June 3, 2013

Today was our first full day in Denali.  We slept great last night as it rained some and we could hear the rain hitting the roof.  Today we took a free shuttle to the Savage River and took the Savage River Loop Trail which is a 2 mile hike.  We hiked along the River and saw sheep up in the mountains and lots of birds and ducks in the water.  We also some marmots along the way (I will post a picture of one).  We looked and saw several moose and caribou on the bus ride up and back (15 miles each way) and even saw two young moose with their mom.  We got off the bus and were walking back to our campsite and there was a moose at the entrance of the campground just munching on some trees - he/she just looked at us and continued to eat.  When we got back to the campsite Wayne started a fire and we had a bit of wine before dinner - it was an awesome day and I can't wait for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we plan on taking a shuttle to the Eielson Visitor Center which is 66 miles inside the park.  Round trip on the bus is about 4 1/2 to 5 hours, however, you can get off the bus and take hikes along the way so we are really excited about this.  We have to catch the bus at 8:30 in the morning.  Tonight there is a ranger program talking about owls here so we are thinking about going to that (would like to find out what owls do when there is no night!).  We are totally enjoying Denali so far and as Sallie would say - our souls are filled!

Here are some pictures.

Moose crossing the road in front of our bus

Marmot who gracefully posed for us along the Savage River

Mt. McKinley - two days in a row

More moose - two babies and their mom

Moose at entrance to our campground