{"id":3034,"date":"2014-07-28T17:31:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T17:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=3034"},"modified":"2014-07-28T17:31:17","modified_gmt":"2014-07-28T17:31:17","slug":"family-vacation-days-5-6-and-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2014\/07\/28\/family-vacation-days-5-6-and-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Vacation: Days 5, 6, and 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Entering<\/a>
Entering Denali National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a quick stop in the town outside the national park for some souvenir hunting and lunch, we headed into the Denali National Park. \u00a0Denali consists of over six million acres, and there is just one road through it, so we took our time driving to the Teklaneeka campground deep inside the park, taking in the sights along the way. \u00a0The RV did reasonably well on the gravel road.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking down at Horseshoe Lake during a short hike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before getting on the long road to the campground, however, we took a short hike around Horseshoe lake. \u00a0We didn’t see any animals, but we saw a beaver dam that was probably 40 yards long. \u00a0No beaver.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/a>
Tommy and a moose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning we got up very early to catch the first bus toward Wonder Lake. \u00a0Our thought was that we would see more wildlife on the early bus. \u00a0We did. \u00a0It started with a pair of moose hanging out near the bus stop. \u00a0You can see one behind Tommy’s shoulder in this picture.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A female moose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon after departing we encountered another one.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A view from along the road through Denali<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a four hour bus ride from our campground to Wonder Lake. \u00a0Along the way we saw some beautiful scenery and many animals. \u00a0The only one of the “big” animals we didn’t see was a wolf.<\/p>\n

\"Very<\/a>
Very beautiful view from along the road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We encountered two golden eagles perched on rocks above the road. \u00a0This picture is one of them flying away.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another moose sighting!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two German girls were on the bus, taking pictures of their own moose at various stops.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The bus driver, Darlene was quite good. \u00a0She stopped frequently and had lots of good stories.<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/a>
Sammy the caribou<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This picture was taken at a short rest stop along the way.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A small group of caribou<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Moose<\/a>
Moose frollicking through the tundra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We saw more moose on this four-hour bus ride than we did during our entire visit to Maine.<\/p>\n

\"Wonder<\/a>
Wonder lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Considering its name, Wonder Lake was a bit anti-climactic. \u00a0From here, however, we took a five mile hike out and back along the McKinley Bar trail, which took us through rocks and woods to the river.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/a>
Tommy helping Candy across a small mud puddle on our hike along the McKinley Bar Trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A view of ptarmigans along the trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way back we encountered three rock ptarmigans, the Alaska state bird. \u00a0They looked a lot like pheasant or grouse to me. \u00a0They eventually flew off as we continued our hike.<\/p>\n

\"Caribou<\/a>
Caribou grazing near the bus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another caribou near the bus on our ride back toward camp.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The line of latrines at one of the rest stops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rest stops along the bus route looked like this. \u00a0The doors were probably three inches thick and heavily reinforced to keep out bears and other animals. \u00a0All were very clean!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A game of rummy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That night we played rummy and watched a little television before bed.<\/p>\n

\"Homework<\/a>
Homework time while on the road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning we left the campground and headed southward. \u00a0On our way up, we had tried to get a flight up to a glacier on the slopes of Mt. McKinley. \u00a0This morning the clouds cleared, and it looked like we might be able to fly, so we packed up and headed back to Talkeetna. \u00a0During a portion of the drive, the kids worked on their Summer reading.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/a>
Tommy working on his Summer reading<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Our<\/a>
Our first clear view of Mt. McKinley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then we turned a bend in the road and there was Mt. McKinley. \u00a0They say only 31% of visitors to Alaska get to see the whole mountain. \u00a0It was much more impressive than this picture conveys. \u00a0Mt. McKinley is the tallest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, at 20k+ feet of elevation.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another view of Mt. McKinley from Talkeetna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We stopped several times along the way to get different and better shots of the mountain. \u00a0The sky got better and better all day.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting "booted up" for our glacier walk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were lucky to get a 1430 flight up the mountain for a glacier landing from Talkeetna. \u00a0Each of us donned a pair of protective over boots so that we could walk around in the snow on the glacier.<\/p>\n

\"Ready<\/a>
Ready for takeoff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were six of us plus the pilot on this DeHaviland Beaver.<\/p>\n

\"Approaching<\/a>
Approaching Mt. McKinley by air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flight was smooth, and along the way the pilot had a lot of interesting things to point out. \u00a0I got to sit up front and take lots of pictures.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting closer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The glaciers on Mt. McKinley are growing at an average rate of about three feet a day. \u00a0The guide said that the glaciers act like frozen rivers. \u00a0They have falls, currents, and even cataracts.<\/p>\n

\"Ice<\/a>
Ice fall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here you can see where ice has formed, cracked, and fallen. \u00a0These falls grow at a rate of six or more feet per day and push the glacier down the valley.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On the glacier with Mt. McKinley in the distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Landing on the glacier was interesting. \u00a0The surface was slushy, so the plane slid around on its skis until it came to a stop. \u00a0The temperature was about 30 degrees, but it felt much warmer due to the sun and the heat radiating off the snow and rocks.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our plane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent about 25 minutes on the glacier before returning to Talkeetna. \u00a0The guide told us that glaciologists come up here to study the McKinley glaciers quite frequently. \u00a0They have taken deep core samples. \u00a0Air is trapped in the glaciers, so core samples reveal things about the air 10s of thousands of years ago. \u00a0For the global warming crowd, the scientists who study these glaciers say that the percent of greenhouse gasses in the air 10,000 years ago is about the same as it is today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A view of "rapids" along the Ruth glacier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this picture you can see how the ice cracks as it flows downhill. \u00a0Also note the light blue patches. \u00a0The color of the glacial ice is blue. \u00a0It doesn’t show in most of the pictures, but in person you could see the slightly blue color. \u00a0The light blue patches in this picture are deep fissures or crevasses that have filled with snow. \u00a0When the sun is out, the top layers melt a little and turn into these light blue lakes or ponds.<\/p>\n

After returning to Talkeetna, we played in the elementary school playground for a few minutes and then headed South to Houston to stop for the night before continuing south past Anchorage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a quick stop in the town outside the national park for some souvenir hunting and lunch, we headed into the Denali National Park. \u00a0Denali consists of over six million acres, and there is just one road through it, so we took our time driving to the Teklaneeka campground deep inside the park, taking in … Continue reading Family Vacation: Days 5, 6, and 7<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}