Day 12 AM: Denali National Park

[Apologies. I meant to hit publish  before we left for our afternoon tour. Evidently I didn't. I will soon be posting yesterday afternoon and today.]

121 miles
19,099 steps (on my Mayo Health app, however accurate that it!)

Thankyou, Lord list:
great time of worship naming the names of God as I walked through his creation
shuttle bus drivers with good suggestions
my new camel bak day pack that lets me sip water without taking off my backpack
good boots
found my camera!!!

I woke at 2:30 AM and decided it was worth dragging out of bed to see what it looked like outside. Dusk. You can hike all night at this time of year if you want to.

I caught the 7:15 shuttle to the park. The driver suggested Horseshoe lake on the way in and dropped me off at the railroad tracks. Great views. Steep trail but then level around the lake including this beaver pond. (Note the dam in the middle of the picture. ) I saw signs of beaver-downed trees, but not the beaver themselves.

Near the Visitor Center I passed this still-frozen creek bed. You could hear the water running beneath.

I was thinking of my three-year-old grandson Simeon (who loves to climb mountains) as I started up Mt. Healy.

Views were fabulous.

Sorry, Simeon. I didn't make it to the top. I had to start back to make the 12 PM shuttle to the hotel. This is where I stopped. Took this on my iPhone. I intended to take it on my "real" camera, but realized at this point that I had left it along the way when I pulled things out of my pack to find the shuttle schedule.

On my way down I passed two people walking up who had not seen a camera. I even backtracked thinking I must have already passed it without noticing. But I hadn't. A lot farther back than I expected, the sun glinted off something next to a flat rock and there it was. (Thank you, Lord!)

The lower elevation trails nearer the visitor center were full of wild flowers.

Meanwhile Steve and Mom took the car into the wilderness between the park and where we stayed at Delta Junction. Good gravel road. This is what they saw when they turned back toward the park.

This afternoon we have a tundra wilderness tour, so check back later for pictures of that.

Afghan update: Who has time to knit in a place like this?!