Monday, May 14th - Mothers Day in Denali National Park

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the fine women who touch a child's life with love!

I started feeling the 'blahs' late last week. Seeing all the commercials for Mother's Day, and knowing that I wouldn't be placing any phone calls to Mom, or sending her a card or a plant, was a downer. I really didn't want to spend Sunday here at home doing nothing, or out at a restaurant seeing others celebrating this special day with their moms. Saturday morning, on the spur of the moment, Steve asked me if I wanted to go to Denali Park for Mothers Day. What a perfect suggestion!

We planned to get up early and get on the road, but that didn't happen. It didn't really matter. With the long daylight hours, the entire day stretched out ahead of us. Besides, it was a chilly and overcast morning - not very nice weather for a roadtrip. We assumed Denali would be the same, but we planned on going anyway. It was our last chance to drive into the park to mile 30, before the park opens for the summer tourism season tomorrow (15th).

After filling our coffee mugs and filling the gas tank (cha-CHING!), we made a stop at Sunrise Bagel for breakfast sandwiches to eat on the way. We got on the Parks Highway at 10am and began the 2 hour drive to the park.

The skies were overcast and our surroundings were gray. Despite the lack of sunshine, the green of the freshly budded trees was almost fluorescent. It's amazing how quickly we reach "green-up" here. When we reached the overlook outside of Fairbanks, the horizon looked bleak. We knew the mountain wouldn't be out.

Outside of Nenana, Steve and I caught some movement in the sky. We craned our necks to look through the windshield. At first we thought there was a gaggle of geese flying overhead. But this group of birds was thick and they weren't flying in a traditional "V" formation. We pulled off the road and then noticed that there were many more groups of birds following behind. Some were in the V formation, and others were swirling and flying in circles around each other. There were thousands!

I put my 300mm zoom on my camera to get a closer look. What I saw through the lens thrilled me! It was the sandhill cranes! They were on their way to Fairbanks and Creamers Field. What a thrill to see so many of these beautiful and big birds in the sky! The photo above is what I saw through my lens. They were so high up in the sky, I couldn't see individual bird features, but I knew by the shape of their bodies and wings exactly what I was looking at.

On Saturday night, areas in the higher elevations (which includes Denali) saw a good inch or two of snow. As we entered the park, it was as if winter hadn't yet left Denali. There were very few signs of new buds on any of the trees or bushes. And the snow which had fallen overnight had obviously been blowing in one direction, as the spruce trees were dusted with white on one side, and almost bare of snow on the other. The snow wasn't fully visible until we passed the trees. A glance in the rear view mirror, showed a landscape that was totally different than what we saw out the front window.

Looking back at the way we came: a winter wonderland.	Who would believe it's mid-May?	Approaching mile 15 and Savage River	Savage River from the bridge
Mew gull on the top of an outhouse.	Arctic Ground Squirrel	Walking along the Savage River	Hikers on the other side of the river.

We parked the truck at the Savage River rest stop and decided to hike the river trail (about 2 miles). Mew gulls and ptarmigan were abundant and quite noisy. As we made our way along the path, I had my first Denali wildlife sighting. An Arctic ground squirrel darted in and out of the holes he made in the ground, keeping an eye on us as we passed by.

It was chilly as we walked, and I was glad for my fleece jacket and gloves. Despite the cold, there were several other people with the same idea. The Savage River trail goes down one side of the river, crosses on a footbridge, and comes back on the other side. It was our first time hiking it. I'm so glad we decided to do it!

The trail disappeared behind a hill. While I was excited about seeing what was up ahead, Steve was all eyes and ears looking and listening for bears. Truth be told, I didn't even think about the bears - even though there were signs posted all over the park warning of them.

As soon as we cleared the hill, I saw a most wonderful sight! Up ahead, on the path, stood a beautiful sheep. She looked directly at me, but didn't run off. Above her on the hill were several other sheep - some obviously new babies! Before I could get my zoom lens mounted to my camera, the babies were whisked behind a craggy rock and out of sight. The rest of the flock continued their lazy grazing, while keeping alert for our movement.

