World United States Alaska Denali National Park

North to Alaska Too Hot in Texas

Bus Ride Aug 11, 2009

We are scheduled to catch the bus this morning at 10:10 for a trip to Eielson Visitor Center, at mile 66. Charlotte finally realized what dry camping means, her first words of the day were, how do I use my curling iron and hair dryer with no electricity? Duh!

How long has it been since you have road a bus 37 miles on a dirt road? I am not talking about a large Greyhound Bus with a rest room, lunch room and high back seats. I am talking about a school bus painted gray, full of non English speaking people.

The trip only took 6 hours including the rest stops, photo stops and wild life sightings. The stops do not have shopping nor food available, therefore we packed a picnic lunch, well cheese and crackers with snacks. We had multiple bear and caribou sightings, we saw Willow Ptarmigan, golden eagles, snowshoe hare but no Moose. Charlotte and I are convinced that the Alaskan Moose are all dead, but the natives do not want the tourist to know. You have a 96% chance of seeing a bear on the trip, but only a 25% chance of seeing the Denali Mountain due to cloud cover. Well today the ‘mountain was out’. We got great pictures and a wonderful view of Denali, worth the bus ride, for sure.

Since it had been a rather cool day, we built a fire when we returned to camp at 4:30. The burn ban was lifted yesterday; however we did not bring any firewood. The restrooms, no showers, are being rebuilt and I found a scrap pile inside the orange netting (to keep out the bear I am sure). Cedar and 2 X 4 burn very quickly. After 2 trips to the wood pile, I wondered if the workers were discarding the wooden sawhorses or they were just stored in the close proximity to the scrap pile. Our fire attracted, Jerrie and Bob and their Lab doddle from New York State. Small world, Jerrie and I worked for the same companies, but our paths had not crossed.

After we ran out of wood, we retired to our tent (trailer) for a meal of left over prime ribs, smoked salmon and hash brown potatoes. We love this camp cooking.

I attended the Moose presentation by Ranger Rick at the amphitheater just across the road from our trailer, interesting presentation on the nonexistent Alaskan Moose, highlighted by a pair of Linex joining us, walking through a clearing at the front of the seating. QC missed this presentation, too cold and she was working on those pesky numbers.

Exciting times in the campground.