The Park Highway

We got lucky on our next day at Denali. Just as we were about to leave the house to go hiking, the phone rang. It was Liz, calling from work. One of her co-workers was going to take her out on the Park highway and she wanted to know if we'd like to ride along. Of couse! Her co-worker, Jeff, is the law enforcement park ranger at Wonder Lake, which is at mile 86. He didn't mind having a couple of tourists in the backseat, snapping away with cameras. As we drove, Jeff talked about the area. Each section of the road has it's own name, so when there is an emergency call, Liz has to know the names so she'll know where she's needed. On the way back, Jeff tested her with questions like, "What is this stream called?" and "which mountain is that?" She did very well, btw.

On the drive out, the first critter spotted was a wolf Tom saw on the mountainside. It was up pretty high, so from where I was sitting, I couldn't see it.

At Toklat, which is mile 53 or so, there's a camp where the maintenance crew and interpretive rangers live. Actually, everyone except Liz! She has her own wee office there, a small cabin labeled "Last Chance." Also in that area are buildings that house the showers and the laundry. Here is Liz, outside her office.

Liz's cabin is down the road, far enough not to hear her neighbors, but close enough to haul laundry or go for a shower...or to a potluck. The cabin overlooks the river, with mountains beyond that (I'm sure Liz could tell you the names of those mountains!) What a great front yard! What a great view!!!


Liz's view from her cabin:


Here is Jeff pointing out where the wolf den is. Not far from Liz's cabin!



and a parka squirrel...

The window and door of the cabin had nails on them, pointy side out, to discourage bears. The door panel is removeable with a regular door behind it. The shutters also have nails on them. They open up, to let in light. Inside, the cabin is pretty nice, better than expected! There's a rocking chair, propane stove and refrigerator, a bed and a "loft." Liz says that's where she's going to sleep. It isn't much more than a single bed up there, but there is a bookshelf. "Downstairs" also has a bookcase, with books, although Liz will be bringing a bunch of her own along. All in all, it looks comfortable, but does need cleaning.

In the winter, the cabin is used for the dog teams that patrol the park. They left food behind, but it is questionable as to freshness. Jeff opened a pretzel container and ate one. Liz said, "It's no wonder you get sick!" He offered me one, but I declined! (this is a guy who was in India recently and lost 26 pounds from being sick there. He still isn't allowed to eat vegetables, while his system recovers) Nice guy. Funny! We enjoyed all his stories. I've been reading his blog about his India travels (to find it, go here: http://findjeff.blogspot.com/) I hadn't finished reading it when we met him---he said he didn't want to spoil it for me, but HE SURVIVES! Aha! I suspected as much!

The drive back to Park Headquarters was incredible. I guess it was late enough in the day, about 5 pm. or sos, that the animals were all coming out. We saw a mother grizzly and her three cubs (last year's cubs--newborns have a white fringe around their necks, and are smaller, of course!) They were digging at something along the side of the road--roots, maybe?




A bit farther on, we saw two moose, in the pussywillow bushes, munching away.
We also saw caribou, right on the hillside by the road. They galloped across the road in front of us, to get there.

It was kind of funny, whenever Jeff mentioned an animal, not long after he talked about it, we'd see it! So when he told a wolverine story, we looked around for one. Oh well, can't be lucky all the time.

It was an amazing day, though, very exciting to travel the Park Highway with Park Rangers!