DENALI NATIONAL PARK 2013

This was our 13th trip to Teklanika campground in Denali National Park.  We enjoyed six days of fantastic weather, hiking, biking, and photographing.  Wildlife activity was minimal due to the heat, but we did see four bears and lots of caribou while we were there.  Laura was on a different adventure in New Mexico so she didn't get to make the trip with us this year.

The three of us at the Polychrome Pass rest area.

We circumnavigated Stony Hill in sweltering heat and every time the wind stopped we were attacked by clouds of mosquitoes.  ~4.0 miles.

Emily and Mrs. Huffy in front of the scenery on our hike around Stony Hill.

We found these caribou antlers in the grass as we hiked along.

 

The GPS track of our ride from Sable Pass to Teklanika Campground.  10.5 miles.

 

We put our bikes on the bike rack on the front of the bus and rode to the top of Sable Pass where we took them off and rode back to Teklanika Campground.  It was downhill the entire way.

 

 

The sign atop Sable Pass.  The nails are supposed to dissuade the bears from chewing on it.

 

Emily and I are ready to ride.

We stopped for a picnic at Tattler Creek in Igloo canyon.

We hiked from Teklanika Campground up the riverbed where we saw bear tracks, a caribou, and had a picnic.  6 miles RT.

Mrs. Huffy and Emily at the Teklanika River bridge.

We found this grizzly track in the dust as we hiked along the edge of the river.

We watched this caribou for a very long time.

We also took a short hike in Highway Pass amongst the blooming wildflowers.

We hiked a social trail around the backside of Cathedral Mountain.  We were treated to beautiful scenery and bears.  4.4 miles.

Emily and Mrs. Huffy in front of a scree slope on Cathedral Mountain.

This is the view looking up the Teklanika River from the backside of Cathedral Mountain.  Mrs. Huffy wants to go backpacking in this area.

On our way back to the road we ran into a sow with two cubs.  I came around a corner and there they were right on the trail about 300 feet away.  The sow looked at me and coughed, then went back to eating.  The cubs continued to rough house with each other.  We decided to go back the direction we had come from and wait a few minute for them to move along.  Then the bears decided to take naps...on the trail.  We couldn't get around them due to a steep scree slope on one side and dense brush on the other.  After an hour passed we decided to get as high on the scree slope as we could so we cold keep an eye on the bears and move around that section of the trail.  Liz had to crawl on all fours so she wouldn't slide down the slope, but it worked.  We rejoined the trail and met several hikers coming from the opposite direction.  We told them of the bears and they all were excited to see them.

The cubs.

Emily earned her Junior Ranger badge and was sworn in by a Denali National Park Ranger.