Tuesday, August 9, 2005 |
01:41 - "Clearer than I've seen it in weeks"
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I tell you, there's nothing quite like driving due north... into the setting sun.
Especially after spending the day seeing this:
The tour guide said Mt. McKinley yesterday was clearer than it's been in literally weeks—it's the first day that it's been unobscured by clouds. This is the view from Stony Hill, where our bus turned around (at mile 62 into the park).
Our tour bus—a vintage Blue Bird, perhaps from the original stable of buses my dad drove 33 years ago.
A caribou cooling his heels in Savage River.
Dall sheep on Sable Mountain.
Caribou wading across East Fork Toklat River.
Polychrome Pass. Don't let the foreground fool you—those flats behind me are about 1000 feet below the viewpoint. Maybe more.
Caribou on the Sable Pass hill, on the way back.
More caribou, part of a gathering of about nine that we found in the Teklanika River valley.
Ptarmigan near the group of caribou.
The real highlight of the tour: a lynx that was waiting right on the road near Primrose.
Denali from the south, on today's route from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Today was even more cloudless than yesterday.
Long shot of the McKinkey peak.
Wide shot from the Denali Viewpoint South.
Moose right at the side of the road in the Susitna Valley. She had a baby with her; we didn't hang around long.
Oh yes: before we leave Fairbanks behind for good... here's us driving due north, into the setting sun.
And now we're in Anchorage; who knows what tomorrow will bring...
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