The longest of days

Awoke at 4:15, wheels rolling by 5, ride north 137 miles. That's how my morning went, and the Marines were just getting to work!

When I slipped out of Poyo's Thai Kitchen and Spare Beds Emporium this morning I tried my best to be quiet and not stir the neighbor's. I had some grapes and a hard boiled egg that Bev gave me for breakfast, and it was a good thing I did. Few of the "towns" shown on the map have a place to eat, and those few were not open at 5 a.m. By the time I had ridden 111 miles I was ready for something more than grapes

I saw 4 moose (moosi?) along the highway in the Alaska pre-daylight sun shine. At 5 a.m. It was already light enough to clearly see moose in the ditch! That's one advantage to the Land of the Mid-night Sun! Of course the other side of that calendar coin is that in the winter there is only 4 hours of daylight, which is the reason for the signs cautioning motorists to watch for the large quadrupeds. There have already been 337 moose hit this year, according to the latest updated signs.

What is hard to grasp is the scale of Denali Park. Just 35 miles north of here is the Denali South View area where you get, on a clear day, perhaps the closest and best view of "The High One". From there it is almost exactly 100 miles to the entrance to the park!

About 30 miles before the park entrance I came to Cantwell which was to be my safe haven. I would need to refuel before the return trip and had figured to eat a more substantial breakfast. As close as I got was a Chevron with a convenience store. So after refueling I grabbed a cup of Joe and a chocolate chip cookie (see Lisa, I'm watching what I eat!)

I thought I was ahead of schedule but as I rolled into the Wilderness Access Center (WAC) I had just enough time to check in and use the bathroom, then it was line up for the bus. Oh, and when I checked in they informed me that there was no food or drink available anywhere along the 6 hour tour! Really? I had left my water bottle back at the motel so I grabbed a Dr. Pepper (to wash down the chocolate chip cookie) and that was it for the day!

The tour bus was a "shuttle", not a "Tour" bus, meaning that you could get on and off the bus anywhere you like, literally. The park has virtually no trails. If you decided you wanted to get out and walk to the top of a mountain you yell "stop" and they stop and let you off in the middle of nowhere. It was then up to you to flag down a bus, and if they had room, you could continue into the park. The down side of the "shuttle" bus is that the drivers were just that, drivers assigned the task of transporting people to and fro. They were not, and they were very much upfront about this, a source of information regarding geography, history, wildlife, etc. That was the Tour bus, which cost a lot more and took twice as long to complete their route (an estimated 13 hours).

So I got what I paid for, and I'm okay with that. To a point.

There is a scene in the Robert Redford movie A River Runs Through It where the main character, who had been a fly fisherman since his very earliest days, states that "There should be a law that if you don't know how to fly fish you shouldn't be allowed to do it." I've recalled that statement several times in my life, usually when someone is offering me a fly rod so I can join them fishing.

The same should be said for nature. If you don't know how to appreciate nature you shouldn't be allowed to take a trip through a National Park. There were two older ladies on the bus, presumably sisters. Now I realize they have every right to be themselves and shouldn't have to pretend to be anything other than "them", but I too have the right to be annoyed to hell by someone who can't look out a window and shut their mouth. 

One was from Greenwich, Conn (and as we were to learn also Arlington, Virginia, Tennessee, NYC) and her sister was from Joyzee City, Joyzee. She hated Christie (I assume the governor), retired from Teaching because of Christie, her son goes to Columbia, and we found out where she was when each of the planes flew into the twin towers, "hey Grant (our driver), tell us everything you know about the park",yadda, yadda, yadda. She talked for three hours and no one understood a single word she said. When we reached the turn around point I voluntarily decided to take a one hour ranger-led tour so that I could catch a different bus back to the WAC. Unfortunately, the Pidgeon Sisters decided to do the same.

The shuttle buses have a rule that, if you see wildlife you want a picture of you yell "stop" and the driver stops. Everyone locates the wildlife and takes pictures, then we drive off. The Pidgeon Sisters called "Stop" to take a picture of a ground squirrel and a raven! Probably a big deal in "the city", but....

I should have sprung for the big bucks and taken the "Tour" bus. The wildlife sightings would have been about the same but at least I'd have heard some interesting history and geology. I have to be honest and say I was really disappointed in the bus ride, despite the Pidgeon Sisters. The whole thing was rushed (my fault, I could have taken more time and stood and waited for the next bus) and the wildlife sightings were, for the most part pretty lame. Here is a picture I took of the "best" sighting we had of a bear sow and two cubs.

The small white spot in the middle of the upper window has three bears standing in it - really it does!

Even with a couple of mega-zoom lens cameras onboard, each sighting usually concluded with a discussion of "was it a bear or a caribou?" I'm serious, that was all the better most "sightings" were- you couldn't be sure even what animal the moving-white-spot on the horizon was. There was a couple of exceptions:

We spotted this group of caribou on the snow field just below the ridge:

And this large herd of caribou walked above the Eielson Center where the ranger-led walk took place:

... but even then, really?

This was the best sighting we had all day, and there were no birders on the bus to appreciate it:

This is a long-tailed Jaeger that did not want to leave his road-kill bounty just because a bus decided to use the same road. According to the driver the bird lives in the Antarctic and migrates during mating season to nest in the park (saw one sitting on the nest near where this one was foraging).

All that being said, the reason I came to the park was to see Denali, which was covered in clouds all day, but I knew that was a possibility from the time I put the bus ride on my agenda (which was during the ferry ride to Haines). 

This is below the Eielson Center, which is one of the few places in the park that has trails

So I really can't be disappointed. I just wonder if Ms. Pidgeon has stopped talking yet. Half of the bus was from the Netherlands. I hope they don't think she is "typical". I know they wanted to look outside, not listen inside...

With all the bus riding and walking around we finally got back to WAC at 5:30, a 9.5 hour tour, whew!

I hadn't eaten since my chocolate chip cookie so I quickly hopped on my bike and went north, to the closest food. I found a Subway and another Thai restaurant! (I'm on vacation, no Thais!)

The clouds were getting darker and closer. When I exited the restaurant I put my rain pants on just in case and, before I got out of the parking lot, the rain started to fall. And I had 140 miles to ride before I could hide in my room. A brief discussion occurred between my wife and I. And, just like that, the rain stopped, the sun came out and I rode the next 140 miles in very pleasant weather. It's nice having friends in high places!

Tomorrow it is time to retrace my steps and then some, riding up to Fairbanks. At least I know most of the route.