More Denali Adventures

Bob and I decided to hike further north from the campground. We followed the stream out to the river and climbed the rock to get to the top of the hill. Most things in Alaska are abandoned and left to rot or rust. This pipe in the stream behind the campground is evidence of that policy.

It was easy to follow the trail once we got to the top. We came upon a group of college students doing an archaeological dig. Once upon a time there was  a cabin at the top of the rock. The students were trying to find evidence of the cabin. What Bob and I found were more blueberries.

 We picked blueberries until we decided that we really needed to get back to hiking! This is a view from the top of the rock of the Teklanika River.

 The next day we went on a Discovery Hike with Ranger Alina. She met the bus at Toklat Visitor Center. Discovery hikes are limited to 12 hikers, but for our hike, we only had 7! One of the hikers was Marion, a resident artist for the summer at Denali. Discovery Hikes don't follow trails, you bushwhack with the ranger for about 2 to 2 1/2 miles. We were hiking on tundra so it there wasn't much bushwhacking involved.  It was a cloudy, windy day so we couldn't see Denali. We stopped for lunch on a hillside overlooking the wilderness.

While eating lunch we spied a big hole on the side of the hill across the gully from us. After we finished eating, we headed over to see what it was. It turned out that is was a hole dug by a bear in search of arctic ground squirrels! The other holes of the squirrels were all around this big hole. We wondered if the bear was successful in his quest for a tasty morsel.

We saw another large barren area, but it was caused by too much water underneath the tundra plants. The water soaked the soil until it started to slide away from the rest of the hillside. The ranger told us that the grasses get small holes punched between clumps of soil, like a perforation. When there are enough holes at the top edge, the whole area slides away.

Here,  Ranger Alina helps Marion across the small stream we had to cross to get to our pick-up area at the end of the hike. During this hike I learned a lot about berries and plants on the tundra. If we had more time at Teklanika, I would definitely have taken another Discovery Hike in a different area.

On our way back to the campground we saw Dall sheep on the ridge near the grass line. The rams stay on the rocky areas away from predators, but the lambs and ewes venture down to eat the tender grasses.

In Denali, there are five animals that people want to see: moose, caribou, sheep, bears and wolves. Well, we saw all five! On our way back to the entrance of the park a wolf was walking down our side of the road!

We stopped to see what he would do and he just continued right on by us.

We had a great time at Teklanika Campground, but it was time to spend a few days at the entrance to Denali at Riley Creek Campground. More on that in my next installment.