TEKLANIKA

After 10 days of rain the sun shone as we drove to Teklanika in Denali National Park. Our campsite for the next 3 nights is the deepest one that can be used by a RV. The site is by the Teklanika river and we can hear the river as we sit outside in the sunshine with Charro getting some warmth into our joints.

So far instead of giant grizzlies and packs of wolves our wildlife viewing has been restricted to snowshoe hares and lots of squirrels. It is all a bit disappointing especially as we hear from others who had been hiking and had been charged by a grizzly or the wolf sightings from travellers on the buses. But we are getting worried about the desperation behind the willingness of the buses to stop, swinging across the road when anything alive is spotted. Even Charro in his trolley i
s the subject of these road blocking stops and we suspect there may be tales of a White Wolf Wheelchair and a program for aged pack members being transmitted back to far distant lands.

However the surroundings are magnificent with many coloured mountains, taiga and wide river beds, all built on a giant scale. The gravel bars on the river beds ar supposed to be used as highways by the animals but close examination of tracks spotted so far have greater flashy Nike trainer and the mud spotted mountain bike. However we will keep looking, after all with 6 million acres and only 98 wolves on this year’s census we have to cover a lot of ground.


THE TEKLANIKA CAMPGROUND TAP

There is only one source of water on our loop in the campground. This tap is just opposite or RV and I have been watching the comings and goings at the TAP.

Many tenters seem to have come unprepared to carry water back to their site. All sorts of receptacles are pressed into service, one lady has made at least 6 trips today with a 500ml bottle and a small jug.

Some, obviously expecting sinks and washing facilities, come holding plates and spoons and after a furtive scan for the campground ranger, give them a quick rinse before scurrying off. There are strict rules about the discharge of “grey” water as it contaminates the ground water and the smells attract a variety of wild animals, so they say.

At the moment we are cheering the contaminators on, why well any animal sightings would be great to relieve the boredom. Why are we bored, well the rain has returned and it is grey and miserable outside. At least we are warm and cosy in the Trek with a dog at our feet and a sink rather than a tap in the rain to wash up under.


Our disappointment extends to the staffing of the Park. We have attended two wolf talks, both were delivered by students on their first ever posting to a National Park who followed a set of notes given to them during the 4 hour training session. I felt quite sorry for the lad last night as it was clear that almost every member of the audience knew more about wolves than he did. We were misinformed about the time we could drive in despite the information officer checking with a superior. It is just as well we slept in as we would have been waiting 4 hours after getting up at 5 am in the hopes of seeing bears and wolves as we were the first along the road.

THE RAIN HAS STOPPED!

We took the bus up to the Polychrome Overlook with the some of the daily deluge of cruise ship tourists coming in to ‘DO’ Denali. I quickly got into the swing of things, at the first sight of movement I would rush across the bus to get an open window and snap away furiously. We did see Dall sheep,
Caribou
and a haunting sighting of a Golden Eagle working the lift of some small hillocks then catching a thermal and winding up into the sky, but no bears or wolves.


At the overlook
we could see the little glaciers frequented by the caribou who escape from the torment of the flies that plague them in the mountains.





We could also look back
on the road. I was chatting to one of the maintance rangers and was dismayed to here that this section frequently washed away. In fact he had only just managed to get is truck through a few days ago but " Not to worry. They dumped her up with some fill, and she is pretty solid." This was not comforting news but I suppose they have been keeping this the only real road into the park open for bus traffic for many years.





On our last morning we were determined to give ourselves the best chance of spotting wildife so got up at 5 am. and set off down the road. However it was to little avail as other than the ubiquitous snowshoe hare all we saw was one mother moose with calf and they were 3/4s hidden.

Like all visitors to the park we had hoped to see Denali, the tall one, but this was the best we got. The snow covered foothills leading to the peak itself shrouded in cloud like some exotic dancer tantalising but not showing herself to the watchers.








Hey Ho Next stop Anchorage.