Yukon Quest Dog Mushing Race

Musk Oxen & Reindeer

I'll keep adding new adventures as I get time.
Denali National Park
May 4, 2007
It was a rainy day and we almost didn't leave Fairbanks. Scott and Sofia and I got a good start on the day and were on the road by 7:30am.

Almost every day, at least several times a week, I can drive into town from my house and see Denali hulking in the distance. The Alaska range isn't small, and yet Denali just rises above it like those mountains are foothills.

And yet every time I go down the Parks Highway the clouds roll in and by the time I get near the mountain, it has disappeared like it was never there. I have never seen Denali! Not close, not from the park or the highway. ONLY from Fairbanks. Go figure!

This trip wasn't any different. I knew going out that seeing the mountain wasn't going to happen. In fact, I was prepared to see nothing but trees and tundra and possibly some birds. It was raining on and off and becoming increasingly gray. But it felt great to get out of town!

Rock Ptarmigan

These were the first critters we met. Male is above, female below. Sofia soon learned to spot them and let us know they were there. At this time of year the ptarmigan (and grouse) are picking up gravel from the road for their crops.
We were traveling on the main road. People are allowed to drive 30 miles into the park. Half of the road is paved and half is gravel. We'd left the pavement some miles back, when we stopped just to look around. Scott noticed a female caribou lying down in a field off to the right. We pulled over and watched as she suddenly jumped up and started dashing over the lumpy taiga, looking very worried. She kept looking back behind her.
I thought she'd left another caribou behind her. She stood in front of us and looked very uncertain.

Scott was of the opinion that she was running away from something. We watched her and she again looked back.

I got out the binoculars and started scanning the area where she'd been...just as Scott yelped, "There's a WOLF back there!"

Of all the animals I wanted to see, and that I have never seen, the wolf is number one. But they are very shy and while there are wolves in the area where I live, you never see them.

As I looked through the small binoculars at the wolf, I suddenly realized there wasn't just one. There were three, no FOUR, NO, FIVE! Two black/spotted ones, one marked like a classic grey wolf, one white/yellowish wolf and another grey/whitish/light colored one.

I saw wolves playing, running, rolling in the frozen stream ice, and even pooping. We watched them for at least a half hour before they took off up the stream and into the bushes.

Sofia watched them with TOTAL concentration. She didn't whine or bark or make a noise. She DID want to eat the caribou, and did whine at them. But she was completely awed by the wolves. I know exactly how she felt!

Alas, I don't have a long lens and my camera is quite elementary, so I couldn't get any pictures of them.