Aug 26 - Quick trip into Denali looking for wildlife and Termination Dust

With my extra day off, this morning I went bushwhack hiking about 3 miles along a game trail (the old Parks Highway).  It's a trail I've seen from my bus every day, and I had a strong feeling I knew where it would come out.  And it did!  But I still carried my bear spray and was talking to the moose to make sure they knew I was coming through.  Hurray!!  No encounters!!  

This afternoon, Susan and I took a quick trip into the park on the Savage River shuttle.  Fall is coming fast to Denali National Park and Preserve.  Every day while driving my bus, I see the aspen trees changing from dark green to light green to yellow and gold.  The low growing dwarf birch are underneath the dark green spruce trees and splashing a magenta color across the hillsides.  



Along the way, we did spot a caribou.  This guy (or gal; don't know for sure since both male and female caribou have antlers) had a really nice rack. Caribou are geared for cold...really cold...weather.  So even though we were in the mid-50s, he/she had to lay down in the middle of this creek to cool off!  
We've had almost 2 weeks of rain and gray skies, and we've seen the termination dust accumulating on the mountains. Today, we had gorgeous blue skies and could see the termination dust (aka snow!) on the mountain sides at about 3,000 feet.  That snow will stay on the mountains until early next summer, and to imagine that today is August 26th!  What an amazing place...
We're going to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer this weekend, looking for the HUGE vegetables that grow in the Mat-Su Valley since they get almost 24 hours of sunlight early in the season.  Look forward to sharing that experience with you.  




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