Trapping and Living off The Land

Posted on June 29, 2013June 29, 2013 by Dusty Roads

On Comet, On Cupid..no that’s not right. I thought I heard them say on Fatso! Well not exactly “on”. They were Mushers and they were talking to the lead sled dogs, one of which was named “Fatso”, and they didn’t have to be encouraged to run!

But as usual I am getting ahead of myself. We didn’t go straight to the dogs. First we were taken to a rustic camp where we were served some kind of skillet bread that was considered a snack like we think of potato chips. It wasn’t bad but it was dry. We washed it down with hot chocolate.

A young man gave us a hesitant presentation about trapping. He had a variety of pelts hanging on the wall. He also had a variety of traps that he spoke briefly about. After the presentation we could go to the wall and feel the various pelts. I spoke to the young man after his presentation. I thought he might be a native Alaskan but he said no, he was just up there for a cultural exchange from the lower 48. He’s only been there about a week which was why he was so hesitant in his presentation.

After we’d had a chance to compare the pelts we headed back to the bus. The young man went with us and a young woman who was as gregarious as he was quiet. She was a senior in high school and not shy at all. She is not only a native Alaskan but one of the “First People” and very proud of her heritage. She explained about the system where land or territories in Alaska are controlled by Alaska Native Regional Corporations. There are 13 different corporations, one for each of the recognized tribes. There is no such thing as a reservation in Alaska. It sounds like the Alaskan Natives fared far better than those tribes on the lower 48.

As she talked she also kept her eyes open for wildlife and she could spot it. We passed several small herds of caribou on our way to the sled dogs.

We heard them before we saw them, but as the bus bumped down a rutted dirt road we saw dogs happily bouncing around and barking like crazy! What a racket! But where was the snow? We’d been surrounded by snow all day but now it had magically disappeared. Oh there were some snow banks but mostly we were looking a dirt trails.

This was going to be interesting.

Time for a little TLV (Tour, Lunch. Visitor Center)

Posted on June 28, 2013June 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

So far the tour had been ok. I had hoped we’d see more animals. We’d scoured the mountainsides for Dall Sheep but there weren’t any around. No bears either even at a distance.

We did see a couple more moose and then some caribou.

The guide finally addressed the issue of gulls in the middle of Alaska.

They are called Mew Gulls. And according to him they migrate here to nest. They usually build their nests in trees or even on the ground as long as they are near water. Each time I/we saw them there was a river or pond nearby.

We even got back to the lodge in time for lunch.

Thinking we might be able to save a couple of dollars (or a few pennies) we went to the Base Camp restaurant next to the King Salmon. Turns out they are really the same restaurant just different names. I didn’t quite get the logic there. They share the kitchen, the menu is the same and so are the prices.

Both Sandy and I ordered the fish and chips. It was so good. Not cheap (or inexpensive) but worth every penny.

Then we wandered through the souvenir shops before heading to the shuttle for a trip to the Visitor Center.

After all, I had to get my National Parks Passport Stamped because who knows when I’ll ever get back to Denali again.

The Visitor Center was awesome. There was a small museum nearby that we never even got to go to because the displays in the Center were so good. I got my passport stamped and then we explored the exhibits.

We saw more animals in the Visitor Center displays than we’d seen the whole trip. There were dioramas of Moose

and bear

and wolves.

The Dall sheep looked magnificent.

The Golden eagle was caught in the act of snatching it’s dinner.

The conservation message was clear. Even the smallest things can make a big difference even tipping the balance of nature. I couldn’t help but think of the endangered Piping Plovers back home.

The Athabaskans, the First People, understood this and still respect the delicate balance of man and nature today.

Finally one of my favorite posters…Dogs Don’t Run Out of Gas…I loved that and it was a reminder that we needed to catch the shuttle back because we were going dog sledding this evening.

Natural History Tour into Denali

Posted on June 27, 2013June 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

As we’d been told our tour was on an old school bus style bus. Remember those windows that you could open from the top by squeezing the release mechanism ? The window would then open 1/2 way so the top of the window was open but not the bottom. Sort of like a double hung window for a bus. Well that’s the kind of windows we had. To take pictures you had to balance on the seat to get the window open and then either lean back (Still standing…sort of) or lean over the seat in front of you to get a shot with no window glass or frame in the way.

The bench seats had been replaced but that was the only change and it might have been easier to take pictures from the bench seats than the captain style. Each row of seats was placed so the frame of the window was right in the way.

Sandy and I settled in and I took the inside by the window. We’d been told that the bus would stop for wildlife and if it was safe, let us out to take pictures. In all the brochures you see the bus on the side of the road with the occupants standing outside watching the wildlife. We were about to discover that “art” and life were very different.

Once everyone was on our driver made a strange announcement. He said if we were on the tour to see wildlife then we were on the wrong bus. As far as I knew from chatting with the others on the tour, we all wanted to see wildlife. No one got off so I thought he must be kidding.

He took a head count and we were on our way. Everyone’s eyes were peeled hoping to see animals. And we did begin spotting some. First up were moose.

We spotted a couple making their way through the snow. One of them had a radio collar and she seemed to be struggling.

At first we were all concerned until someone suggested that she might be about to give birth and that was why she was having trouble getting through the snow when the other moose was fine. I hope that was the case. It made everyone feel better anyway.

We stopped at a rest area where 2 rangers gave a short presentation about the history of the area.

One of them had a really vintage looking uniform and with his beard he was a ranger “poster boy”.

We also got another chance to see Denali (Mt. McKinley) who was again cooperating with us.

The “rest rooms ” were quite state of the art too.

