Thursday, June 2 - We arrived in Denali late afternoon on Thursday. We were totally messed up as to what time zone we were living in, so we wandered around town, got a quick dinner, and then went to bed early.
We stayed at the Princess Denali Inn. When we arrived, I learned that this
Friday, June 3 - We woke up bright and early on Friday for a day of hiking in Denali National Park.
First stop: Denali National Park Visitor Center
We looked at the trail map and decided that our first hike would be at Savage Creek. The park offered a shuttle to the creek, which is 15 miles from the visitor center. This was a great way for us to get a free tour and ride deeper into the park. Denali Park restricts traffic into the park to tour busses and a few selected personal vehicles.
During the shuttle ride, we got a glimpse of Mt. McKinley. The base of the mountain is shown in this photo (above). In the middle/right of the horizon, look for a wide white mass just above the dark mountain profile. We were told that four hikers have already died this season on Mt. McKinley.
The trail was one mile up stream, and the mile down stream, on the other side of the river. Kya had the best seat in the house, in the Ergo Carrier, carried by her Daddy.
Shortly after starting the hike, we saw a large moose. I think these hikers got way too close, but thankfully, the moose wasn't bothered by them.
These are Dall Sheep. Can you spot all three?
The shuttle allowed for plenty of time, so we got to explore the area. Corey taught Kya how to throw rocks into the stream. She was thrilled.
After taking the shuttle back to the visitor center, we had lunch and then headed out for more hiking.
We hiked to horseshoe lake, shown here. There is a massive beaver dam behind Corey. Kya loved hiking so much that she slept through most of it.
Denali Park is a majestically beautiful place. Among many of the things we learned ... due to the extreme northern occasion, the tree line in Denali is quite low at about 2,000 feet. The tree line in other parts of USA is typically at about 5,000-10,000 feet. Because of the permafrost, many of the trees in Denali look small and scruffy, yet they are not necessarily young trees - some are over 100 years old.
We hiked and hiked and hiked. We decided to just keep going and walk all the way back to our hotel. This is the bridge crossing the Nenana river. Denali Park is on the left, the town of Denali is on the right.
We had dinner at the Salmon Bake. Excellent food. We both highly recommend it. I had halibut tacos and Corey had a salmon sandwich. yum.
Saturday, June 4 - we departed Denali at 7 am via charter bus to Anchorage. Kya liked the rumble of the engine.
We arrived in Kodiak on Saturday evening on this little prop plane. We both got a laugh out of the small airplane. We flew with Era airlines which strangely does not have any security before boarding the plane. It was quite odd but I enjoyed not having to "strip down" one more time.
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