KAREN’S HIKE

Starting the day early is never easy for me. I need my coffee. Being in the backcountry, there are no in-room coffee makers. But, breakfast was waiting for us with so many goodies and so little time. We had to be ready at 7:45. Coffee down, I then wondered how I was allowed to take care of things when it “hit bottom”. Now, you all know I have been camping ugly for many years, but I worried things may be handled differently in the Arctic. One never knows… what with bears and all. As it turned out the routine is the same! Yeah, for me!

Onward. Today’s intermediate hike was out two hours to McKinley Bar at the south end of Wonder Lake and back again for a total of 5 miles. Rated 7 on the Lodge’s scale of 10 difficulty level. The hike encompassed a diverse ecosystem of wet tundra, rocky river crossings and dense spruce forests.We enjoyed beautiful vistas of the Alaska Range but with the weather being slightly overcast, Denali was shrouded in cloud cover. On the way out to the glacial gravel bar, we saw much evidence of animals having passed through, over and across our trail. Moose and Bear paw prints were freshly embedded in the mud.

Trees were torn to shreds not only by bears scratching themselves against them but also by porcupines, of all things. Know what the only predator a porcupine has? Gravity! They climb up these trees and then can’t get down, so they fall down and then end up killing themselves!

Not seeing any real live critters and having reached our destination it was time to turn around. As we started back up the trail there was a smattering of rain drops but soon enough the thunder was booming and the skies opened up. We got a little wet, but everyone was well prepared. 

 

Our guides were young and new to Alaska, but they had done their homework. Courtney was very knowledgeable about the flora and Steven had the fauna covered. It was an enjoyable outing and we were back at the lodge for lunch. Again, the spread of food for the buffet was impressive and this time I participated fully! I was hungry after my little walk. 

After lunch, several other entertainment options were available. I chose to go panning for gold, hoping to “strike it rich”. Well, you can guess how that went – nothing but fools gold for me! If the flake of gold can be broken between your nails, it is not the real deal. Dejected, I made my way back to the cabin to give my back a rest from all the bending over in pursuit of gold fever!