Storing Blueberries For Winter

Grizzly Bears, Denali National Park, September 15, 2014

I'm linking up with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

A Step Back In Time

I've been posting about our road trip to Denali National Park, but today I'm taking a step back in time to a road trip we took in May of 2011.  This road trip featured the same range of mountains that run through Denali, the Alaska Range, but the road runs to the east of Denali.  We drove down the Alaska Highway, almost to the Canadian border, to the town of Northway.  You can read the post I did on the trip HERE.  

I'm delving into my archives for the photo above, which is Index Number 1500.  That's the number this week for Gaelyn's Foto Friday Fun meme and it celebrates her 1500th post.  Gaelyn is a park ranger at the Grand Canyon National Park, and she became a follower of my blog very soon after I began blogging in January of 2009 and I have enjoyed her many wonderful photos since then.  I'm linking with Foto Friday Fun 78 HERE.

Of course, I have to add a few more photos from that road trip.  Most were taken through the windshield or are drive-bys.

And for Eileen's Saturday's Critters, some of the Caribou we saw.  They're a little scruffy looking as they are shedding some of their heavy winter coats.

Here's the link for Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Teklanika River Overlook at Denali Park

The Teklanika River Overlook is at Mile 30 on the Denali Park Road.  It has a large platform built so that you can look over the river valley.  The River is a braided river, flowing from headwaters where glaciers grind mountains into dust called "glacial flour."  The water flows a milky gray with suspended glacial silt.  During the last ice age, a giant glacier filled this valley.  Archeologists have discovered a variety of stone implements made and used by people who lived here 3,400 years ago.  Other sites at Denali have revealed human activity as far back as 10,000 to 11,000 years, among the earliest human habitation of North America.

A fence surrounds the platform as we are at the top of a bluff.

Sydney is becoming quite the ham, and posed for me in front of the view of the river and mountains.

Other posts of our road trip into Denali National Park can be seen HERE, both for our trip this time on September 15th, and a shorter road trip on May 15th.  This Overlook was as far as we were able to drive in May, so it was a treat to be able to go further into the Park.

I am linking up with Good Fences

at the Run "A" Round Ranch Report.

Wonder Lake at Denali

Wonder Lake is at Mile 84.4 on the Denali Park Road.  We stopped and had a picnic lunch here. 

There are more views of the mountains at Wonder Lake, but still clouds hanging in around Denali, obscuring its peak.

The road continues on to Kantishna at 92.4 miles, but we decided not to go that extra distance as Kit and Sydney had work and school in the morning.  After driving back out of the Park we still had a two-hour drive to home.  All in all, a beautiful day's drive!

Road Trip In Denali National Park

 Tuesday I posted photos of the short road trip we took, HERE, and as several of you guessed, we drove into Denali National Park on Monday.  My companions for the trip were my husband Marty and my daughter Kit and granddaughter Sydney.

Denali National Park has six million acres of wilderness with only one road leading into the Park.  The road is 92 miles long, and throughout the summer the road is only open to private vehicles for the first 15 miles, which is paved.  Beyond that the road is unpaved and is accessible only by catching one of the tour buses that travel the road or by bicycle or hiking.  At the end of the season each year permits are drawn by lottery allowing 400 private vehicles on each of four days to drive the entire 92 miles.  We were lucky enough to win a permit for Monday.  A fifth day was added this year, with 400 permits being given to the military.

Mt. McKinley or Denali, "the Great One", is the highest peak in North America at 20,320 feet.  It is often shrouded in clouds, and only about one in three visitors gets to see the mountain free of clouds.  Sadly, we weren't among the one in three, as Denali remained covered in clouds.  We have seen Denali on other occasions, and on a clear day it is visible from Fairbanks. 

These views are all from the Eielson Visitor Center at Mile 65.9.

From the outside viewing area, I took a photo of a sign showing the mountain and the various peaks around it.  The photo below shows the mountain hidden behind the clouds and the sign in front, and, no, it's not a collage, just a very big sign.

 One of the few fences in the park is at this viewpoint, and I snapped a few shots of Sydney and Kit and am including those for Good Fences.  

In the spring before the regular season opens at Denali, the first 30 miles of the road are open to private vehicles, and Marty and I drove that on May 15th.  I did several posts on that trip, and you can see those HERE.  I'll be posting more photos of our drive over the next few weeks, so check back.

I am linking with Good Fences

at the Run "A" Round Ranch Report.

Alaska Road Trip

We took a short road trip on Sunday and Monday.  Can you guess where?

Denali National Park

Visiting Denali National Park at this time of year is like going backwards in time a few weeks.  The elevation in Fairbanks is 446 feet, the entrance to the park is at 1585 feet, and in the part of the road we traveled on up to around 3000 feet.  There was just a wee bit of green peeking out on the vegetation, and snow is visible along the roadside in many places.  Our first stop was the Visitor's Center where we were greeted by a friendly bear.  We didn't see any other bears, but I certainly would not have considered approaching them as closely as this guy. 

We only stopped briefly at the Visitor's Center, and then we were on the road into the park.  A few buses were running on the Natural History Tour that travels 17 miles into the park, and some appeared to be familiarizing staff with the road.  We pulled out behind one of the buses.

Yes, road construction was underway in the park too, in this case repairing a bridge, and we had a short wait.


We had been in the Lowland area of the park, with elevations below 2500 feet, with black spruce, white spruce, and paper birch.  As we drove further into the park we were into a Subalpine ecosystem, with elevations between 2500 to 3500 feet, and shrub vegetation, open spruce woodland, and meadows.

One popular means of traveling through the park is by bicycle.

As we approached the Savage River Check Station, buses were visible coming down the hill on the other side of the river.  During the season that portion of the road is only open to buses or bicycles and it's the beginning of the gravel road that goes the rest of the way through the park.  You can drive the road anytime up until this point, but the next 15 miles was open for private vehicle travel through May 19, and the reason for our trip this early in the year.

As we started up that hill we had a good view of the river, and some tourists doing what tourists do, taking photos of each other.

Next time some wildlife photos!   

Denali Park Fence

Denali National Park Visitor's Center

May 15th, 2014

I'm linking up with Good Fences

on the Run "A" Round Ranch Report