After landing in Anchorage, we met up with the wonderful sailing couple who have loaned us charts for the Arctic, Chris and Jess Bray. We had a fun dinner despite the jet-lag and exchanged tips for our respective routes 🙂 After a few errands the next day, we hit the road for Denali National Park!
Despite rain and snow and not being able to see Denali itself (Mt McKinley), we really enjoyed our time there. We camped at one of the Park’s campsites, getting a bit wet and cold, but having a good time anyway! We especially enjoyed hiking around the tundra and peaks with great views on the one dry day!
And we loved the wildlife, the main reason we’d headed up there. We saw tons of Arctic ground squirrels; one even tried to eat Seth’s shoe!
We spotted grizzly bears gnawing on a caribou carcass killed by wolves (sadly we didn’t see the wolves), as well as lots of herds of caribou, including this beautiful group grazing in the snow:
And then on our way out, we spotted this big bull moose in the rain:
After a brief stop in Talkeetna, we headed back to Anchorage to visit with relatives of Seth’s. Ian is the son of the cousin Ted who visited us in Whittier last year, and we had a wonderful time with him and his wife Jen and son Springer, exploring the Chugach State Park behind their house and chatting with them in their gorgeous timber-frame house they built themselves! Wonderful to meet them and we hope to see them again some time! Then it was time to head to the airport to board the plane for Dutch Harbor!
July 6, 2015 at 02:22
Great photos of the wildlife, I am sure you will see much more.
July 6, 2015 at 22:11
I hope so! Thanks!
June 29, 2015 at 05:26
Where did the time go? I came back from Hong Kong in January with fabric to make you (Ellen) a dress! Obviously that won’t be needed for a while, now! Have a great and safe trip and God speed. Love, Carolyn
June 29, 2015 at 18:58
Thanks so much, Carolyn! And where did the time go?! This spring went by way too fast. Let’s make sure to get together in the fall!!
June 29, 2015 at 02:24
The bull moose looks awesome😄
June 29, 2015 at 18:56
We were so excited to see him!!
June 28, 2015 at 23:45
Looks stunning!
June 29, 2015 at 18:53
Thanks!!
June 29, 2015 at 18:56
And thanks for the follow – looking forward to checking out your blog when we have better internet than what we’re working with in the Aleutian islands….
June 28, 2015 at 23:09
Ooh have just seen another header – the whale fluke! Have you changed your theme? Looks good!
June 29, 2015 at 18:53
We didn’t actually change the theme, but we added a bunch more header images 🙂 The flukes are a humpback from SE Alaska – he got pretty close!
June 29, 2015 at 21:56
I’ve been clicking on your pages to see the new headers… Nice!
June 29, 2015 at 21:59
Fun! I wish I could get them to rotate so you could see more in one page, but that doesn’t seem to be possible 😦
June 28, 2015 at 23:08
Your photos certainly show how worthwhile the slow way to Dutch Harbour was! Love your header photo too with its half under/half above the water line shot.
June 29, 2015 at 18:51
Thanks! We really enjoyed our slow way out here. The under/over was from Prince William Sound and the glaciers there.