Denali Take 2 - Day 6
Trip Start
Jul 13, 2009
1
24
42
Trip End
Oct 07, 2009
Where I stayed
Otto Lake Campground
Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Our first sighting was a female moose close to the road side. She was busy eating vegetation and wasn't very worried we were there. We had to move on eventually to give other buses a chance of the sighting.
On arriving at Teklanika River we were told there was a bear on the gravel riverbed but we had to go to the toilet first. It was like being back at school! The bear was a fair distance away but you could see him with the naked eye but the binoculars were very handy. He was just mooching around. Not sure if he would come closer or disappear we decided to get back on the bus to see what else was out there waiting for us.
We saw more Dall sheep lower down, more foxes and caribou. When we arrived at Eielson it was very misty so we got back on the bus and headed straight back to the WAC. We saw 2 foxes playing and 2 bears grazing on berries on the hillside. We were so excited. It was just such a great experience to be able to watch them in their own environment.
Just before arriving back we saw another moose close to the road. It had been a great day. On arrival back at the WAC we had a couple of hours before Heidi picked us up we decided to go for a walk on the Horseshoe Lake Trail. It was really nice and peaceful. While we were there we heard clapping and who arrived there but 3 of our group. Chet, Betsy and Kenny. Since the weather hadn't been great they had decided against the hike up Mt Healey. Angela and Ramon were back at camp and Anne-Cecile and Nacho were heading back into the park. We noticed a beaver dam at the lake and walked around to another part looking for the lodge. On arrival we saw the beavers adding branches to their lodge. Another awesome sighting. You'll never guess what happened next. We saw one of the beavers see off two otters. The otters were making a real racket! But they went on their way. It was such a unique experience and very exciting to be there to watch. It was hard vto leave but we had to get back to meet Heidi.
We headed to the shops and ended up at the Salmon Bake where I had the beer sampler and Adi had a Amber Ale. Betsy and Kenny joined us not long after leaving Heidi and Chet shopping. We loved the Salmon Bake. A really nice pub that you could spend some time in! We left after an hour and headed back to camp to prepare for the next day. We would be up and off along the Denali Highway to Tangle Lakes. It is a dirt road so it was going to be another driving day. The speed limit is 35mph and we were going about 125 mile.
Nacho and Anne-Cecile arrived back to say they had seen wolves and bears too!
