After a quick breakfast and cup of tea to warm up, I went for a short walk to see some of the things around the base before it got too busy. Then, by the time I had done my blog and cleaned up the camp site (can't leave any food or dirty dishes lying around or the bears will come and get you !!), it was time to go and meet my pilot from yesterday's flight to Mt McKinley, Trent, to take some pics of my car with his planes, and to take hm for a spin in Elsie - My turn to be at the controls !!! On the way out to the airfield I spotted some Dall sheep up on a mountainous cliff above the road, so I stopped as these sheep are rare to see down low, (we saw some from the plane yesterday up in the snow), and as you can see from the photos, they are hard to photograph too !! The small white dots are the sheep !!
Out at the airfield they had a second Beaver plane there with interestig paintwork, so took a few pics of that with Elsie, and of Trent and I, and then I took him for a spin for 10 minutes. Some nice roads out near the airfield with good sweeping bends, so I was able to show him how much fun an Elise can be - I think he enjoyed it !!
Then back to Denali and went to a dog sled exhibition - They keep working dog teams here in the National Park and attemot to use them as often as they can to move equipment and people around the park during the winter, instead of using motorized vehicles, which is excellent. But I have to say the exhibit was a lot of talking, and then just a quick 30 second run of the dog sled (it has wheels !!). The most excitement was when the dogs cut the corner and nearly put the sled and their musher in the bushes !!!
After that, I needed some exercise, so went off on a hike on some of the trails that surround the facilities at the park entrance. They are very good, and even though some of them are close to other facitlities and buildings, you actually never see them, and feel as though you are out in the wilds. I went on a couple of the longer trails that took me out into the park quite a long way, and when I saw the recent temoray signs about "Beware of Mating Moose" and "Hunting Grizzlies", I made sure I was walking with my bear spray in one hand, with the Safety "off", and that I was talking to imaginary people accompanying me so that the animals knew I was coming (and which is supposed to make them run away in fear !!) Not sure if what I was talking about was enough to scare them !!! Knowing me and my story telling, they are probably more likely to gather rond and want to listen !!! Rofl.
After that, supper time on my little stove (Tomato soup followed by spicy noodles tonight !!), time for a shower, and then catch up on my blog in the warmth of the laundrette - Until just now when they locked up and threw us ut in the cold !! Thus I will finsh this fairly quickly !!
Leaving Denali tomorrow, just as all the holiday tourists pour in ! I am going back up to Fairbanks to see if I can get up the Dalton tot he Arctic Circle, and go to Chena hot springs and a few other things that are supposed to be good, as well as look up a couple of people I have met on the road on the way north, and then I will head down south towards Anchorage, and then the Kenai Peninsula. So still lots to do !!!!
A few photos of today here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/DenaliNP?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmDr4b6ouTWQw#
Oh, and the reason there are photos of moose and ??Ptarmigan?? droppings (locally known as "scat")in there is that we are told to look at them closely, see if they are fresh, and "act accordingly" !!!!!!!!!! So if I have to do it, you can do it too !!!!!
