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The next day
the sun came out shining as if to make up for the crappy reception
on our arrival. (See Journal
for details of that). We attended the sled dog demo then booked
the 8 hour bus tour, which is the only way to go any farther than
15 miles down the only road into the park.
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This
is a view along the first 15 miles that you can drive yourself into
the park. That snow on top of the mountains is known as "termination
dust" - the first snowfall of the season signalling the termination
of summer. Wow, and it's only August!
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This
is the road that only the bus could travel on - I was glad I didn't
have to drive it - mainly so I could look all around at the beauty
all around.
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The
driver emphasized that this park was all about true wilderness -
leaving nature to its own devices - leaving the wild animals wild
and remembering that we are but visitors in their territory: six
million untamed acres with the largest concentration of grizzly
bear in the world. We didn't see the great mountain that day, but
the clouds that covered him provided the coolness that contributes
to the bears coming closer to the road. So we saw at least 13 of
them, and we watched the cubs frolicking in the water with their
mom. One mom had 3 cubs, and it was fun watching the cubs go over
the ridge out of her sight, then scampering back at her bellow.
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Here
I decided to fulfill another long-time wish I had - to go whitewater
rafting. The brochures showing the class 3-4 rapids of the Nenana
River convinced me this was the time to fulfill that dream. How
romantic to be able to say that my first whitewater experience was
at Denali National Park in Alaska!
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Another
wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience here in this magical land
- I'm losing count but not appreciation for the things I've been
able to do in the past 3 months. The guide said the river was down
a bit, so the rapids that day were only class 3, but it sure was
a blast anyway. And when I'm a little old lady I can say I rafted
down the Nenana River in the wilds of Alaska!
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