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Well we’re still here at Denali and it’s still wonderful. Slept until 10am and felt great because I needed the rest. I took Ziggy down the road to a beautiful walkway built above the Nenana river. There are great views and we saw a frozen waterfall. After she ran around and enjoyed the fresh air we went back to get Jeff. He and I drove over to the park and watched the movie at the visitor center. I remembered that it was well done and worth a second viewing. Afterwards we took a short hike on a trail near the visitor center and I visited the gift shop and got a cute tee shirt.
We decided to drive into the park and find some animals. We saw a male ptarmigan standing in the middle of the road and just down a bit was a big, bad wolf. I think it may be the same one I saw yesterday and again she was walking down the shoulder and crossing the road in front of cars and buses. Very so often she’d stick her nose in the air and smell for prey. I know it’s a girl because she squatted and peed. She continued walking and we drove off, but saw her again later on our return trip.
We saw some caribou in a field far off and that was it for today. Even Denali was shrouded by clouds. We went back to the RV to get ready for our evening adventure. A few hardy souls have signed up to go on an ATV tour. We joined seven other people from our trek to drive in Rhinos, two person ATV’s. You sit side by side and they are quite stable, but I had no idea what we were in for.
A small bus picked us up after we signed releases and watched a short training film. We drove out a half hour and then turned up a rocky road. This is the same road that the character in the book and movie “Into the Wilderness” lived. Apparently he had hiked here and found an old bus which he used as a home. I have not read the book or seen the movie so I won’t tell you about it. Suffice it to say that this is definitely the middle of nowhere and the roads aren’t so great.
We arrived at the staging area and got helmuts and goggles and were assigned to our Rhinos. Our helmuts plugged in so we could hear directions and we are off on quite an adventure. Jeff drove and did a great job as we arrived home safely and just a little wet. We traveled in a line and had three guide vehicles with us. The first part was rocky and full of holes, but then the road ended and became a trail. It was one lane and trees and shrubs were right at the edge of the dirt/gravel road. Later the roadway became a muddy river. Jeff has written all about this trip and I can tell you it was lots of laughs.
We decided to drive into the park and find some animals. We saw a male ptarmigan standing in the middle of the road and just down a bit was a big, bad wolf. I think it may be the same one I saw yesterday and again she was walking down the shoulder and crossing the road in front of cars and buses. Very so often she’d stick her nose in the air and smell for prey. I know it’s a girl because she squatted and peed. She continued walking and we drove off, but saw her again later on our return trip.
We saw some caribou in a field far off and that was it for today. Even Denali was shrouded by clouds. We went back to the RV to get ready for our evening adventure. A few hardy souls have signed up to go on an ATV tour. We joined seven other people from our trek to drive in Rhinos, two person ATV’s. You sit side by side and they are quite stable, but I had no idea what we were in for.
A small bus picked us up after we signed releases and watched a short training film. We drove out a half hour and then turned up a rocky road. This is the same road that the character in the book and movie “Into the Wilderness” lived. Apparently he had hiked here and found an old bus which he used as a home. I have not read the book or seen the movie so I won’t tell you about it. Suffice it to say that this is definitely the middle of nowhere and the roads aren’t so great.
We arrived at the staging area and got helmuts and goggles and were assigned to our Rhinos. Our helmuts plugged in so we could hear directions and we are off on quite an adventure. Jeff drove and did a great job as we arrived home safely and just a little wet. We traveled in a line and had three guide vehicles with us. The first part was rocky and full of holes, but then the road ended and became a trail. It was one lane and trees and shrubs were right at the edge of the dirt/gravel road. Later the roadway became a muddy river. Jeff has written all about this trip and I can tell you it was lots of laughs.
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