Denali National Park: Day 4...Hiking, Hiking, and more Hiking

We had fully expected this day to rain on us.  I don't know why we haven't learned by now that Alaska weather likes to play jokes on those of us who plan. But at least we were prepared either way. Rain pants, jackets, boots were all at the ready in the trunk just in case. But the Mister and I had resolved to make this our main hiking day, rain or shine.

First on our agenda: Savage River Area Hikes (Mile 15 Park Road)

The kids spotted other hikers climbing on the rocks above the trailhead and begged to try the Rock Trail first.

 This is a short climbing trail, 0.6 miles round trip. 

There is also another trail in the making, the Savage Alpine Trail, leading up to the summit of that hill behind us. The trail is still undergoing construction, but there is a "social" trail easy enough to follow. We passed on that one, our legs still a bit tired from the Mt. Healy climb two days before.

We just took some pictures at the top of the trail, looked down at the river canyon below, and headed down before Liv tried to scramble up to the top of the boulder.

 We began the Savage River Loop Trail, heading away from the parking lot, along the river one mile to a bridge that leads you back to the opposing bank's parking lot one mile back.

It is an easy, manageable trail. Little ones can do this with no problem.  I did have to hold on to Liv during a narrow section because she has this crazy habit of hopping around carelessly on narrow trails.

She also likes to climb. 

We reached the bridge and crossed over to the other side for our way back.

 But then Dylan spotted a social trail up to our right past the maintained trail. He wanted to see what was on the other side of the hill, so he and I scrambled up real quick while the Mister stayed behind with the girls, trying to chase down an arctic ground squirrel (which looks more like a prarie dog).

 We did have to cross the road bridge to get back to the other side of the river where we parked.  Since it's the farthest private vehicles can go into the park, there wasn't much traffic going over the bridge.  The cars that did go by gave us a wide berth. 

After an early dinner, we headed down to try the next trail for the day: Horseshoe Lake 

Just past the railroad crossing the Park Road, there is a small parking lot where hikers can start their trip down to Horseshoe Lake.

Just a bit along the railroad tracks (this is an active railroad)

A sign will prompt Horseshoe Lake hikers to cross the tracks to the right and start their descent.

 From the overlook point, the oxbow lake can be seen far below.

This was a nice relaxing out and back hike. 1.5 miles roundtrip.

The kids took their time, using a vegetation identification guide to name the various flowers and berries along the trail.

 Soapberry plant

 Blueberries waiting to ripen

 Down at the lake

 There is an active beaver dam at the north end, but we didn't spot the beavers that inhabit the area, although the number of trees gnawed down were fascinating enough for the girls.

 On the way back up the trail, Dylan led them in some calisthenics and walking lunges (as if the full day of hiking wasn't enough to wear them down).

Denali National Park: Day 3...Shuttle to Eielson Visitor Center

In order to preserve the wilderness of Denali National Park, private vehicles are only allowed to drive on the Park Road to Mile 15 (Savage River). Visitors wishing to see more of the park interior must purchase a ticket for a ride on a tour or shuttle bus. Tour buses have naturalist bus drivers who read from a scripted dialog and provide box lunches for their customers.  The shuttle buses are more laid back, no lunch/beverages provided, but passengers can get on and off the bus at their whim (provided there are no wildlife present at their desired disembarkation point). We chose the latter as we weren't quite sure how the children would take to sitting cooped on a bus for the whole day, and appreciated the option of getting off should they need to stretch their legs for a bit.  We simply needed to flag down another shuttle bus that comes along when we were ready to continue the ride. Oh, and the price is half that of the tour bus...when you have a family of five, price is an important factor. :-)

There are four main shuttle buses. The shortest being a 6.5 hour round trip, using Toklat River as its turnaround point. The second goes to Mile 66 of the road to Eielson Visitor Center and takes 8 hours round trip. The Wonder Lake bus takes 11 hours and the Kantishna (end of the road) bus takes 13. We chose to go to Eielson because of its visitor center. The children are accustomed to long road trips and they could have been fine on the longer ones, but we didn't want to push it. Wonder Lake would have been a great destination, but since it was an overcast day, we decided not to upgrade the ticket since the draw of the destination is seeing Denali from the lake...and that was not happening that day.

