Rafting the Chuli

     Denali State Park offers many great adventures, from the memorial right on the Parks Highway to a 27mi long hike of Kesugi Ridge and even a float along the Chulitna River.  The latter is what I have been doing for the past three days, for work of course.  The float started at the East Fork of the Chuli which is beyond the park boundary, but it is the closest put in.  The float started in the clearwater and we could see many King Salmon swimming up river to die after spawning.  Their bright red color is easy to spot through the clear blue water, but at this point in their life they are starting to turn white, which means death is close. I took a dip in the river at our first stop, which was chilly at about 40 degrees!  After a few hours the East Fork which we were on meets up with the Main Fork and that is where the dirty water begins.  The divide in the water was beautiful, but it didn't last long before you could no longer see the bottom.
     The first night was spent on an island, which was more of a sandbar with fresh bear tracks in sight.  We will just say I was the last to sleep and the first to arise.  The next morning we continued down the river and made a few stops along the way.  One of them had bear tracks and cub tracks, we followed them to a rock ladder that went up onto higher land.  Looked something like a bear highway up there, the vegetation was packed down and it was evident that bear use was high in the area.  We collectively decided not to camp there, but we did camp further down on another island, this one had more vegetation and no bear tracks, but moose tracks. I slept a little better this night, but was still the first to arise.  On the third day I got to try and captain the boat.  I did fairly well for my first time, but got into the shallows once and had to be dragged out!  Further down the river we spotted a bear, upon a closer look we saw a spring cub as well.  The grizzly bear was very blonde, while the cub was so dark it was almost black!  It was exciting to see my first bears in the true wild.  We were blessed with beautiful sunny skies for the first two days, and another rain free but not as sunny day for the third.  This is a trip I will never forget, and just another adventure that will pull at me to come back here.  



       

Riverbank 

The most dangerous thing on a river

Chris and I

Gorgeous Day

another shot of the beautiful scenery

obstacles

going through these shaded areas was cold!

Mountains

Where the clear water and the dirty water join

again

camping night one

canyon

railroad

Railroad with a mountain behind

Denali

Momma griz and cub

again

THE END!

   

Trash and toilet paper...

So today Chris and I got to enjoy the lovely job of pulling trash and checking latrines throughout the park. I don't think I will ever understand what makes some people do the things they do. The mysterious objects in the trash and the smell of the latrines is enough to get your mind spinning, but there isn't enough time in a day to make sense of it all. After just one round of trash the truck bed starting leaking some foul smelling liquid, and we still had most of the park ahead of us. Although we tried to make it fun by joking and telling stories like the one about the rotting pumpkin in my dorm room (Taylor knows more about this) it was hard to keep our minds off the smell. We are so thankful that the park had a janitor and we were just filling in, God Bless him!

After trash was finished we decided to start prepping the deck for staining. Since it hasn't been done in awhile we first applied stripper to remove the old stain, we only had enough for the edges, but after the process was over it was decided it worked so well that we are going to do the entire deck.

Today was a beautiful sunny and warm day here in the Mat-Su valley, and tonight the sun was setting over the Alaska range for a sight that I wish everyone could see! The forecast looks good for the next few days so I hope the unpredictable Alaskan weather pulls through! I won't be back until Saturday, but it's a surprise where I am going. Hope you all have a good weekend and get ready for my next post!

Twin Peaks

I hiked Twin Peaks, which is in Chugach State Park in Eklutna on Wednesday.  The hike was  grueling one; the established trail went 2.6mi, and then we continued on up to the ridge which was a good distance further.  It was in the high 70's and full sun, not the kind of weather I've been used to this summer.  I think it was a combination of heat and dehydration that put me in a little bit of a mood.  There was more than one time when I wanted to give up, but I didn't!  The top was worth it, but then the worst part for me is always coming back down.  I ran most of the way down and then chugged water until I was full.  This morning I woke up a little sore, but like I said before it was worth it.  

Eklutna Lake, I have this same picture from the first day I arrived.  A lot more snow back in May!

Free as a bird

rocking the zip offs...

senior pic?

Eklutna Lake from the overlook on the trail

our destination

always ten steps ahead.

the valley I just hiked up out of

Palmer from the top

Sheep, there were two babies

Second National Park trip Pictures

I went on another adventure to the National Park for four days and here are the pictures that I took while there.  We went on a bus trip to Eielson and just adventured around the towns of Healy and Denali park.  

Caribou in the riverbed 

My first bear sighting, a sow and two yearling cubs!

Two Caribou

Two more Grizzlies

Panorama of the Park

One of the rest stops

In the Eielson Visitors Center 

This trip was on my Grandfather's birthday and he always gave us two dollar bills, so when I saw this it made me smile!

Awkward picture at Eielson

Ground Squirrel

Fox

...again

lone griz