After enjoying a day on our own, we took a bus tour called the Tundra Wilderness Tour run by the park service. This nine hour tour took us 66 miles deep into the park to a place called Polychrome about two-thirds of the way to the end of the park road. There just are no words to adequately describe the vastness and beauty of this place. At times we stood on the top of an overlook feeling so small and insignificant before it. The colors and textures of the land changed the deeper we went, and I wanted to take lots of pictures so we would remember. Alas, the day was overcast and smoke from wildfires had drifted into the area making photos difficult. But I tried, here are a few for you to enjoy.
Early in the park, the landscape is what is called wet tundra. Here there is lots of water and the grasses sort of float on the water. As you can imagine, mosquitoes breed here very easily and if you do not wear protection, well let's just say a mother mosquito would be highly attracted to you! I see to be a magnet for them!
This is what is termed as a braided river. The river has so much silt in it from glacial run off and silt from rain run off that the main street splits and meanders and flows back together to split once again. Sort of like braiding hair, it crosses and recrosses itself. It is generally shallow but when the rain comes, it can be very powerful.
Yes, we really were together. Most of the time I am behind the camera. Here we were at an overlook enjoying the views of the river and surrounding areas. It was quite cool for me while Jim seemed to be immune to the cooler temperatures.
Wild flowers abound here as it is late spring. I took lots of pictures of them. The colors were so vibrant and the flowers so delicate.
Here, you can see that the tundra has given way to forest. In the background, granite mountains are coming into view.
In the foreground, you can see the dark colors of the granite mountains. Their surfaces are bare of trees or grasses. The lighter colored mountains in the background are comprised more of another type of rock (I cannot for the life of me remember what it was) that is lighter in color. The variation of color was especially interesting to me. I wish the air had been clear so I could have captured the colors.
As we climbed upward, you could look down into the tundra, not a wet tundra but a dry one. There is little water here and the grasses and vegetation is quite different. Foreboding but beautiful at the same time. Oh to be young again, I would so love to be able to backpack this country. Well, maybe ....
Sitting on the cliff in the distance from where we were walking sat a Gyrfalcon. It is the largest falcon in the world. Our guide shared that in days gone by, only the kings were allowed to hunt with these falcons. It was majestic. I was amazed that when we were on the return leg of the trip, the falcon was still there after all that time. We stopped for another look and he took flight Wow, he was something to see.
This small fellow is a Willow Ptarmigan. His coloring makes him very difficult to see and we were lucky to spot him. In the winter, he turns mostly white giving him a perfect camouflage against predators. This bird is the state bird of Alaska.
We spotted this Caribou walking in a ravine. He blended so well with the surrounding, I almost missed him entirely.
It was not until the return leg of our tour that we finally spotted a Grizzly Bear. Here in the park, the Grizzlies are not the typical brown color, rather they are blond with dark leg or sometimes totally blond. This fella was laying in the grass have a good scratch when we spotted him. He rolled about and then finally got up and started ambling about. He was quite a distance away. I have a pretty good zoom lens but wished it was better. In the tour buses, they have great cameras and project the images on monitors through the bus. We got a really good look at this handsome fellow.
Shortly after spotting the bear, this fox appeared on the side of the road. It has a Ptarmigan in its mouth. The guide said that this fox has a den nearby so she was taking food home to her kits. She walked along the road side for a bit and then moved into the center of the roadway and ambled along. It was such a treat to get a good look at her.
A final look as we started out of the park. It was such an interesting day. I so wished we had been able to spot a wolf. There are three wolf packs in Denali. They are well documented and have been studies for many years. The alphas of each pack have been tagged so they can monitor there locations and see where the packs go. Usually a pack will use the same den for a number of years and this gives great opportunities to study their habits. One pack moved off the park for a few years but later returned to an old den and have been there now for three years. So many folks believe the wolves are harmful to the ecosystem but in reality, they help keep things in balance. On the one hand, it is sad to hear how i out of 10 moose calves are taken by bears and wolves, but on the other hand if they did not, the moose would out grow the environment. They can produce two or three calves a year for their lifetime and given the numbers in the park, it would be too many. The same is true of all the animals. It reminded me of the song from the Lion King about the circle of life. We are all just one small piece of the world. The Alaskan Indians have a good outlook on things. The see themselves, the humans as just another animal in the world, a part of not above other animals. Not a bad way to view things.
STUNNING pics....!!!
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