Day 53: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Our day started with a visit to the Denali National Park Kennels for a sled dog demonstration. This is a very popular activity at the park. Demonstrations are given three times a day with shuttle buses leaving from the Visitor’s Center to take visitors to the kennel. When we arrived we had plenty of time to meet the dogs in their homes. Some were anxious to meet people and be petted while others just snoozed or ignored all the people.

These dogs are larger than the Iditarod dogs we saw in Fairbanks. The Iditarod dogs are like the thoroughbred of Alaskan Huskies and bred for racing.

Annie was the first dog we visited

Lukor liked it on top of his house

Pyro liked being petted

Opus with one of the trainers

Nuna liked to dig. She got all the way under her house while we watched

Puppy nap time

Henry and Sylvie

Five dogs were hitched to a sled to demonstrate how they run.

Hitched up and ready to run

Ready for a command

Beth takes a turn at mushing

After the demonstration we drove to the Mountain Vista trail head for short hike. The area where we hiked was the Savage River Camp back in the early 1900’s. Guests stayed in large white tents and dined in a large dining tent with linen tablecloths.

Unknown wildflower

Tundra Rose

Mountain Vista Trail

Siberian Aster

Henry with a young Sitka Spruce

The wildflowers were in full bloom

We walked down to the Savage River to find the wildflowers blooming along the bank

Even though we saw no wildlife we enjoyed the day.

We will be out of cell phone and internet range for the next few days when we enter Teklanika River Camp in the Wilderness area of Denali National Park and Preserve.