State Fair, Denali, and a Hand Tram adventure

Well it was that time of year again to give the bears all the veggies from the state fair.  All 3 were ready to go to get some giant pumpkins, cabbages, gourds, and all kinds of other veggies.  The past 2 years I have mentioned this event in my blog.  But just in case you missed those I can explain.  The Alaska State fair has veggie competitions.  Once the contests are over we get most of the veggies in hose contests.  And since most of the veggies aren't really tasty to people at the size; they are still yummy for our brown bears.  But don't worry we also give out the veggies to Snickers the porcupine, elk, reindeer, Sitka Black Tailed Deer, and the musk ox. 

                          Now for the second listed adventure in my blog title....Denali National Park!

This is my third time to visit this amazing place.  One of the employees at the center bought a Road Lottery pass from someone.  What the road lottery is:  every September once tourist season and summer is basically over they open all 92 miles of the park for public vehicles to drive.  This means no riding on the huge motor coaches for 8 hours straight.  You can enjoy the views from your own personal vehicle with a great group of friends.  The animals are still very active as well since they are getting ready for winter. 

The colors in the park were just gorgeous!  Fall has definitely arrived here much sooner than down in good ole' Portage,AK.  We even made it into the park before sunrise....which was at about 7:18am. 
So right now we are seeing about the normal daylight hours....but that won't last much longer.

I better get a happy lamp to prepare me for this summer.  (Lamps with special florescent lighting to keep you happy when the sun is away)


The red in all the bushed were my favorite part of these pics.  It was some kind of wild blueberry that the bears were just gorging themselves on.  I think we may have seen a total of about 8 brown bears, 5 bull moose, tons of Dall sheep, Ptarmigan (birds), thousands of Sand hill Cranes that were migrating, and 1 Doug Lindstrand.  Yes, we even passed the famous photographer on our way out of the park.  He was just getting started to get some good sunset pics of the park.  That man is dedicated!

Mt. Denali (McKinley as we know it) was especially viewable this trip.  Because it was so clear the whole way we got great pictures of Alaska's largest Mountain.  The mountain is right around 20,000 feet or so. 

 Bert and his favorite Girlfriend, Kara, going for a walk.

This is the time of year we are training our reindeer to be comfortable walking around the center.  We are then able to use Bert for christmas and any other winter events.  People are able to get up close to a reindeer safely; and also learn about them.

....no they cannot fly.

Yesterday was my day off.  I wanted to get one last good hike in so I hiked Winner Creek....and then some.  Winner creek is 2.5 miles long (one way); however I kept going and totaled right around 7 miles or so. 

I took this snap shot as I was sitting at the edge of the bridge in thee previous picture.   Don't worry mom it was only about 10 feet above the creek. 

just playing around with the camera angles....











Then thought I would play around with the colors...

Once you get to the end of the trail there is a Hand Tram that fits up to 2 people.  I definitely got a workout in by pulling myself across.  The tram is about 54 feet from the bottom of the creek.  Gee, it sure does seem much higher when you are in it. 

This picture is about half way across the gorge. 

again just getting artistic. 





Well back to the rainy outside.  Of course, I  am not complaining after the September we had last year....gah so much rain!  This year has been awesome!  I am ready for the snow to arrive so ski season can begin!!!!!!!!

Goodnight Lower 48,
Erin