Denali tease

August 10, 2021August 10, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

Today, first stop: dog sled kennels. These Alaskan huskies are still in used in the park during winter. The are on holiday now and get walked by volunteers. The coolest thing about them is their circulatory system is intertwined so that the arteries warm the veins. The park huskies mush around 5 to 6 mph, but race huskies go about 9mph in the Iditarod.

They sit on top of their doghouse for a better view.

It was another beautiful day. Beautiful mountain ranges on both sides of the road. We thought Denali (the high one) might poke out in the evening but she just toyed with us. She only rears her head 13 to 30 percent of the time (depending on who you ask).

So close

And yet

So far away

Denali tour

August 8, 2021August 9, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / 3 Comments

Started early today to catch the tour. Woke up at 5 and still didn’t make the sunrise.

We saw a 2 moose, 4 Grizzley bears, countless caribou, and 5 sheep. Saw several using binoculars so I couldn’t get them on pics, but the grizzlies were posing for us.

Things I learned today :

Grizzlies usually maintain 300 square miles for their own food and eat 320,ooo berries a day. Denali bears are vegetarian for the most part because there are very few fish in glacial streams.
Denali moose are twice the size of a continental moose. 1700+ pounds and typically lose 400 pounds over winter.
Dall sheep were studied in the making of football helmets because they have a soft membrane between their brain and their skull. Their impact can reach a total combined impact of 140 mph. The studies led to the invention of gel padding in helmets used today.
Adolf Murie studied wolves in the park for 40 years and basically saved the wolves from extinction.
Dog sleds are still used in the park to maintain a park presence during the winter months. You can adopt these sled dogs.
The second largest (9.2 richter scale) earthquake in the world was in Alaska in 1964. The landmass grew up to 82 feet.
Don’t get buried in Alaska because the permafrost will push you back out of the ground. Get cremated. Duh.