Anyway...(geez this is going to be a long post)...those of you who are planning a bus trip into Denali may find these tips useful:

• booster seats are mandatory...bring your own for each little one. Ours have the Trunki backpack/booster seat and was very easy to haul in and out of the bus. Booster seats are nice for the little ones to see out of the windows.
• Bring lots of food. There are no facilities in the park except for bathrooms. We brought an insulated backpack full of lunch/snacks/drinks, and extra for dinnertime should the bus run late returning.
• Binoculars for little ones help them feel involved in the wildlife searching, and boost their little egos when the rest of the bus congratulates them on spotting an animal.

 The first third of the ride was uneventful. Our elderly bus driver was friendly and offered tidbits of information about the park and landscape formations. The passengers were in charge of spotting the wildlife and yelling for him to stop so we could take pics. Although there were no animals in sight at first, the views simply took your breath away.  It was so beautiful, even the Mister whose eyelids droop every time he's in a running vehicle was alert, taking in the scenery with wide-eyed wonder.

A couple of caribou crossing in front of the bus. They were trotting around the hillside to the right of us until they decided to cross the road and gallop away.

Our first bear sighting. As you can tell from the grainy quality of this image, he was pretty far away. They are fairly easy to spot against the greenery of the hills since Denali bruins are blonde.

Looking behind us, a view of the road traversing Polychrome Pass.

At a rest stop at Toklat River. 

There were several antlers to look at near the Alaska Geographic outpost at the rest stop.

Olivia appreciated the vast amount of space to run and stretch her legs.

At the Eielson Visitor Center, where we spent a 30 minute break before heading back towards the entrance.

Outside the visitor center, there were several trails to try. The Tundra Trail Loop, a mere .5 miles was the only one we could attempt because of the short break allotted for the stop.

I look at this picture and wonder what my little girl is thinking about.

The short trail in front of the Eielson visitor center. Sophie had grabbed ahold of my hand at one point, and quietly said, "Mom, when I look around, it's like it goes on forever," obviously in awe.

 On the way back, someone spotted a Dall sheep in the middle of the road.

 And even more on the rock to the right of us.

 This ram was right next to the bus. 

We had already seen a bunch of caribou, Dall sheep, and grizzlies on the way (didn't want to post ALL of the pictures). The return trip, the excitement level had somewhat died down and the passengers were starting to feel the exhaustion of a long bus ride.  We were all starting to doze off until someone yelled, "Bear! Stop the bus!"

I peeked up from my nap, half expecting another sighting a quarter mile away. But this one was the closest one so far.

 There she was, foraging around.

 We were about to drive away after the first five minutes of everyone snapping their cameras away. Then someone yelled, "Wait! She has cubs!"

Out from the bushes, two "little" ones ran to their momma.

 They seemed to be playing, running back and forth for a bit, until they tired and settled down to take a break.

Right before we got back, we caught sight of a cow moose. But, you know, since moose are everywhere on base, the fam wasn't so impressed. LOL.

 It was a long day, a long bus ride, but considering we had expected it to rain the whole time (it didn't), and thought the kids would act up (they didn't), it was a great success. There was a shmuck at the front of the bus who loudly proclaimed that he wasn't very impressed with the park at all, to which I really had the urge to just sock him in the mouth.

The shuttle ride isn't a theme park attraction or zoo with caged/tamed animals ready for anyone's viewing pleasure.  A wildlife sighting is a rare treat, a glimpse of these animals in their most natural habitat. It's easy to be consumed by the desire to search out the animals during the ride, but I think it's also important to look past that and really SEE the park. The most beautiful place I've ever laid eyes on.

When prompting the children for their feedback, I was pleased to find they felt the same way. All three thought the bears were "really cool." But Liv said her favorite part was the bus ride through Polychrome Pass, partly because "we were so high and driving on the edge of the road" (hmmmm, I see an adrenaline junkie in the making). Sophia mentioned the braided rivers and how interesting it was that "it takes a long time to change the way the river flows, and these rivers must've been around for a LOOOOONG time." Dylan loved the mountain ranges and the stark difference between the Alaskan and Outer Ranges. I love that my children can appreciate these things, so far removed from the ugly tourist and his demands for instant gratification.

