Our goal today was the Savage River Alpine Trail and a visit to see the sled dogs. Denali National Park has sled dog demos 3 times a day but no one (but mom) wanted to see/hang out for that, so we just visited the kennels on our own.
To be honest it was underwhelming at first. Riley really wanted to pet a dog but they were all on chains attached to an outside kennel or in a pen. We later found out you could "push against the rope" to stretch and pet the dogs if they're close enough, so we did that!
The dogs go between pens and outdoor dog houses depending on their needs/personality. Some even got to be in a pen with a friend since they were besties! We visited after lunch time so maybe they were full and napping??? We couldn't believe how much they completely ignored us. We called their names, made sounds--nothing! These guys are TRAINED to ignore everyone but their handlers/mushers apparently. The rangers there seemed busy so we didn't get a chance to ask many questions.
An interesting tidbit: the furminated dog fur is collected to turn into yarn! Who knew I could have been adding to the cause with our 2 black labs!!!
A new litter of puppies were born 9-10 weeks ago. They're all named after weather terms in the area.
We did get a chance to see a few dogs moved from pens to doghouses and then we got to see some excitement! ALL the dogs came to attention/barked as their pals got to be freed for a moment! Each dog ran to the grassy area from their pens, and then immediately followed a ranger's command to "Go to your house!" That was fun to watch!
This is what they train the dogs on to practice mushing. It carries a rider and a musher.
Hiking
Even though there's a free bus system we chose to drive to the Savage River area to start our hike. The reason is b/c the hike was 4 2 miles one way. We parked, rode the bus down to the "easier" starting point to the trail, and then hiked back to the lima bean (our rental truck).
Started in the forested area...
Kept climbing as the vegetation changed...
And changed some more!
The Savage River Alpine Trail was beautiful but strenuous on the way down. Half of the way down was steps. Boulder/rock steps. Jeff and I realized we weren't in our 30s anymore! (My legs reminded me of this the next day too!) No bears were seen but we made friends with several arctic ground squirrels. They would jet out across the path or scurry from a bush you walked past the entire time!
Ry was determined to get close enough!
Jeff got to do some metal detecting too.
We had a beautiful afternoon of hiking. This was MY type of trail. Now Ry, on the other hand, hated it! He liked the back country off-trail hiking that I hated from the day before!
Right before the murderous boulder/rock stair section of the hike. My legs were hello afterwards!
Bennett loved this hike because he got to climb around and he knew we could see him for the most part, so he loved the freedom! That's also why we don't have many pics of him!
What a great 2nd day in Denali National Park!
Prayer for no bear sightings (up close and personal anyway!!), safe hiking (no Boulder Rolling Bennett), and good memories to be made!
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