Last Day in Denali

A quiet day for our last day in Denali. We went on a hike, starting from Liz's place at Park Headquarters and did the loop. Rock Creek trail (2.3 miles) to the Meadow View Trail (.25 miles) to the Roadside Trail (1.8 miles) That brought us back to Park Headquarters. It was a bit steep in places, but nice hiking through the spruce and aspen trees. Things were starting to green up and we even saw purple crocuses blooming! When we got to the Meadow View trail, we could look down into the Yanert Valley to an old pond that's being overgrown with vegetation, and turning into a meadow. After coming back for lunch and to start a load of laundry (hiking is a muddy experience), we went to the Visitor's Center to do the little hikes there. It was such a beautiful sunny day; it would be a shame to waste it inside, but we've done most of the local hikes.
When Liz got home from work, we went out to Horseshoe Lake with her. It really is a beautiful spot but no beavers out this time, just a few people! This is one of the most popular hikes during tourist season. I'm glad we've gotten to enjoy it before the crowds show up. After that hike, the sun was still shining (it does that a lot in Alaska) so we drove to the Savage River where a friendly snowshoe hare came over to me so I could get photos of it.

On the way back, though, we had a real treat! A lynx ran across the road, right in front of us! Tom slowed down and we spotted it amongst the trees. It stopped and was looking back over it's shoulder at us! A typical curious cat. It was the size of a small dog, maybe about 40 pounds.