I took the family back to the land of my people in June. Sifting through hundreds of pics and found a few that I thought I'd share.
This guy was in Denali. To get into the park you ride a bus which takes you about 90 miles into the park. He was hanging out right at the roads edge… 10 feet from the bus. Didn't seem too concerned with us. He's about 900#. The Denali grizzlies are relatively small compared to the bears on the Kenai peninsula since their access to food is limited. The Kenai bears get twice as big… lot's of salmon for them to eat.
Dall sheep in Denali. Park was created originally to protect the sheep population.
Middle of June, we ran into a blizzard. Snowed 5 inches within a couple of hours. Ran into these caribou on the side of the hill.
When you are in Denali, you have about a 30% chance of actually seeing the mountain even from the 25 miles you get from it. On the way in, we saw nothing… blizzard got in the way. On the way out, the skies opened up and we saw virtually all of it. Cant even describe how spectacular it is. It's a 20k' mt. You see if from 2k' so there's 18k' of mountain to look at. As spectacular as the Rockies are, at best you get to see roughly 10k' of mountain by comparison. (denver at 5k, highest mountain at ~15k)
Went to Seward and saw this pair.
And these sea lions
And a couple of sea otters
Spent some quality time at this place. More than a few breweries in Alaska, and every restaurant supports them. Only problem was the beer was fair at best. Lots of opportunity to go up there and start a brewery that actually makes great beer… Hmmm?
This is the house I grew up in. Like you care
Good for you Sarah!!! I dated a crazy lady named Sarah from Wasilla back in HS for a very short time (she was nuts)… always wondered if it might have been her. Wasilla was a tiny place back then?
Bad ass Alaskan husky in Denali. The forest service use the sleds in the winter… no motorized vehicles allowed in the winter. These dogs are massive, bred for hauling. They weigh around 90#. By contrast, the racing dogs weigh around 50# and are bred for speed.
"If it starts to eat you…." sign at many trailheads.
Exit glacier. Named that because the first explorers that crossed the massive icepack in that area exited on this glacier, and it wasn't named at the time.
Great trip home. Didn't see dark for 2 weeks. Did a little house shopping and told Linda I'd get her a husky if she'd move up there. Still working on it!!!
This guy was in Denali. To get into the park you ride a bus which takes you about 90 miles into the park. He was hanging out right at the roads edge… 10 feet from the bus. Didn't seem too concerned with us. He's about 900#. The Denali grizzlies are relatively small compared to the bears on the Kenai peninsula since their access to food is limited. The Kenai bears get twice as big… lot's of salmon for them to eat.
Dall sheep in Denali. Park was created originally to protect the sheep population.
Middle of June, we ran into a blizzard. Snowed 5 inches within a couple of hours. Ran into these caribou on the side of the hill.
When you are in Denali, you have about a 30% chance of actually seeing the mountain even from the 25 miles you get from it. On the way in, we saw nothing… blizzard got in the way. On the way out, the skies opened up and we saw virtually all of it. Cant even describe how spectacular it is. It's a 20k' mt. You see if from 2k' so there's 18k' of mountain to look at. As spectacular as the Rockies are, at best you get to see roughly 10k' of mountain by comparison. (denver at 5k, highest mountain at ~15k)
Went to Seward and saw this pair.
And these sea lions
And a couple of sea otters
Spent some quality time at this place. More than a few breweries in Alaska, and every restaurant supports them. Only problem was the beer was fair at best. Lots of opportunity to go up there and start a brewery that actually makes great beer… Hmmm?
This is the house I grew up in. Like you care
Good for you Sarah!!! I dated a crazy lady named Sarah from Wasilla back in HS for a very short time (she was nuts)… always wondered if it might have been her. Wasilla was a tiny place back then?
Bad ass Alaskan husky in Denali. The forest service use the sleds in the winter… no motorized vehicles allowed in the winter. These dogs are massive, bred for hauling. They weigh around 90#. By contrast, the racing dogs weigh around 50# and are bred for speed.
"If it starts to eat you…." sign at many trailheads.
Exit glacier. Named that because the first explorers that crossed the massive icepack in that area exited on this glacier, and it wasn't named at the time.
Great trip home. Didn't see dark for 2 weeks. Did a little house shopping and told Linda I'd get her a husky if she'd move up there. Still working on it!!!
