Moore's on the Move: Saturday, July 4 Kantishna Experience

Saturday, July 4, we got up early and drove into Denali National Park and made our way to the Wilderness Access Center. We had booked passage, that sounds exotic doesn’t it, on the Kantishna Wilderness Experience that was to begin at 7:15 am…does that tell you how early we had to get up. Our mode of transportation was a school bus but at least it had bucket seats. Unfortunately, per Mark “Some of our buckets are larger than others.” Really it was not bad at all. Our driver, tour guide, narrator was a great gentleman named Gary. This is his 9th year to work in Denali and it has become the love of his life, after his sweet Amelia. Gary and Amelia had met while working here some years ago. The funny thing is that they don’t work in the same area. Amelia works in a remote area and they only get to see each other on their one day off and when Gary leads this tour one day a week.

There were 39 of us on the bus…only one or two empty seats. One couple from Alberta, Canada, had their grandson with them…he was one of the 2 children on the bus. We were so glad he was there because he was able to spot wildlife that we would never have seen.

As I said, we left the pickup point around 7:15 am and got back at 8:00 PM. We knew that it would be a 12-13 hour trip. I have to add that Gary was pretty much flying low the last half of the trip back. A portion of the road was paved…but only a small portion…maybe the first 20 miles. Our tour went deeper into Denali than any other…95 miles…all the way to Wonder Lake. It was also the most expensive $155.00 per person. But, we had purchased the Tour Saver Coupon Book earlier so we got one ticket free. I will tell you that it was a long, long day but we are glad that we did it. Too bad that the summit of Denali was in the clouds but still it was beautiful. And, we felt lucky to have been on Gary’s bus because he was so knowledgeable. They provided us with a sack lunch that we ate while moving. Of course, I had packed snacks for us as well. We Clark girls learned a long time ago not to travel without food.

These are random pictures taken during the day.

Notice road we are following out the window!

This is the visitor center that Amelia works at…I can’t remember how many miles into the park it was but it was a lot.

This is Amelia and our driver Gary. The building is actually a tent like structure.

And here is our bus.

And another moose sighting.

And yet another moose…this was a female with 2 babies…one you could clearly see but the second little guy was almost hidden as he/she was napping in the grass.

Here is Susan modeling the latest in head wear…we were given mosquito netting at the start of our tour.

Jamie, one of the park Rangers joined us to tell us about certain aspects of the park. At the end of the line, we visited the cabin where Fannie Quigley had lived and died. Fanny was a lady of Czech descent that came to Alaska and supported herself in different ways which included panning for gold with her husband who left her for a younger woman and cooking meals for the other miners. She was quite an inspiration. This is not Fannie’s original cabin…it was long gone. I believe the mining company that bought Fannie’s stake built this cabin for her. She was known for her blueberry pies and later people found out that her secret to her excellent crust was the bear fat she rendered into lard and used in her pies. I never tire of the fireweed…it is so beautiful and you can find it everywhere.