Toklat River

I shared the bears with you but there was a lot more to the trip in Denali over Memorial Day weekend then bears. No lions or tigers but a little river adventure was had. The bus service was only running from the park entrance to the Toklat River stop but I wanted to go. Rich, the OR nurse, who came with the group joined me. There is a ranger station and a bookstore at the stop, otherwise a lot of river. Rich and I ate lunch on the bank of the river and then took off down the river bed. But not before I put my thinking hat on. Caribou antlers are a lot easier to hold up then a full moose rack.
The river is very muddy because of all the glacier melt and the debris it pulls with it but fresh water streams feed into it all over. Makes for a "confluence" of pretty colors. Either way, both types of water are really cold at this time of year. Trust me, I tested it out.
As always, I had to spawl to take some rock bed pictures. We did out best to use them as a path but there were places it was just easier to step in the water.
I was good and avoided the edge that was being cut out from underneath by the more rapid moving river vs the fresh water streams. This time of year the bears hang along the river beds to dig up roots b/c the higher elevations are either still covered with snow or full of brown vegetation. Look at the shadow of that big bear just up the stream from me!













Once we got to the bridge we had to come up to the road to cross. No way I could walk across rapids like that. We debated continuing along the shore to get way back to cross but that might have taken a bit more than a day. There is a shot of the "way we came" but you can't see the bridge because it is around the hill at that point. We kept walking until the next return bus with available seats came by.





























What made the weekend so much fun was the people I shared it with. Nurse Rich road with me while my friend Yvonne and her family carpooled behind us. Another family stayed at a resort in Denali Village and three families camped at Riley Creek. Every night we met at the camp ground to hang out and share our day's adventures. A final family joined us both nights. This momma moose and a very new calf roamed through extremely close. She went through one campsite the second night taking out chairs and such before bedding down with her baby right in front of the camp ground bathrooms. Those with RV's were lucky :)

On the final day the forest fire smoke moved in. This was at about 11 pm on the last night we were there. Lots of smoke accumulating in the sky. By morning it had spread through the whole valley making it dark and smelly. This past week's worth of rain has taken that out of the air but hasn't helped much with actually stopping the fires.
There were more creatures along the way. They will come next. Hope you are all having a great weekend.