August 18th, 2024 The End of the Road in Denali

Today's adventure...The shuttle bus to East Fork!

From yesterday:

"The Denali Park Road goes 92 miles into the park.  Near the end is Wonder Lake and at the end is Kantishna.  Sadly, there was a landslide at MP 45 and nothing is allowed past MP 43 (East Fork).  Private vehicles can only go to MP 14 so a bus is needed to go beyond that."

We were blessed..In 2007 we made the shuttle bus trip to Wonder Lake.  Those iconic pictures that you see of Denali and the reflection on a lake is done on a clear day at Wonder Lake.  That trip is here: 

https://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2007/07/july-19-2007-denali-and-wildlife.html

In 2009, we were able to take the trip to Kantishna.  That trip is here:

https://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2009/06/june-25-2009-kantishna-experience.html

Sadly, we can only go to MP 43 because of the landslide.  BUT!!  That is okay since we saw wildlife.

They have a saying that everyone should see the Big 5 Wildlife in Denali: Caribou, Moose, Wolf, Bear, and Dall Sheep.  Well, we were blessed to see all but the Wolf!

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The nice thing about taking the shuttle is that you can see a lot.

The not so nice is that you are taking pictures thru the bus windows OR the siting is on the side that you are not sitting on.. LOL

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Our bus stop pickup... (Side note. If you come here in 2027, go to Eielson.  Great visitor center, great trails, and if the weather Gods are good.. great view of Denali!).  Roaming around the Eielson Center is still on my bucket list!

The mountains are in the clouds:

Our first sighting... CARIBOU!   Just losing the velvet from his antlers which is why it is so bloody.

Not too far away, we saw this guy (Sorry the pictures are a little blurry - he was far away1):

Scenes along the way!:

We made a stop at the Teklanika Rest Area.  WOW! What a difference from 2009!  This is the Teklanika River - a braided river.  So what is a braided river?:

"A braided river is a river with a network of channels that branch and merge to create a braided pattern. The channels are separated by small islands called braid bars, aits, or eyots, which are often temporary. The bars form, are consumed, and re-form continuously, making braided channels very dynamic. "

The bridge across the river into the wilderness of Denali:

The Teklanika River:

The Road:

The views and those white spots are Dall Sheep:

If you look close, there are caribou on the ridge:

We made our way to the end of this road at the East Fork of the Toklat River:

Fall is coming!:

So... we were able to get off the bus and take pictures.  The shuttle bus is a hop on, hop off bus, meaning that if you want to hike, you can hop off the bus and when you are done, you can hop on another shuttle bus. (Depending on the time of day, they come thru every 20 - 30 minutes.)  A few folks left our bus and a few got a ride back.

Heading back:

It is raining out there:

Incredible country - the pictures do not show how grand it is.  That "hill" on the left is over five miles away (and look how huge it looks - WOW!)

Dall Sheep:

This caribou came down in front of the bus and then walked up the road - too funny.  This is the best picture I could get - LOL!:

Love the fireweed color!  As we get into the fall, the fireweed leaves turn a beautiful shade of mauve/red:

Another view along the way:

How beautiful!  Look at those antlers!:

And our last treat of the day!:

Isn't he beautiful!

Moose rutting season is starting so hopefully we will see more of these guys before we leave.

Another great day!  (But I really want some sun and no rain - LOL!)

Enjoy today!

November 20, 2015 thru December 6, 2015 Our Time in Casa Grande

First let me apologize to my blog readers for not updating sooner.  I was a little lazy and then Microsoft decided to stop supporting Live Writer – which is the software I use to update.  So for a few weeks I had no clue how I was going to do my blog.  When I first started in 2007 (before Live Writer), it was a little difficult to do a blog.  I use to get everything ready, then when I had good internet, I would upload the pictures and copy the verbage from Word.  I have to say that I did not want to go back to that.

Enter “Open Live Writer”- an open source software program started by a number of volunteers from Microsoft.  YAHOO… I will continue to blog my travels.  There are a few extra steps I need to do for now but I am sure they will be fixed in the future.

To those who blog – it seems like they are upgrading the software weekly as items are added and bugs fixed so download the latest version or check often to make sure you have the latest.

Okay on to what we did during our time at Casa Grande.

First and the best was getting caught up with friends and family we haven’t seen in many months.  What a joy – we are so blessed.  But can you believe I did not take any pictures…   Sorry!
Andy had his doctor’s appointments at the VA – all is good.  The kitties had their appointment at their vet – all is good too.

But I do have pictures from around the area. 
 

A familiar sight were these bales of cotton ready to go to the gin:
 

 

I just love the sheep!  This flock had many, many very small babies:
 

 

One of the days coming back from town, I stopped on the side of the road, got out, and walked to the field of sheep.  Between the car and the field was a few more feet of paved road, then about  10 feet of grass, then a dirt road that ran along the fence line.  As soon as I stepped on that dirt road, the two dogs went to work.  The first one came at me:
 

The second one herded the sheep to the center of the field then joined his partner:

Even though it looks like they were kissing, I think they were just talking to each other:

 

When I saw the first dog, I moved closer to the car.  After the “kiss”, the first dog sat down and watched me:
 

 

The other one moved into the field and also watched me:
 

 

I left and then came back a few hours later and DID NOT get out of the car.  It was amazing to watch those dogs in action.
 

These pictures are from the car:
 

 

 

 

The babies are just the cutest, aren’t they!
 

 

 

 

 

One of the days, Andy was in our back yard and noticed movement at the back wall…. Check out who was building a nest!

 

We did have one problem – had to replace the radiator in our Tracker.  It blew while I was on my way to the Vets – Yikees.  So I used our Good Sam Road Service to get towed.  The poor kitties were so frightened – Thank you Pam for coming to rescue me and the kitties!   It was an experience that I do not want to repeat.
 

On December 7th, we traveled to our lot in Yuma and that will be my next blog.
 

Until then, enjoy today.