The High One

Many of the local tribes historically referred to Mt McKinley in their local languages as The High One.

"What do you mean the one with snow on it. They all have snow on them."
"No No. That one. The high one."
"Oh, why didn't you just say so."

On our second day in Denali National Park, we headed deep into the park on one of the shuttle buses. We hoped to see some wild life as the weather hadn't been very good for seeing Mount McKinley.

We spotted a lot of caribou from a fair distance away. Other than a moose running on the road and some ground squirrels, most of the animals were a long way away.

 The scenery in the park changes substantially as you get further.

 The weather wasn't as bad as we had feared and McKinley finally came into view as we got closer.

For even the untrained eye, there is really no doubt about which mountain is the biggest.

 From a long way back we saw a other grizzly and her 2 cubs. The previous year, these bears had taken a swipe at the door of a bus.

 A closer up shot of some caribou.

The end of the road was 92 miles into the park at a place called Wonder Lake. That is, a wonder that Olivia's boots didn't soak through with cold water after her slipping of that rock.

On our way back, we came across a Japanese chap who had apparently started walking in Argentina (A fair distance from here).

 Back in our camp ground, we had a close encounter with the resident Moose mum and her calf. We were told to keep our distance as she has previously placed a couple of people in hospital.

 It is hard to imagine, but they seem to be taller than a bit horse. I wonder if anyone has ever thrown a saddle on one.

Day with the dogs

 We arrived at Denali National Park, the home of the highest mountain in North America and the tallest (base to summit) mountain in the world.

The first day, Olivia started her junior ranger program and one of her 2 park activities was to visit the sled dogs.

Because the park is a wilderness area, no motorised vehicles can be used except on the road in summer, and then only special ones such as the shuttle buses. In winter, the only means of transport for the rangers is on a sled, pulled by huskies. This is the only sled dog kennel in all of the National Park service. There were about 20ish dogs there and they do 3 demonstrations per day.

 We were able to play a bit with some of the dogs. There were 3 categories.

• Ones that could be patted (2 of these).
• Ones that could be patted if they decided to come to the ropes.
• Ones that eat rocks and had to be caged.
• Oh and a 4th category. Puppies.

Olivia got to get friendly with a couple of the stars. This one was called Muenter. He ended up being part of the demonstration.

They did a lap around the area. Maybe a quarter mile on the gravel and then stopped and lay down.

While they were talking about the dogs and what they do, the dogs lay quietly on the ground chewing some treat.

After we returned from the dog kennels, Ranger Dorris inducted Olivia once more in to the junior ranger program and gave her the Denali National Park badge.

Woohoo, another badge.

It was also time for Olivia to receive her official uniform. The life of a park ranger, even a junior one involves a lot of responsibility and you must always set a good example for others.

Well, some of the time.