Alaska Part 5: Denali

Well I think this is finally going to be my last Alaska post.  We did a few other things but I’m getting so far behind I want to move along.  We did so much on the trip it was so hard to figure out what to post and to get it all out there for y’all to enjoy.  We’ve been without internet most of the time in our travels since Alaska so we’ve gotten really far behind in blog updates.  I now have a way to type them up offline and post when we get internet so hopefully that will help.  So far we’ve spent time in Urbana Illinois, Wilson Lake Kansas, Boulder Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Steamboat Springs Colorado, Grand Teton National Park, Teton Valley Idaho, Yellowstone National Park, Bozeman and Missoula Montana, Glacier National Park, Banff, Yoho, and Glacier National Parks in Canada, Revelstoke British Columbia, Vancouver British Columbia, Seattle Washington, and Olympic National Park.  So yeah I’ve got a lot of writing and posting to do to get caught up, so without further ado the last post on our trip to Alaska, our amazing day in Denali. 

The only way to get in and out of Denali national park is by taking the bus.  There is one narrow winding dirt road into the park and it was decided back in the early 80’s that it just wasn’t safe to have cars driving all over the road so a bus system was established to keep the traffic down and the road safe.  In order to get the best chances to see wildlife, Scott got us tickets for the earliest bus he could (7am) to the Eielson visitors center.  This is a trip of 66 miles to the visitor center and view point from the Denali wilderness access center.  We got up at 2 am and piled into the van in order to get to Denali by 5:30 am to be the first in line for our bus so we could get the front couple of rows of seats.  Being up front gave us the best opportunity to help the driver spot animals and also to get the best views and pictures.  We were all certainly very exhausted from the little sleep we got that day but having those seats was very much worth it.  Here’s a sampling of what we got to see on the drive. 

 

Our first animal of the day.. a moose…

We were lucky to spot this wolf.  Our driver had watched it take down a caribou the previous day and had a feeling it would still be in the same area.  He had a collar around his neck, which identified him as the alpha male of the pack in this area.

A whole family of Ptarmigans (mama, papa, baby, from left to right)

The road up the side of “polychrome”

On top of “Polychrome”

Denali poking through the clouds

Those white dots are Dahl Sheep… I promise…

First (and only) glimpse of the peak of the mountain

Denali, in the clouds as usual…

A beautiful quilt on display in the visitors center that was made one summer by an “artist in residence”

This mama and cub grizzly decided to run across the road in front of our bus and say hi

Now that’s a caribou

Look at that rack

Even our fearless leader finally got tired and dozed off…

Well that’s it for our Alaskan adventure.  We are so glad we decided to start off our travels with this great trip.  We had a fantastic time with our family and got to see and experience so many amazing things along the way. 

Alaska Part 4: Whale Watch

While the guys were off on their quest for monster halibut, Maria, Maryanne, I spent the day on a whale watch with the well known Stan Steven’s Charter Company.  We were fortunate to spend a full day taking in the beautiful scenery of Prince William Sound and observing the wildlife of the Sound.  The day started out a bit rainy and foggy in classic Alaskan form, but cleared up and the sun came out in the afternoon.  Here is a sampling of some of the gorgeous sites we witnessed on our outing.

First in line to get on the boat, just like Scott taught us!

Our first wildlife sighting of the tour, an adult Bald Eagle.

Look at that teal water and fog of the Sound.

All bundled up and looking for wildlife.

The view of Shoup Glacier from the whale watch boat.

A floating iceberg from Shoup Glacier.

Close up of the iceberg.

A fishing boat setting its seine net for Silver Salmon.

The New St. Joseph, the cannery boat that offloads caught fish from full fishing vessels and transports them back to the cannery.

The Kodiak, you may have seen her on The Deadliest Catch.

A juvenile humpback whale, our only whale sighting of the tour!

The fog starting to lift.

 

We got real close to a raft of Sea Otters!

 

They look so comfortable floating on their backs.  Sea Otters sleep floating in the water!

We made sure to take tons of pictures to show the guys what they missed out on.

 

Columbia Glacier from the whale watch boat.

 

Our first view of our destination, the impressive Mears Glacier.

 

Closer view of Mears Glacier, we began to hear the incredible noise that glaciers make creaking and popping as they move, releasing air that was trapped within the ice.

 

 

As we got closer we realized that seals thought the glacier ice was put there for them as a playground!

We saw a group of kayakers paddling through the ice around Mears Glacier.

We saw several pieces of ice calve into the sea from Mears Glacier.

We even got to hold one of the icebergs from Mears Glacier.

 

Once we got out into open water heading back towards Veldez, we saw our first of several pods of Dahl Porpoise.  They are about the size of a dolphin and they love to play in the waves the boat makes.

We also saw many brightly colored Puffins.  We were surprised that they were small, about the size of a dove.

 

A whole bunch of bachelor Sea Lions hanging out.

A second, larger pod of Dahl Porpoises that wanted to play with us!

 

Dahl Porpoise

 

 

View from the back of the whale watch boat as we head back to Valdez Port.

 

The holding tanks for the Alyeska Pipeline, loading site for tanker ships.

What a beautiful day!