Alaska

The next day we visited Denali National Park. It was two hours drive from Fairbanks, on the way back to Anchorage. One of the ways to see the Park was to ride the Shuttle buses which went deep into the park. Since we did not make reservations earlier, we got seats in the 11AM bus, which was pretty late, as we had to drive back to Anchorage the same day.

The park was huge, just as the name suggests, some 6 million acres of land, the bus covered only abut 100 miles or so, the rest was for the brave to explore. The right way to see Denali would be to camp for a few days and hike.

DH had a brainwave at the right time, just as we were ready to board the bus and he rented two binoculars. What is the point in going wildlife viewing without binoculars. Unfortunately we didnt get to see Mt McKinley. She is supposed to be a shy lady, comes out of the clouds only 5% of the days.

We saw our first arctic animal at Savage River. It was a Caribou. Caribou is just a fancy name for a Reindeer. It was too far away, but the driver stopped for us to look at the animal and watch what it was doing, which was pretty much nothing. It just stood there grazing, eating.

Out first stop was at the Teklanika River. The place was getting heavenlier as we went further inside. Green mountains, threatening skies, dark clouds, with the sun shining once in a while, We were a group of people in the middle of nowhere.







Our next stop was Polychrome Overlook. On the way we were on the look out for other animals. The driver told us that if we spotted any animal we should holler and he would put the brakes as hard as possible and as fast. We were now trudging at 25 mph over a mountain, with the road pretty narrow for even one bus to pass by. If there was another bus from the opposite side, it was scary to see the two buses crossing each other. I was very much reminded of India, of places like Ooty which had such roads.





Polychrome pass was the most beautiful part of the park. The mountains had so many many colors, and to top it off, there were snow covered peaks here and there, and then it was cloudy threatening to rain. We saw a cute wild squirrel, looking at us curiously, standing on its hind legs. We saw a few more Caribous on the way, and a few Dall Sheep standing on the mountains, grazing. The Sheep were in groups unlike the Caribou. We saw a few birds too, I dont exactly remember what they were.





We reached Toklat River at around 2:30PM. We saw hikers in the middle of nowhere, walking happily. Now that would be a real good hike! Just walk in the middle of nowhere, half expecting to bump into animals, lose your way, explore new routes, make your own hiking trail.





We saw everyone looking at one direction on a mountain. Upon enquiring, we learnt that there was a bear on top of the mountain. I was so excited. I zoomed my binoculars and panned the whole area. But the mountain was too far away, and our little friend was just a speck even with the binoculars. After a lot of explaining, like "see the brown patch between the green patches, a little to the top, go up a little and to the right, see the while speck? well thats a bear!" I borrowed a more powerful set of binoculars from a fellow bus rider and took a good look at the light brown colored bear. I even saw him move a little.
My day was made. I had seen a bear, even if from so far away. It is very tough to spot animals with binoculars, it really is a skill I think.

We had planned to return back from here, but the driver advised us that we might not get a seat in a bus going back right now, so we would be better off to stay in the bus go to Fish Creek our next stop and then return in the same bus. I am glad we went to Fish Creek. Fish Creek itself wasnt magnificent, it was just a small stream running amidst the tundra forest. This place looked like a real Tundra region and we were standing right in the middle of it. We saw some fireweed here too. We took some pictures, watched some hikers, as little specks far far away. How would it be to just get off the bus and take a hike in the park. Scary, yes, but that would be a real adventure. I like quiet places, and places which are not crowded with people. Here you can have a million acres to yourself to explore, it would be wonderful. But we had to return to our buses, our only connection to civilization for now.



We returned to Toklat River for another break, and this time we took photos with Caribou racks and Moose Racks on our heads. These rack aka horns, were really heavy, I couldnt lift them with both my hands, err, inspite of all my work outs at the gym.



While returning we saw three more bears, a Mama bear and two kid bears, we saw them moving, up and about, it was amazing. Atleast these bears werent really in captivation. We marked the area and called it a park, while preserving their habitat. I like to see animals this way than at the Zoo.

We saw more Sheeps and more Caribous, standing in the middle of nowhere, all the land to themselves to enjoy and cherish.



My trip to Alaska was complete with this, having seen the bears. It was past 7PM as we started driving back to Anchorage. Beautiful clouds formed nice pattern in the sky, I clicked them as I tried to locate Mt. McKinley without success. We reached Anchorage well past midnight. It was eerie driving towards Anchorage. I knew there were mountains surrounding the city, but it was cloudy and drizzling, so I couldnt see the mountains. The twilight after the sun had almost set had a ghostly quality too. We crossed a river, and the river had vapours hanging on top of it, it was amazing.

Though the drive was good, it did feel nice to jump into a cozy bed for the night.

The next day we wanted to see some places in downtown Anchorage, but we woke up pretty late and ended up walking in the downtown area, shopping for souveniers all morning. We took the flight back to home sweet home in the afternoon.


The trip was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Alaska is still unexplored, there are so many places probably not yet set foot on by man. This was probably one of the few places we have been to where even Americans were clicking away at the scenic beauty that unfolded. This was the only trip in which we took more pictures of the scenery than of ourselves.


Ah, there I finally finished it.