We left Trapper Creek this morning and drove to Denali National Park! It was too cloudy to see Mt. McKinley, but it was sunny to start out (a rarity up here) so I went for a hike! Margaret was not feeling up to a hike so I went out alone and chose a "moderately strenuous" trail through a spruce and birch forest along the ridge of a mountain! I was probably not in shape enough for a 400ft elevation change with 15% grades, but was beautiful and a ton of fun!! And hiking through the spruce trees, I was able to find a SPRUCE GROUSE!! Another life bird for me! It didn't take long while I was hiking for the blue skies to turn to poofy grey clouds that quickly began pouring rain. I got soaked, but it was a lot of fun anyway, and the rain even helped keep the mosquitoes away! Below are some photos from my hike!
After we left Denali, we drove though Healy and saw THE Fairbanks 142 bus that was used in the Into the Wild movie! An exact replica of the one that Chris McCandless actually stayed (and died) in. If you don't know what I am talking about, go read Into the Wild, and then watch the movie! It is an excellent book, and I don't even like reading. A little farther down the road, we actually passed Stampede Trail!!! The road that he hiked into Denali on and where he stayed in the bus for the summer. When I first found out I would be coming to Alaska, I hoped I would be able to see some of the places Chris McCandless was, like Denali and Fairbanks, but I NEVER imagined seeing the bus from the movie or seeing the actual Stampede Trail! I wish I could have hiked down that way a little bit but it was raining, and getting late anyway.
On the way to Fairbanks we saw a moose with a calf and then as I looked out on a little pond at some ducks, I saw ANOTHER moose getting a drink of water! Tonight and tomorrow night we are staying in Fairbanks. Tomorrow afternoon we will head out with some researchers who study breeding Boreal Owls. We will even get to watch them band some chicks out of a nest box!! I can't wait!
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