Unfortunately, we were not able to take our much anticipated trip
into Denali National Park due to the park being closed because of a fire by
the entrance. We opted to take a guided hike close to the park entrance
which we quite enjoyed. Derek from Northern Epics was our guide. We learned
a lot! For instance, birch bark is water resistant to the point where when
the tree dies, the bark stays intact even after the wood decays. Because it
is hydrophobic, birch bark is a good firestarter. Natives would use birch
bark to make canoes. They would start working on their first canoe when they
were 7. Denali has moved 250 miles with shifting plates and it continues to
grow a little each year. There are lots of fungus that thrive in the area
and it is what caribou eat in the winter. Spruce bark beetles are taking out
large swaths of trees (we saw a lot of this on our drive up north). Climate
change, making summer a little longer and warmer and winter a little shorter
helps the beetles propagate.
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Some of the flowers at our B&B, The Denali Primrose.
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Catkins on the alder tree are high in protein and can be eaten raw or
cooked. We ate them raw and they were not great...
However,
bluebell leaves taste like cucumber and the flowers are also edible.
Fireweed leaves make a good salad. Younger leaves are more
tender.
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Fungus infect black spruce and create witches' broom. The fungus
propagates from spruce to bayberry to spruce.
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View into Denali National Park
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Matthew, U, Me, Megan
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Dogwood is very small in the Denali area. Dwarfism is a common adaptation
as it allows the plants to survive being buried deep in the snow during
winter storms.
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Moose like to eat aspen. The moose scraped the bark off with its
lower teeth a few years ago. (They do not have upper teeth.)
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Small juniper.
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Birch conk, a fungal growth, was often used by natives to carry
embers.
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Helicopter getting water to help fight the fire.
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A moth lays its eggs on aspen leaves. Its larvae makes an interesting
pattern as it eats the leaf before making a chrysalis.
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Me and U
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Nice fireweed quilt in the B&B that was made by the host's
friend.
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Our host made this impressive fireweed quilt.
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Sunday morning, we headed back to Anchorage. The Parks Highway goes
through Denali National Park for a bit so we took some pictures to show
that we have technically been in the park. That said, we hope to come back
sometime when we can spend more time in the park.
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Megan at the Iditarod Race headquarters.
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We stopped at Eklutna Historical Park and saw some interesting grave
markers.
Right before we left seemed like a good time to get "Greeting from
Alaska" pictures. Ha ha!
We went to the International House of Hot Dogs for dinner. Me had a
salmon burger while everyone else had hot dogs.
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U and Matthew with an Alaskan cowboy.
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We liked this shirt and sent it to one of our friends from
Texas.
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Me, Megan and U eating delicious ice cream from Wild Scoops.
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Megan and Me with our car, "Rowan."
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We went by Earthquake Park and then headed to Point Woronzof
Overlook where we enjoyed nice views across the Cook Inlet.
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Final driving time on our car when we returned it.
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Megan, Matthew and Me send greetings from the airport in
Anchorage.
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Taking off from Anchorage around 10:30 pm.
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Coming in to land in Vegas around 4 am.
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