Monday, July 6, 2009
Denali Days 1 and 2
We met at the Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC), which is right outside the entrance to the park. At the center, we met our small group of fellow learners of which half were Alaskan. We met our guide Tim and our host Susan. So this Tim (aka Trapper Tim) is a big game hunter guide. He takes rich tourists to the backcountry -- usually in airplanes -- to catch the big one. He said that $35,000 is a mid-range pricetag for this kind of adventure. Apparently he guides, tracks, skins, and carries. The tourist merely shoots. Tim is amazingly respectful of the animals. He understands everything about them -- including how they taste. He spoke a lot about the Tom Brown books. You know Tom Brown hails from our NJ Pine Barrens and has his wilderness school there.
Susan drove us (10 participants, guide and host)into the park. Traveling is extremely restricted in the park, so I have to think that joining the MSLC was a very good idea. Our first few minutes, we saw a caribou wandering drunkenly on the road and a moose in the distance at the side. No moose picks unfortunately.
We arrived at the Tenlatika campground --mile 29.1. MSLC has a little facility right next to it with 5 cabins, a dining yurt, and a food storage shed (bears).
Ok so I was tired at this point. Maybe two hours of sleep the night before, the train ride, the ride into the park. As soon as we arrived, we took a tour of the campground and began tracking animals -- until approximately 11 pm. I am tired, I just want to go to bed, but I kept along with them. Remember, at 11 pm, the sun is still several inches above the horizon. The agreement was to meet at 6 am for coffee, to get an early start in the morning due to the extreme heat (high 71). Of course we overslept, so at 6:30 we get a knock at the door, we're leaving soon. I hadn't unpacked yet, and I have a backpack, so I scrambled through my pack and through all my things on the bunk in order to get to my hiking boots at the very bottom of the pack. Sheesh.
Anyhow, it was all worth it. During our first scrabble up the first hill a half mile from our camp, we saw a lynx. There were 12 of us lined up, but the lynx promenaded by us, making absolutely sure we saw her. The leaders thought she was guarding a den of kittcns, so we had to turn around and go back -- park rules to not purposely encounter an animal.
Moving on, we looked at scat - lynx, wolf, moose, caribou, and snowshoe hare. We found a moose skeleton - the head, jaw, and spine intact. We found other carnage as well -- the woods is full of bones, fur bits, and scat. It is pretty scary picturing yourself as a hare or ground squirrel. You are everyone's dinner.
Later we drove 30 miles to another section of the park where we climbed up the tundra to view some Dall sheep sleeping on a hill. These sheep were tiny dots, not visible from my naked eye, but Tim spotted them all. He also spotted a grizzly bear foraging in the distance. Not even a dot, no kidding. But his eyes are accustomed to looking for these things. He kindly set up a scope for us so we could actually see these animals. Even binocs weren't working for me.
The tundra is amazing. I always thought of tundra as a harsh crusty thing, but in reality it is soft and luxurious and fragrant. The cover is filled with tiny flowers of all varieties, it is fairyland. I felt bad walking on it, but so few visitors actually get off the bus to climb around, the damage we did was minimal.
We got back to camp around 7:30 pm and had dinner. Remember, we started at 7 am, so I was beyond tired, stumbling around like the caribou. After dinner, the group went tracking along the braided river next to camp. I went to bed. I do not have the stamina of Alaskans, I cannot stay up.
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