Day 13: Denali to Palmer, AK

254 miles

10:15 AM-4:50 PM

Thank you, Lord, List:

Moose sighting on trail

That the moose stayed calm and didn’t charge

Spectacular roadside views of “the Mountain”

Quiet of Denali State Park for our picnic lunch

Washing machines at the B&B

Rain stopped long enough to get our laundry

We rose to a rainbow in the mist outside our window. It's faint in this view of the hotel, perched half way up a mountain.

I almost didn’t go hiking because of the mist, but when Steve went out, he saw that the mist was pretty local. So at the last minute I dashed for the shuttle, forgetting both my walking stick and the bear spray. I did a short walk near the Visitor Center (Taiga to Rock Creek to Mountain View to Roadside Trails) so I could get back and meet Steve and Mom at 10. The sunlight through the aspens and the wildflowers were lovely. 

I stopped for a breakfast of granola bar and dry fruit (no tea since I ran off at the last minute! L ) at this overlook on Mountain View.

I was approaching the junction of Mountain View and Roadside when I saw movement ahead. I wished I had that bear deterrent spray! But it wasn’t a bear. It was a moose! But still way too close for comfort. I guess they charge if they feel threatened. I had no intention of threatening, but she didn’t know that. We’ve been told that if the animals know a human is approaching, they leave and that voices are more effective at communicating that it’s a human than bells or whistles, which might be birds. (This is taken with zoom. Not THIS close.)

I called out in as calm a voice as I could muster, “I’m over here, so you probably want to go a different way.”

The moose never stopped munching, but he moved further up the trail around a curve to the right. Then another moose came up the mountainside and followed him. And another! They never acknowledged me, but I just kept talking and telling them how much I appreciated their going that way instead of toward me. (And telling the Lord, too!) Eventually, I followed, since that was the trail I was on. They had moved off to the right into the woods, and I took this video.

What a crowning moment of our time at Denali! I met Mom and Steve at the Visitors’ Center and we watched a gorgeous movie that inspired us all to want to see the place in autumn and in winter, and headed out.

The road to Anchorage follows the edge of the park for quite a ways and we got some more great views of “The Mountain”. 

But clouds closed in before the last overlook and I fear new arrivals may not see the mountain at all.

Picnic lunch at Denali State Park.

Lots of road construction delays. There simply is no other road for a detour and even for locals to take alternate routes to avoid the back ups. There is one road. Period.

Staying in a lovely efficiency in the basement of a house, but there is a baby crying plus footsteps overhead and running water that will probably keep Steve awake.

We went to a restaurant for a change and Mom and I split a plate of grilled Alaskan halibut. Melt in your mouth good.

Afghan update: