McKinley Park

This place is all about pristine wilderness. Today we all set our alarms so we would be ready for a six am bus trip. Some people are not aware of the existence of a six o'clock ante meridien, but were brought to a rude awakening today. It was brisk, about six degrees Celsius, but we have those temperatures at home without much fuss. Here the locals were walking around in shirt sleeves commenting on the lovely weather and wondering if and when they would see the first snowfalls. Normally, by this date the trees would have lost their leaves and snow would be settling and staying on the ground and dog sled would have replaced wheeled transport. They are not unhappy about the extra summer but concerned that no snow has come. Today, as has been the case with us for so many days, the weather was clear and sunny. The clouds that had provided a light cover last night were still present but not as dense.

Denali National Park is a wilderness conservation area. There is only one road in and out, and after a short while within the park, the made roads disappear and exist only as gravel roads. They do not have walking trails beyond the first few kilometres because they want to leave the place for the animals and plants. Rangers and environmentalists can go in to monitor but this is limited too. Within that first circle where cars can still travel, they have regular stopping places that are kept meticulously clean and monitored by custodial and Parks staff. They have some of the fanciest longdrops here. Both Canada and Alaska have these dual roomed public toilets in remote places. Each door in the pair is a very solid floor-to-roof door with big sliding locks. This is to discourage bears from moving in or offering to evict you from it. I suspect they are also refuges from cranky bears too, if a wanderer got surprised by a bear.

So much is their concern about keeping the park for the animals, that they have a lottery for visiting the park. If you wish to visit the park at all, you apply and wait to see if you win the lottery. This permits only a few cars at a time to come in and disturb the environment. Bodies are counted in and out of the park by their own Parks Ranger Smith (Yogi Bear reference for young people) to make sure things are kept right and tight. We were on a bus that was part of the tour and managed by special arrangement to have us come in. Groups in buses are preferred because they are scheduled, supervised and can do more with less. We also have a knowledgeable driver.

Our bus driver loved his work. He just loves Alaska. He is very rough and ready, happy and comfortable, laconic and inarticulate all in one. His passion carried him through where his patter faltered frequently. One of the reasons he does this job is that he is an amateur photographer. Stopping the bus to take pictures was not just for us. He would stop, open his window or door, get his fancy camera out and take photos. We could too if we wished. Sometimes he would forget to tell us what we were looking at and people were scouring the countryside to spot whatever it was that had caused the bus to stop. He had seen a good shot of Mt Denali, 80 kms away, pulled up and taken it. We didn't mind at all. He was generous and excited to look for animals and was not stinting when we wanted time to get a better shot. He was snapping too.

At the first stop, a history session on the establishment of the park allowed me to get a fuzzy picture of the biggest rabbit you ever saw. Our rabbits look like babies by comparison. This one was probably the Snowshoe Hare in his summer coat. Nearby, a couple of Americans announced loudly, that they had seen a stupid fat pigeon. They made jokes. What they had seen was the Alaskan State bird, the Ptarmigan, also in its winter coat.

A little further on, our friendly bus driver, rounded a corner and said "MOOSE. 9 O'CLOCK" and we all peered down into a gully. We could just make out the massive antlers. We couldn't get any closer and he wasn't going to move, so on we went. Our next instructional stop and restroom break was a cultural stop. We were met by a young man called Sean who has Athabascan and two other clan identities. He was there to tell us the story of First Nations and Denali. Unfortunately, he had to wait to speak to us because a massive great bull moose was right where he was to give his talk. His talk normally included the uttering of the cries of the moose. One of these was the challenging call of one adult male to another. He felt that doing the call today might cause a disaster! We got our pictures of the big moose, who got annoyed by all the fuss and left. Then we listened to the story. It was mostly on how to kill moose the traditional way. I think that this was perhaps not well timed.

A few minutes later and while we were congratulating ourselves on our pictures of bullwinkle, the bus shot off at great speed and a few short hair-raising seconds later came to a screeching halt with the words "CARIBOU 2 O'CLOCK". This one was being a bit shy so we waited. This is where having a driver interested in getting the picture was of such benefit for us. A disinterested one would have told us that we had a schedule to keep and drive on. Not ours. We hovered around for quite some time, begging the large male caribou to show us more than his bottom. At one stage it seemed clear that the animal wanted to cross the road. Our driver and the second driver in the second bus (they travel in pairs) blocked the road completely and no other cars could come through. The caribou then wandered across the road, paused, had a look at us, then went down the embankment to the clump of trees on the other side. We let the traffic through but continued to watch him for some time. I don't know if they are instructed to do this, but both the drivers commented on the overexcited Lottery Winner drivers and their often very selfish eagerness to get photos. They commented that these new-comers often took risks with themselves and the wildlife and our drivers would always try to protect the animal from too much stress. I am not sure if this is entirely legit or just an inflated sense of self-righteousness, but I did see signs of unwise behaviour from some private drivers, so I guess our drivers might be right.

The moose and the caribou were all wild animals and we had got up close and personal. Very nice indeed. We were told we were phenomenally lucky to have had such close encounters with these big animals. No bears though. Our driver was beginning to believe in our luck but he drew the line at a grizzly strolling by.

It turns out that this was also our driver's last tour for the season. Like many of the shops, restaurants and tour operators, they are packing up. It is the end of the season. We were the last group to come through in numbers and they will be moving on to their winter jobs in the next few days.

After a short morning tea/breakfast, we were on our own. We took the opportunity to catch up on washing and preparing for the last few days. Many of us just took our ease, checked out the end of season bargains in souvenir shops, took photos, or in some cases took spouses to doctors. Not us, but several people on the bus have developed bad colds with nasty coughs and a few have resorted to bed rest. Ross continues to cough but it is a different cough and is not associated with a cold at all. It has been of growing concern that so many are ill. I think perhaps the time for holiday is over and people need to stop breathing each other's germs. It seems that a trip to the doctor here is $400 a visit. Gasp! Hopefully, these sickies will recover soon.

One other thing happened today that cheered Ross up. I had refused to let him wear his grey jumper one more day. I told him he could wear his nice new lime green fleecy jacket that he bought in Canada and give the jumper a wash. Grumble, grumble. Attempts at negotiating failed, so on with the green jacket and his Banff beanie. If he was going out into the wilderness he was going out in a beanie. At one stop he climbed back on the bus. The beanie had worked its way up his head and was now perched on top. I suggested he pull it down to keep his ears warm and to make him look a little less like an elf. It was one of those moments when a comment uttered in normal tones, gets heard by everyone. From the back of the bus came, "Not an elf. He's a smurf!" I must admit the fit was apt except he was green and the smurfs were blue. There was general ribbing and laughter after that. Ross enjoyed his temporary notoriety.

Late in the afternoon, after the washing, drying and repacking had occurred, we went in search of a simple dinner. We saw a pizza joint nearby and ordered two small pizzas. Well, this began a trauma we had not anticipated. Their small pizza is our family-sized pizza. I tried to suggest there had been an error when mine arrived. I had ordered a small. I was reassured that this monster was all mine and Ross' was on its way. Gasp. We did our best, but I could only eat half. Ross got one slice more than me and we were exhausted. I was feeling awful at the waste and kept wondering if I could find a homeless person to give this food too. We looked up to see another couple from our group face exactly the same dilemma. They got a pizza box and left. We were about to do the same when in walked another fellow traveller. I tried to warn her about the size differential so she would not be caught like we had. She had just got back from taking her husband to the doctor and was trying to get something quick for them to eat in their room. She kindly agreed to take our leftovers. We felt better because the food was not wasted and she saved a few dollars after that massive doctor's bill. It all worked out in the end.

Now, while Ross naps, I will finish off today's entry with some of the photos of our day in the wilderness.Read more