What a day at Denali! Apparently we really lucked out as the
weather was perfect. We broke camp and
went to the park itself and hiked to the sled dog kennels. They were so adorable, and, not all the
same! The ranger said that is a
misconception that all “huskies” have blue eyes and the white and gray look,
and are desended from wolves. All those
are myths! There was a lot of variety in
those immaculate kennels, and they were so cute to watch when the rangers ran
over and got the sled out for demonstrations.
They can run so fast!! Holy Cow!
They use them a lot in the winter to access isolated areas and just to
get around as they get TONS of snow. The
dogs’ “positions” on the team are based on their personalities, and sometimes
they don’t get a sled job but another.
The older ones, when retired, often find homes with the rangers that worked
with them or the dog walkers. They can’t
really be moved south because they are much too furry and need cold
environments to be happy.
We hiked some more and added another loop
to total 5 miles. We stopped for a quick
lunch break to decide if we wanted to leave or do another hike. Well, we opted for another hike, to the top of
Mount Healy. It was 2.5 miles UP 1700
feet. The trail was literally up the entire way, rocks, and switchbacks. Once you got close to the top, you rounded
the turn, and BAM (!), the wind was so strong!
Yikes. I almost lost my hat and
my footing. Andrew is a fast hiker
(really fast); unfortunately, I cannot be as I am a clutz, so I have to really
watch the ground and stop often so I can actually see what I am hiking
near! And to heave and heave because
going 25% grades UP can be tiring too, to be truthful. BUT all that is forgotten when you reach the
top and all the trees are below you and you can’t even see people or cars or
anything since you are so far up.
Amazing. So worth it.
After that we took off debating about
where to camp next. We thought we head
to Anchorage but decided to take a detour near Talkeetna. Unfortunately there were no showers at the
campsite! After the hikes and layers of
bug spray, we really needed a shower.
The campsite we stopped at had sites but the showers weren’t’ available
until the AM-it was only 8 and I really tried to get the young gentleman to
make an exception but he couldn’t. So
off we drove. We found another site down
the road that didn’t have showers but the gas station just down the road did
and they were hot showers! While we were
setting up our cook fire (You have to have Andrew demonstrate our campstove
(Solo) “can” sometime-amazing contraption!), the young gentleman camping next
door asked if we had any gasoline he could borrow as he was having trouble
getting his fire started. I had to laugh
as did Andrew as we don’t let Andrew anywhere near anything exellerants!! EVER!
Not since the burnt eyebrows and any other facial hair incident at
home. I still remember his mom’s face
when he came in all singed and I just rolled my eyes at him. She didn’t know what to say and she didn’t
have to. I had seen him spray gas onto
the fire and had seen it flashback at him.
He never did it after that!!
Anyway, the young gentleman borrowed some
dry kindling instead and started his fire just fine. It turns out he is from South Korea and came
here to bike, from Anchorage up to Fairbanks and then down to Seattle and the
California coast down to Mexico. I have
NO desire to do that. I enjoy an
occasional bike ride but to drive that far? Wow. He said he was planning on taking off about
10 and he’d see us in the AM if we were still there.
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