Denali National Park, Part 3

June 27th: Karen balked at an (already paid-for) 8-mile hike in the rain, so Bill joined the group on his own. A park ranger led the group through woods, chest-high brush, and open meadows with a few streams to cross. He called out "Hey bear!" every time he was about to go around a blind curve or emerge from cover.




Mountain Avens:




June 28th: The three of us went on a 3-hour scenic wilderness raft ride on the Nenana River. The staff at Denali Outdoor Center helped us into our drysuits, which entailed pulling on a rubber turtleneck. This was tricky - and quite a stretch - for everyone, but Bill's rubber collar didn't look right from the beginning. It looked like it was made for a toddler. A staff member assured him it would go on, and it did . . . eventually. The veins in Bill's forehead immediately popped out, his face was red, and he looked generally like a tick about to pop. We immediately called one of the guides over, and he said it was a new suit and the collar would stretch in a few minutes. Bill kept stretching the collar during the ride to the river, and it kept coming back, tighter than ever. Finally, our guide cut the rubber in several places. It still wasn't the greatest, but Bill could finally breathe without pulling on the rubber with both hands.

The ride was a lot of fun, with all of us getting wet now and then, but Sue bore the brunt of any white water that came within 100 yards of the raft. At one point, she just sat down in the bottom of the raft while the water poured over her head. Here we are with our guide and sole paddler Joslin, in the middle, and in front, from left to right, Ray and Becky Peter from Elizabethtown PA (about 25 minutes away from where we live), and Sue and Teren (another mother/son team) from California. The picture was taken by a photographer at the Old Sourdough Studio, owned by Jimmy Tohill, whose own photography is on display in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North. By the way, Bill's wearing a helmet because he was going on the wild canyon run after our mild wilderness ride, and there was no place in the raft to store his helmet!


Scenes along the Parks Highway between the RV park and the Denali Outdoor Center.






A railroad trestle, with a bit of the Nenana River in the foreground:


A smaller railroad trestle:


Ravens:

Fairbanks, Alaska Part 2

After the Georgeson Botanical Garden, we went to the Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station, where students and faculty observe muskoxen, caribou, and reindeer to determine how they act socially, how their bodies work, and how knowledge learned from these animals might be transferred to caring for other animals.


A large male muskox:




A young male:


Females:






Phillip, a yearling caribou, gets a willow treat from Emma, a graduate student in biology and music, an oboist, and a wonderful tour guide.




Look at those long eyelashes!


We learned that muskoxen have horns, that begin growing at birth and are like extensions of the skeleton. They are permanent, and if they are damaged, they cannot repair themselves. Antlers, on the other hand, are temporary, lasting for several months before being shed. Caribou antlers are incredibly heavy!


Emma also taught us about qiviut, the warm layer of wool muskoxen grow close to the body in anticipation of winter. While the qiviut protects the muskox from the cold, the coat of long guard hairs the muskox sports year-round protects the qiviut from the elements. When the muskoxen begin shedding the qiviut, groomers comb it from under the guard hairs in great sheets. It is then processed into qiviut yarn, which is thinner, yet warmer, than typical sheep's wool yarn, and does not irritate the skin.

On the 24th, we went into Fairbanks again. Beautiful artwork makes beautiful bannisters at the Post Office.








A raven at Golden Heart Park, on the Chena River:


This captivating bronze statue in Golden Heart Park is called "Unkown First Family."






A sign at the Yukon Quest (thousand-mile sled dog race) gift shop:


Miriam Cooper and Jim Langston set up behind the gift shop with some of the dogs from the Sled Dog Sanctuary. Miriam is the founder of the sanctuary, and Jim is a volunteer who puts in countless hours for the dogs. We were thoroughly impressed and smitten with Miriam, Jim and the dogs. Please check out Miriam's blog.






We could hardly tear ourselves away from the sled dogs, but we finally had to and continued on outside of Fairbanks to the Alaska pipeline viewpoint. Information boards and a couple retired pigs were on display. Pigs are routed through the pipeline to clean it out and to collect information about the stability of the pipe.








Next, we went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North, where we watched a wonderful video on the Northern Lights. Bill looked like a giant in the small auditorium seats, especially with Sue beside him.