Day 13

Day 13
Friday - May 2, 2008

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. This was Carl's first day to report in to work and into housing at the McKinley Chalet lodge outside of Denali National Park. It took a while to get reconnected to the internet.

As promised, here are more pictures from Day 12.

Beautiful granite face.

Crevasses in Ruth Glacier.

A larger view if the glacier. Note the crevasses in the upper end.

Looks like a bulldozer has been at work - but looks are deceiving. It's just Mother Nature at work.



Some people actually climb this face.



Crevasses look shallow but they can be 75 feet down to a snow bridge and then even deeper under that. The ice at this point is probably 4000 feet thick. (Three zeros is not a typographical error.)


A view of Denali taken from the Denali Princess lodge. We are on our way back to the entrance to Denali National Park.

Now for some Day 13 pix.

Becky and Hank on the way back to the park road after a hike in the snow to see a cabin in the woods which is sometimes used for shelter for rangers in the winter. In times past it was frequently used but it is now more to demonstrate what life was like.

Yesterday's ptarmigin was just a teaser. Here are several really handsome examples of Alaska's state bird (the official one - the unofficial state bird is the mosquito, about which we have learned that adults winter over and as the snow starts melting they come out fully ready for combat.)




Remember the wolf picture from day 12? If you looked closely the wolf seemed to have extra fur hanging down from its neck. We took our wolf pictures to the ranger station and when the ranger looked at them he told us that this was the wolf that had gotten caught in a snare but had managed to get out. They believed that he still had part of the snare wround his neck and that in escaping had torn his fur. These pictures confirmed other reports.

Today while we were out hiking around the Savage River (at mile 15 on the park road) we noticed a small fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter performing what seemed to be an intensive search above us. The helicopter eventually came very low and hovered above he ground high up on the mountain above Savage River.

Look carefully at the small yellow spot - it's the helicopter.

If you find the highest rock peak surrounded by snow then look to the next largest rock in the snow to the right of the highest you will find the helicopter above the peak of that rock.

We found out from the rangers today that the crew in the helicopter successfully found the injured wolf (whose picture you saw from day 12, tranquilized him, brought him in and a vet removed the snare and sutured up the torn neck skin, then released him.


Lichens (the favorite food of caribou) and moss.

The thaw has started - Savage river is flowing through the snow.

You guessed it - still no moose!