As we stopped at the ranger check point that was as far as cars could go we saw a little Alaskan ground squirrel. He stuck around for quite a few minutes so we all had a chance to get pictures. He’s a cute little fella, isn’t he.

I also spotted a grouse, in fact several, but they blended in with the brush and were so quick to hide that I didn’t get a picture . The bus was moving and if I’d yelled stop they would have been out of sight before he could hit the brakes.

There were more sea gulls flying around. Seemed strange so far from the sea. But it was time to turn around and head back to the lodge.

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge

Posted on June 26, 2013June 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

What a long day. It may not have been strenuous but as anyone who has ever been confined in a tight place, whether a plane, a train or other form of transportation, for a number of hours can attest, that gets very tiring very fast. In the end our train ride was 11.5 hours! If it had been more roomy I’d be cheering that we got the extra time!

The dinner show was “the Music of Denali”. It’s the story of the first summit of Denali (Mt McKinley) told in song and dance .

The players are also our waiters and waitresses. They even get some of the audience involved. Dinner was sliced beef or salmon. The beef was good. I think Sandy ate the Salmon and I’m sure it was good. After all, this is Alaska! By the time the show and dinner were over and we headed back to our room, dusk was finally starting to fall.

Tomorrow we had the park tour in the morning and the dog sled tour in the late afternoon.

The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is located on the Nenana River Canyon one mile from the entrance to Denali National Park. A shuttle runs from the lodge to the visitor center on a fairly regular schedule.

The layout of the lodge is not like a hotel. The rooms are arranged in separate bungalow style buildings. They are built in a very rustic style and named for various animals. Our building was “Wolf Den”.

The beds were large and comfortable but we both noticed that there was very little heat in the bathroom.

There must have been some or the pipes would have frozen but it sure didn’t feel like it! Just part of the ambiance.

Even though we are on Princess property, there is no “on-board” account and meals are not included. We’re on our own. There is a “strip” of stores, souvenir shops and a couple of restaurants across the highway from the main lodge but we stayed on the Princess properties for our meals.

In the morning I was out first and discovered the canyon while waiting for Sandy. I was hoping to see some animals but no luck just, of all things, sea gulls!

Once Sandy caught up with me we headed over to King Salmon (the main restaurant) for breakfast.

The Princess hospitality continued as the waiter was top notch. I think he was from Florida too. It was amazing how many of the staff were from other states.

I’m not sure we met any Native Alaskans working on the property.

Following breakfast which was the size a lumberjack might want, we started working our way slowly up to the main lodge. (I never did manage to finish a whole breakfast the whole time we were there)

We really got a kick out of the carvings for sale with their little signs.

The main lodge was a 2 story affair with a souvenir shop, courtesy internet (15 minute limit) , and a coffee shop on the first floor. The 2nd floor was filled with comfortable chairs and couches where everyone waited for the tour buses. There was a registration desk and a tour concierge located there too.

Our Natural History Tour was at 11:00 and we settled into wait.

Are we there yet?

Posted on June 25, 2013June 25, 2013 by Dusty Roads

By late afternoon we were well past the snow line and the title says it all…Are we there yet?

People were getting restless. We had tickets to the dinner show so we didn’t want to eat in the dining car again but Lynn said we were still several hours out. In fact we were running so late that they were going to hold the start of the show for us. She said we were stopping a lot to get animals off the tracks. Interesting because you’d think someone would see the animals running away from the train.

At another stop a couple of people got on to do a presentation about the Iditarod and dog sledding. I think they were pitching one of the tours that featured the dogs and mushing.

While they were doing their presentation more shouts went up. This time the shouts were “bears”. And sure enough there were 3 of them. (Photo compliments of the internet)

Goldie Locks and the 3 bears sprang immediately to mind too. They were quite far away on a still frozen river but they were identified as “grizzlies”. Probably a family group of a mother and 2 older cubs. They were too large to be this year’s cubs and mature males are solitary except during mating season.

The “mushers’ gave up trying to pitch their tour saying that they couldn’t compete with grizzly bears but they must have done a good job because we booked a tour and so did the couple we were sitting with, Robert and Julia.

We crossed a huge trestle bridge. Robert came back from the platform and said he’s gotten a shot as the train approached it. I took mine through the window and got the shadow and look at that gorge! I was a lot warmer than Robert when all was said and done. 🙂

Around dinnertime we ordered a snack of a cinnamon roll. It came warm, all gooey, melty goodness. 🙂 That should hold me until we get to the lodge!

Shortly after that we had another bit of excitement. Again the action was way off in a valley along another river. This time the excitement was caribou. Looks like just one here.

But look what you see when I really enlarge this picture! There’s a 2nd one heading into the brush.

We spotted 2 first and than a bit farther on another 2. At least this was making the ride more interesting.

Here it is enlarged. I’m showing both pictures so you get an idea of how tiny and far away they were from the train.

Finally we spotted some buildings. We thought sure they must be the lodge but we were told no but soon.

When we finally pulled into the depot we still had to load onto buses for the last leg of the journey. We were handed a packet with our room keys and a map so we didn’t have to go through check in. That saved some time as we hot-footed it to our room to drop off our carry-ons and turn around to get to the dinner theater.

No time for pictures, as the white rabbit once said “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.” But we did get waylaid for just that…a picture.

Once in the dinner theater the usher asked if we were from the train that had been held up by the landslide! So now it was a landslide not animals. I think they need to get their stories straight. 🙂 In any case, dinner was served family style and they started serving almost as soon as we were seated.

I don’t know about Sandy but boy, I was ready for a good meal!