loop Trail in the Denali National Park. By this time, there were very few hikers left on the trail. We saw maybe 6 people during the whole time we hiked this 2 mile loop. Due to camera problems, this was actually the second time we had hiked this trail today. On the first hike the camera wasn't working properly. We decided to come back and hike again after we had purchased another memory card. With such a beautiful and serene walk, we really wanted to capture it on film. The trail basically followed the edge of the Savage River for about a mile. You then crossed the river and hiked on the other side of the river back to the main road. We saw many cool rock formations and we posted photos of a couple of them. We also saw where a bear had been digging for ground squirrels. Large chunks of ground had been turned over in his pursuit of food. Kinda made us momentarily wish we had brought along bear spray! The trail wasn't very wide and in several places was close to the edge of the incline. As we continued, we noticed large areas of snow still on the sides of the mountains on May 30th. We took the binoculars with us and were able to see several Dall sheep high above us. Where the trail crossed the river, we noticed a spur trail that seemingly led over 2 ridges to a nice view. We made it to the top of this trail but instead of the wide valley we expected, it was similar to the terrain we had crossed. It was, of course, still awesome and beautiful. As we turned for the last part of the hike, the mosquitoes and gnats started to get cranked up. They didn't get that bad, but were about like the late spring afternoon in most areas of Tennessee. We did see more snowshoe hares and ptarmigan before making our way back to the car.