Doodles
Active member
This trip started with a question from my son, "dad where are we going this year, how about Alaska?". I wasn't really ready, but then he said, "you know you aren't getting any younger." (wiseass). So the seed was set and planning in motion.
We flew into Anchorage for the start of the trip. A few pictures of the Glaciers in the Yukon from 30,000 ft looking down. Amazing sights.
We spent five days and nights in Denali NP where we base camped out of Savage River CG for 1 night, Teknaleka CG for 3 nights then shuttled into the park and hiked different areas. The mountains and wildlife was absolutely stunning. The first two days, Denali would stay hidden out of sight in the clouds. The mountains in the foreground of Denali were 4000' - 7000'. On the third day when Denali would finally show itself, the surrounding mountains looked so small in comparison to the towering "High One". With a 18,000 ft vertical relief, nothing around it looked like a mountain. On the fourth and fifth day the clouds had lifted higher and the sky turned blue and the sight of the High One was mesmerizing.
Enough of the mountain for now. The wildlife was amazing. 15 Grizzlies, 5 Wolves, 3 Moose, to many Caribou to count, many Dall Sheep high in the mountains, 1 Bobcat, and the Golden and Bald Eagles flew around like Robins in your back yard.
We had one close encounter while hiking down the Savage Riverbed. We had to kick into the Willows to avoid the water and as we turned a small bend in the trail, there he was. Mr. Grizzly about 20 yards away. I warned Simon and went low with the camera. Simon threw his arms high into the air to look big. A few quick pictures and the bear moved on and we backed away and headed the other way. Later when the adrenalin flow slowed down we discussed what an amazing moment we had just encountered.
We left the park on the Fifth day and drove down through the Chugach National Forest past the mountains and Glaciers down to Seward. Camped along the way. Checked out some streams with the Salmon swimming upstream. We had planned on sea kayaking but our trip was cancelled since not enough people had signed up for the trip.
Well to make a long story short. This was an amazing trip to an amazing place with an amazing partner with forever memories. For those of you that have been there, I'm sure you will agree and for those of you who haven't, this is definitely a put it on your list of things to see and do.
Here is a sample of the 500+ photos taken. Enjoy.
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/573933025WPRbfs
We flew into Anchorage for the start of the trip. A few pictures of the Glaciers in the Yukon from 30,000 ft looking down. Amazing sights.
We spent five days and nights in Denali NP where we base camped out of Savage River CG for 1 night, Teknaleka CG for 3 nights then shuttled into the park and hiked different areas. The mountains and wildlife was absolutely stunning. The first two days, Denali would stay hidden out of sight in the clouds. The mountains in the foreground of Denali were 4000' - 7000'. On the third day when Denali would finally show itself, the surrounding mountains looked so small in comparison to the towering "High One". With a 18,000 ft vertical relief, nothing around it looked like a mountain. On the fourth and fifth day the clouds had lifted higher and the sky turned blue and the sight of the High One was mesmerizing.
Enough of the mountain for now. The wildlife was amazing. 15 Grizzlies, 5 Wolves, 3 Moose, to many Caribou to count, many Dall Sheep high in the mountains, 1 Bobcat, and the Golden and Bald Eagles flew around like Robins in your back yard.
We had one close encounter while hiking down the Savage Riverbed. We had to kick into the Willows to avoid the water and as we turned a small bend in the trail, there he was. Mr. Grizzly about 20 yards away. I warned Simon and went low with the camera. Simon threw his arms high into the air to look big. A few quick pictures and the bear moved on and we backed away and headed the other way. Later when the adrenalin flow slowed down we discussed what an amazing moment we had just encountered.
We left the park on the Fifth day and drove down through the Chugach National Forest past the mountains and Glaciers down to Seward. Camped along the way. Checked out some streams with the Salmon swimming upstream. We had planned on sea kayaking but our trip was cancelled since not enough people had signed up for the trip.
Well to make a long story short. This was an amazing trip to an amazing place with an amazing partner with forever memories. For those of you that have been there, I'm sure you will agree and for those of you who haven't, this is definitely a put it on your list of things to see and do.
Here is a sample of the 500+ photos taken. Enjoy.
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/573933025WPRbfs
