No grue. Bears maybe.
Sep. 10th, 2003 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynI've reached Denali.
I'm staying at the Denali Mountain Morning hostel. Run by three people, looks like they're my age or a bit older, bit of an emphasis on environmentalism and social consciousness. no address number, but a mile marker on the Parks Highway does the trick. Decent place, although if I am sharing a room with the meek-voiced Australian lady who was at my last hostel I shall scream. There's something about her voice, no matter what she says, that sounds like she's cringing; and when she laughs you understand where they got the idea that 'tee-hee' is how laughter sounds. However, Idon't think we're in the same sleep area, so no prob.
Tomorrow I go on ranger hike after 4-hour drive into park. Then we come back to hostel and I will probably knit and sleep, ,as I am not big on bars and would like to get rid of the cold I have now. 12 Sept features a six hour tour of arctic wildlife areas. 13 Sept has been booked for a two hour horseback safari already. I may use 14 Sept for a raft trip - the Sissy Version, which is four hours of scenic, no whitewater. 15 Sept I go back to Fairbanks.
Today I have not seen any bears, , moose, etc., but I did see them put on a sled dog demonstration at the ranger station. Blue eyes on dogs are kind of freakish, if you ask me, but the blue-eyed, b lack-furred, white-throated, floppy-eared lead dog Romany was an absolutely wonderful animal, and I was very sorry when I had to walk away from his pen without playing with him. (he had his front end down and his back end up, and that means 'play with me!' in any canine dialect. He barked a lot when I had to leave because the ranger show was starting.) The display boards at the kennel mentioned in passing that aside from Sergeant Preston no one actually says 'mush!' to make their dogs go; this was the third reference to the dude I've run into since I was up here, the other two being at Mary Shields' place and in a copy of Dogs of the Gold Rush, which I bought to go alongside my copy of The South Pole Ponies.
At any rate, that's where we stand at the moment. I have bought a bear bell to wear when I hike in the park, ,as I am planning on using some of the entrance area trails (I am no fool, I do not know compass navigation, I am not backpacking into unmarked territory!) when I get the chance. With luck this means I will not be eaten. If I do not post again by 17 September 2003, assume the bears got me, as I am told the wolves are generally less outgoing than the Old Fellow. That, or it means I got sick for real and decided to hole up in a cocoon somewhere until I felt better. The hostel is at www.hostelalaska.com; if there are questions of my survival, give 'em a call and find out if I came home or not.
I'm staying at the Denali Mountain Morning hostel. Run by three people, looks like they're my age or a bit older, bit of an emphasis on environmentalism and social consciousness. no address number, but a mile marker on the Parks Highway does the trick. Decent place, although if I am sharing a room with the meek-voiced Australian lady who was at my last hostel I shall scream. There's something about her voice, no matter what she says, that sounds like she's cringing; and when she laughs you understand where they got the idea that 'tee-hee' is how laughter sounds. However, Idon't think we're in the same sleep area, so no prob.
Tomorrow I go on ranger hike after 4-hour drive into park. Then we come back to hostel and I will probably knit and sleep, ,as I am not big on bars and would like to get rid of the cold I have now. 12 Sept features a six hour tour of arctic wildlife areas. 13 Sept has been booked for a two hour horseback safari already. I may use 14 Sept for a raft trip - the Sissy Version, which is four hours of scenic, no whitewater. 15 Sept I go back to Fairbanks.
Today I have not seen any bears, , moose, etc., but I did see them put on a sled dog demonstration at the ranger station. Blue eyes on dogs are kind of freakish, if you ask me, but the blue-eyed, b lack-furred, white-throated, floppy-eared lead dog Romany was an absolutely wonderful animal, and I was very sorry when I had to walk away from his pen without playing with him. (he had his front end down and his back end up, and that means 'play with me!' in any canine dialect. He barked a lot when I had to leave because the ranger show was starting.) The display boards at the kennel mentioned in passing that aside from Sergeant Preston no one actually says 'mush!' to make their dogs go; this was the third reference to the dude I've run into since I was up here, the other two being at Mary Shields' place and in a copy of Dogs of the Gold Rush, which I bought to go alongside my copy of The South Pole Ponies.
At any rate, that's where we stand at the moment. I have bought a bear bell to wear when I hike in the park, ,as I am planning on using some of the entrance area trails (I am no fool, I do not know compass navigation, I am not backpacking into unmarked territory!) when I get the chance. With luck this means I will not be eaten. If I do not post again by 17 September 2003, assume the bears got me, as I am told the wolves are generally less outgoing than the Old Fellow. That, or it means I got sick for real and decided to hole up in a cocoon somewhere until I felt better. The hostel is at www.hostelalaska.com; if there are questions of my survival, give 'em a call and find out if I came home or not.
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Date: 2003-09-10 10:45 pm (UTC)