Denali National Park: Conquering Our First Mountain

 The second day at Denali was also our oldest's 14th birthday. In honor of my boy's special day, we figured it would be cool to at least attempt a mountain hike. We had done small hikes before, all less than 2 miles total, in consideration of our little girls' abilities. And because the park ranger and all other hiking guides rated this trail as STRENUOUS, the Mister and I came to an agreement that should the girls balk at the difficulty during the hike, he and our 14 year-old would go ahead and summit while I herded Sophie and Olivia back down.

We parked the car at the Visitor Center parking lot, directly across the street where the Spruce Forest Trail met the Park Road. We took a turn to the Taiga Trail and headed towards the Mt. Healy pathway.

The bridge crossing Horseshoe Creek about a quarter mile in. Up until now, everyone was in high spirits.

Once we officially left the Taiga Trail and merged on to the Mt. Healy Trail, the climb started. The grades seemed a constant 15-20%. I, in my state of being NOT FIT, was huffing and puffing already.

A mile in at the first bench, 500 feet of elevation covered.

This was the point I thought would be mine and girls' turnaround.

After a quick snack and drink break at the first bench, we headed up again.  That is the top of the Mount Healy Overlook trail straight ahead.

 The warm weather and steady sunshine, and perhaps, my little one's laziness prompted many of these moments. She would walk ahead, plop down in the middle of the trail, and say, "I'm tired. Break time."

At that point, I urged the boys to go on ahead of us.  As my men disappeared from view, blazing ahead, I made the crucial decision to dangle a bribe for my girls, not wanting to cut the hike short just yet.  Earlier in the souvenir shop, Sophia and Olivia had fallen in love with these big wolf puppets. The bribe of wolf puppets suddenly lit a fire under their tushies and we headed up the trail, energy renewed.

This was a serious trail. Everyone who we ran into on their descent was drenched in sweat, and trying to catch their breath. Above is a milder (much shorter) portion. 

There were great resting rocks for us to have a drink and a snack. Believe me, we all needed them. There were very steep sections that required us to use hands, knees, feet to scramble up some boulders, and narrow paths that sent terrifying visions of my children careening down the side of the mountain. Throughout our hike, I waited and waited for their "I don't want to do this anymore" so we could head back down to safety, normal heart rates, and steady breaths. But they didn't flag.  They kept trucking along...my little troopers. 

Sophia was assigned the duty as the trailblazer, keen to alert us of any "dangers" (loose rocks, large roots, narrow paths). For the most part, I let Livy follow her sister unless the path was very narrow or there was a steep drop off the side. We sang songs, joked, laughed, and even caught sight of a spruce grouse with its chicks within the trees. We giggled at the thought of their dad's reaction to see how far up we've come.

Meanwhile, father and son were having a great walk. 

I can't believe it's been 14 years since this special guy came into my life and changed it forever.

 They reached the tundra, past the tree line and boulder field, and made their way to the steep switchbacks. Ten minutes from the very top, a gust of wind and a sudden wave of vertigo caught my boy by surprise. Deciding they had climbed high enough, the boys headed back down, fully expecting to meet us at the parking lot below.

Instead, just a short while later, Mister said he heard children's voices around the bend.  He couldn't believe the girls had made it that far. We climbed up together to the boulder field right before the switchbacks to take a break and enjoy the view. The red is where the boys got up to, and the yellow is the highest us girls reached.

 It wasn't the summit, but it counts in our book. A hard 2.5 miles up. Another 2.5 miles down. Five hours round-trip. Fam Och's first mountain.

On our way down.

The Mister and I laughed about how we had grossly underestimated the girls' hiking prowess. This hike  opened up a bunch of other hiking options in the Chugach area we had previously classified as "too hard" for the family to undertake.  And despite all the other cool and fun things we did during this trip, this particular adventure got the unanimous vote for the Ultimate Favorite Part.