A spectacular late-season trip to Denali.

The weather forecast was promising, so we decided to make a late-season trip to Denali. It’s fun this time of year after all the tour buses are done and most of the tourists are gone. We camped at Riley Creek campground and were able to drive the road all the way to the Teklanika rest stop where we started biking the Park Road. It’s amazing having the whole place almost to yourselves. A few people hiking and only a couple of other bikers during the five days we were there. Not a huge number of critters, but it’s moose rutting season, so we saw a couple of big bulls, a couple of bears, and one very special animal on our first bike ride in Sable Pass. Way too many pictures as usual. Come along for the ride. The captions tell the story.

It's been a busy day here at the zoo ;)

Mom and baby in the backyard all night and this morning. This cow was injured this spring defending this calf from a bear attack. She still can't put weight on her back leg so it will be a very tough winter for her, but she sure has done a great job getting her baby as ready for winter as possible. Early this afternoon a small black bear came into the backyard, obviously attracted by their scent. The moose ran around the front of the house and up the driveway. Bear sniffed around a bit and then left when I told it not to mess with my moose ;)

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OMG, we hit the Denali Jackpot.

Just back from our annual fall trip up to Denali and this one was one for the ages. We hit peak fall color in the park and for the very first time in all of our visits, we saw a wolverine in the park. We had everthing from sunny blue skies to sleet and howling winds and rain while we were mountain biking the park road. It’s hard to describe how intense the color was in the park, so as usual, I’m posting way too many pictures of this incredible landscape. The captions will tell the story. Come along for the ride.