And now, for the rest of the story.
We arrived back at camp, went to bed and then a few hours later we packed all of our things and headed back to Denali National Park. We had to be there by 10:00 am for our bus into the park.
We got on the Bus and had a fabulous ride into the park. We saw brown bear, Dall's sheep, caribou , and wolves. It was a scenic trip into the vast wilderness of Denali National Park. It took us about 8 hours round trip. The more animals we stopped for the longer it took. It was worth it. Our turn around point was the Eielson Visitors Center which was only 66 miles into the park.
On the way in, we were able to see Denali from one section of the tiny, one lane, gravel road. By the time we got to the Eielson Center for a closer look, Denali was all covered with clouds.
That night, we camped in the Riley Creek Campground located at the entrance to the park. The next day we packed up and headed for Anchorage. On the way, we stopped at the State Park and watched Denali appear from behind the clouds. It took about an hour and a half for it to fully appear. We would see the peak, then it would vanish. A few seconds later, we would see part of the mountain and then finally the whole mountain appeared. It was a spectacular view.
We went through Anchorage and on to Seward. We stayed in the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was next to a Glacier just outside of Seward. In Seward, we visited the Sea Life Center and took a 4 hour cruise to see marine animals. We didn't see a whale though.
After Seward, we headed to Anchorage to return our rental car and hop on the plane to Cordova. The only way into Cordova is by plane or ferry. In Cordova we started work on the Earthwatch project almost immediately. While in Cordova, we went shopping and loaded the Dancing Bear with all the loot acquired in Cordova on that day.
The Earthwatch project involved some carpentry on a shed which is on the future site for the project. This work was done on our days off. We had Earthwatchers arrive on Sundays at 4:00 pm. They would go out and help with the research process on both a morning and afternoon session. We had a great meal every night. We would chat until 10:00 pm, then everyone would retire. We had a couple of half day hikes in between the research. Then, the Earthwatchers would leave on the 10th day which was a Tuesday at 9:00 am. The staff then had 5 days rest, which I eluded to at the beginning of this paragraph as work, not rest. One of the five days was spent frantically running around Cordova gathering up supplies and doing laundry. Dont get me wrong, it was all worth it.
Heidi and I spent the time from June 26th to September 5th on the project. On September 5th, we came home to Galveston just in time for tropical storm Fay to welcome us back. Luckily, it didnt turn into a hurricane. We are still alive and well in Galveston, Texas. If you would like to share more with us, or would like us to share more with you, please contact us.
Take Care,
Chris and Heidi
