Kantishna

Sorry I didn't get this updated sooner, I've now left Alaska and it's been a whirlwind! Before I post about what I've been doing since I left I have to tell you about my last few days in Alaska. My last full day in Denali was spent on a VTS shuttle headed all the way to the end of the park road. My friendS, Nate, Alexa and I all boarded the bus at 8am. It was a gorgeous day at the park entrance so we hoped that it would be the same throughout the park. Our bus driver was named Chuck and he has worked as a driver in the park for 20+ years. I always love listening to the drivers talk about thier experiences in the park. We were lucky in that the group of people on our bus were very talkative and asked lots of questions. At mile 12 we saw the mountain, it was out clear as a bell! I got so excitied because the skies were clear and it looked like we had a shot at seeing the mountain on our whole ride! Chuck stopped at what he called his "secret stops" to let us take pictures.



This whole summer I've been thwarted by the weather and had never seen the mountain from any further in than mile 15. It figures that on my last day in the park I would finally get to see the mountain from a closer distance. The next thing I was crossing my fingers for was a bear on the road, and what do you know?! I GOT IT! Just after Sable Pass we were all looking at a bear off to the side of the bus and then someone spotted one on the road ahead of us. This Grizzly was just strolling along and we were able to come right up on him and park the bus within a few feet of him. I managed to get a full frame photo of his face looking back at me. We hung out with him for a good half an hour before he left the road and wandered off into the wilderness.

The other amazing thing that was occuring in the park was fall. The tundra had gone from green to red and yellow. It's an amazing thing to behold, for miles and miles ahead of you all you can see is a carpet of red. Many of the birch and aspens had begun to change also and were taking on thier mind blowing yellow glow. Nate and I had gone hiking around Savage River a few nights prior and the mountain had come out then but it was a great chance for us to really see the change of color in the park. As we drove further down the park road you could see that peak had just barely come and gone in some places. But the most amazing part was that the mountain was still out! We pulled over Stony Overlook which is the best place on the park road to view the mountain, at that milepost you can actually see the mountain base to summit in good weather. Oh boy did we have good weather! I think Chuck, our driver, made the best comment about the mountain, and he may have been quoting someone else but I can't remember. He said that Denali is captures your gaze and doesn't let you go but it's not a beautiful mountain. Something that is beautiful comforts you to look at and makes you feel at peace. Denali does not do either of these things. It is rugged and dangerous looking, it doesn't give you peace but it does hold your gaze. I understand now better than ever why this mountain draws so many, not just to climb it but also just to see it. We arrived at Eieleson and the mountain was still there! I am so pleased with all the photos that I got of it, it's going to take me a while to figure out what to post!

I had hoped that the mountain would stay clear all the way to Wonder Lake however the summit started to cloud up after we left Eielson. I was still able to get some nice photos though. Wonder Lake was really neat, it's this long lake 24 miles from the base of the mountain and many Mountaineers starting place for climbing the mountain. During our rest stop there I went and picked blueberries, oh they were so yummy! I'm sorry but nothing compares to a freshly picked wild blueberry, you gotta try it sometime. At this point we'd been on the bus for 6 hours and were starting to get a but drowsy and I definatly feel asleep on the way to Kantishna.

When we arrived in Kantishna we stopped by Fanny Quigley's House, which is a historical site. Fanny Quigley is famous woman in Alaskan history. She left an abusive husband in the dead of night pulling her own dog sled because she didn't want the dogs to wake her husband. She followed the gold rushes and would set up her tent and stove and sell her food to the miners. She came to Kantinshna during the short lived gold rush and fell inlove with it. Kantishna was where she and her husband Joe remained until thier deaths. The dinner theather we had at our hotel was based around her and her husband's lives in Kantishna.

After leaving Kantishna we had a beautiful drive out of the park and back to the WAC. It turns out that is was Chuck's last day driving for the season, he said that it was by far the best day he'd had in the park this summer and made his Top 10 all time drives into the park. I thought it was fitting that on my last trip into the park it was also his.

We were all exhausted when we got back and as much as I want to just sleep I had to start my packing. I had boxed up most of my larger items for mailing but since it was labor day weekend I couldn't mail them until the day I was going to leave.

I left Denali on the train on Tuesday afternoon. My departure was not as releaxed as I had imagined because well if you know me you know I don't pack light and I suffer from procrastination. My last night in Denali my friends and I went to the Crow's Nest to help them celebrate thier closing. It was packed and noisy so we hung out outside. Then my friend Mindy got a call from one of the Jeep Safari guys saying the Northern Lights were out. So we all headed out see them. We were treated to a very fuzzy but unmistakable show of lights. The lights aren't out until about 1:30 in the morning so you can imagine I didn't get up as early as I wanted the next day. But the important thing is that I made the train!

Leaving Denali was so bittersweet. I was happy to be done with the job but hated to leave my wonderful friends. I still have to talk about what I did before I left Alaska so I will save my musings on this summer for the very last post. I will post the photos from my last trip into the park tonight so please look and enjoy!

PHOTOS!