On our left, was a huge rocky outcropping. Two sheep made their way across and up the rocks, jumping easily from level to level. We stood there for a good 40 minutes and watched them. At one point, a curious sheep came within 15 feet of us, tilting her head and looking up at us. What a privilege to be standing amongst such lovely creatures!

Young sheep	Peek-a-boo!	This ram knew how to pose!	Ready to jump!
So sure footed!	The flock makes its way uphill	Did you know? These animals are seldom found below timberline in Alaska. Horns of Dall sheep are made of keratin, the same material as in fingernails.

After our adventure with the sheep, Steve and I hiked back to the truck and continued onward to Teklanika. We didn't see any more wildlife - except for ptarmigan in various stages of molt. Some still had a lot of white feathers, while others had already turned their mottled brown and tan.

At mile 30, we turned around and started back to the entrance, driving very slowly in the hopes of catching sight of a bear. We didn't have any luck. We did see a moose, but she was very far away and out of photo range. I continued to take photos of the beautiful landscape. We never did get to see the mountain as she stayed shrouded in clouds all day.

Denali landscape	Ptarmigan	Ptarmigan camouflage	Ptarmigan - still a lot of white
Denali landscape	Savage River	Denali landscape

As we left the park behind, we saw a train on the Alaska Railroad. The engine was pulling two cars marked "McKinley Explorer". These rail cars are owned and operated by Holland America and shuttle cruise passengers from the park to Fairbanks, or the park to Seward. Soon, there will be many more of these cars running the rails from ports to the interior.

As is customary, we stopped at The Monderosa for lunch. It was crowded! I guess many people decided to celebrate Mothers Day by having the 'best burger in Alaska'! It was delicious as always. Before we left, I asked the proprietor if I could have a menu to bring home with me. I wanted it because the story of how the Monderosa came to be is printed on the back. Here it is:

Built in 1982 by to custom log home builders, the Monderosa is a locally owned and operated business. The name is a result of mixing the owner's last name, Monroe, and the Ponderosa. This 44x48 building is made with white spruce logs cut in the 17 mile hill area between here and Fairbanks, and average 16" in diameter. These logs were then turned with a Myers pole shaver to maintain their natural taper. The land on which the Monderosa is built was homesteaded in 1960 by Odell Parker. The original 160 acres were used to grow and sell potatoes to the military. Eventually a bar and hotel, "Parker's Patch", were established and in 1981 burned to the ground. The moose rack above the bar measures 54" and was shot by the owner's father in the Kantishna area.

As we entered the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the skies cleared and turned blue. The sun was shining and it was warm. At one of the overlooks, we stopped so I could take a photo of the valley. I wanted you to see how green everything is now. It's so nice to drive down the highway and see new green buds on the trees.

We didn't get home until nearly 7pm. We were both exhausted and stiff from being in the truck all day, but it was worth it.

I wanted to share a few cute photos I took over the past few days. We have a squirrel who frequents the tray of bird seed I keep on the back deck. He also visits the suet cage on a regular basis. The other day, he came to the deck while Airborne was laying at the door keeping watch.

On the suet cage

Airborne watches him eat

"Oh no! There's a cat in there!"

Steve and I have finalized some of our vacation plans (besides the week we'll be spending with Donna when she comes to visit). I already wrote a little bit about Steve's upcoming fishing trip on the Kenai Peninsula, and my tentative plans to entertain myself while he's out on a boat. But that's not going to be our only getaway!

Today, we officially booked a BEAR TRIP!!! Emerald Air is booked solid when Donna is in town, and the month of July too. We didn't want to make any plans for August, because we don't know what Steve's employment situation will be like then. I contacted Chris and Ken Day on a whim and asked if they had anything before mid June. And they had an opening on June 6th! I'm so excited!!!! Keep your fingers crossed for us that the weather cooperates and we can fly that day. If we can, I'll have a lot more bear photos to share with you all.

It looks like the month of June is pretty much full now. In fact, it looks like the rest of May is pretty much full too. If I can get the kids up here this July, we'll be busy then too. This summer is going to fly by...