Day #3: Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

Before I report on Day #3 I wanted to let everybody know I haven't forgotten about you.  Please forgive me for not being able to visit.  We got back on Sunday to find a message on our answering machine that Art's cousin was coming on Tuesday with her family.  We barely had two days to get the house ready for their visit.  I'll try to get my posts up and I'll catch up with you when they leave in about a week or so.  We had such a quiet start to the year, but everything is suddenly so hectic.  That's life sometimes!  It's all good.

And now here's Day #3!



We woke at 5:45 AM and had a very substantial, uncharacteristically not so healthy breakfast.  This was the thickest French toast I've ever seen.  We also had reindeer sausage, eggs, potatoes, etc.

It seemed like it would rain, but Art thought it would be fun to do the Byers Lake Nature Walk.  When we went to the desk, they said only one person had signed up to do the walk so they'd cancelled the tour and sent the guide home.  Since we would be adding four more people, they called the guide back.  They also called Barb, an Ohio prof to tell her the trip was on again.

I was impressed that shoe coverings, rain jackets, hiking poles, you name it were provided for the walk.









Stephanie was  our naturalist and we were glad to know she carried pepper spray to ward off Grizzlies.   Pepper spray?  Seriously?

Stephanie reassured us that it was past the mosquito season so we wouldn't need to worry about them.  We were a teeny bit skeptical but she proved to be correct.

We could hear the loons on the lake.  Stephanie said Sock-eye salmon spend their first two years in the fresh waters of Byers Lake before they move to the open ocean.  They return to Byers Lake in their 5th year very close to where they were hatched to spawn the next generation.

Amenita mushrooms are poisonous to humans, but squirrels apparently dry and store them for their winter snack.  There were red squirrels in the area that Stephanie called "Killer squirrels."  She said they were carnivorous and would kill bunnies to eat.  Wow!  That was a surprise.

This lump on the pine tree is a burl which is scar tissue from some irritation on the trees.  Stephanie said the burl is often used to make beautiful bowls.

I would have never guessed that this was a wild geranium.

Here was evidence of beavers at work.

Once our 2.5 hour walk was done, we returned to the lodge and Art and I did all of our laundry.

Dinner at the Mountain View Dining Room was all covered as part of the tour.  I was amazed that our voucher provided us with appetizers, entree, desserts and drinks.  I had to have the Alaskan King crab legs.  We also had scallops, halibut, creme brulee, mousse...

and Art's peanut butter landslide.

While we were eating, suddenly the clouds started to part and glimpses of Mt. McKinley were revealed.  Our server said this was the BEST view in several weeks!  We were now part of the 30% club who were fortunate to see a bit of Mt. McKinley.

Auntie Grace said what she really wanted to see was the Aurora Borealis.  Art explained that we were too far south and that it wasn't really the time of year for it, etc.  However, there happened to be a video program about the Northern lights.  We bought tickets so she'd be able to see it.  We laughed as we saw her head bobbing back and forth as she dozed through the rather... ummm... soothing show.

We slept well that night.