Bicycling Denali

July 3rd

Happy birthday Dad. He would be 106 today; died in l985, of pneumonia, due to prior stroke.
Mom would be 101, and also died of pneumonia after a similar massive stroke, 12 years ago.
They were older parents when we were young; although Mom and I were 37 and pregnant with
me and Lucy. She was 40 with Tracy's pregnancy, which is not uncommon these days.

The 1st and 2nd were rainy all day, except for this glorious blue sky and sunshine last night
towards bedtime. It was difficult going inside, and I realized how the grey and wet created a
feeling of Christmas with the evening warmth and light. We really did make the best out of the
wet, hazy and smoke-odored spells (there are over 300 fires now in the park).

Starting with a leisurely, sweet morning of visiting, coffee in bed, breakfasting, reading and Mark
working on his photos, was wonderful, listening to the rain and being warm in "M." Later in the
afternoon, we walked to the Teklanika River bridge, through the braided river bed, over rocky
and sandy terrain, with need to go to shore paths intermittently, when we couldn't cross too wide
water. Again, walking sticks have become a blessing and a great balancing support, as well as
Goretex for the constant rain. Walking back on the road, we put in a three hour hike.

Tired but relaxed, I napped/meditated, Mark photo-hopped, we had din-din, and before our
evening stroll around the campground loops and bed, we had a great time singing along with
Mark playing guitar. At about 4 a.m., he got dressed and pulled down the flapping, wind-blasted
awning, so we were tired that next morn.

Rain, rain again, with a stronger whiff of smoke, surprisingly, because of all the rainfall, but
lightning strikes may have also caused new fires. There was a park flood warning, and we were
shocked by the overnight transformation in all the rivers and creeks that day. Instead of the
narrow braided stream effect in the rivers, there were roaring torrents of water making the rivers
filled, wide and furious! We caught the 11 a.m. shuttle to Sable Pass with our bikes, and rode
back home to Tek, over the bridges with more full-on waters from the rains, through the five mile
wildlife area, and other areas where grizzlies have been sighted from the shuttles. I sang loudly
through the latter, and past the bear-chewed signed areas. Nothing, nada was spotted. Chalk it
up to the animals finding shelter from all that wetness and cold. Smart. We must have looked
like a couple of crazy old farts, with water just dripping from our raincoats and pants, with my
hood up and helmet squeezed on top, and Mark with his rain hat with round brim, topped by his
helmet. He looked like Ponce De Leon from Spain, or a brunette with a long bob. After three
hours, we were cold, with a layer too little on our torsos, but feeling satisfied, and having
another great adventure.

Dinner was hot stir-fry, preceded by another scrumptious nap, and then that gift of sunshine and
skies for our walk. The East Indian families do seem to outnumber all other ethnic travelers
here, which is neat, since the ones we have spent time with on shuttles, hikes, around the
campground, are engaging, sweet, enthusiastic about being in this wild paradise, too, and seem
to live in Seattle, Anchorage, Florida, Texas...all, so far, born in India. Anyways, last night on our
evening river walk, we chatted with a lovely young couple and their two adorable pre-school
sons, as we all threw stones to make a bridge to cross the fingers of river. They have lived in
Anchorage, from Richmond, VA, for the last year, for his job in development of the pipe-line, and
they all love being here, the snow, wilderness. Sat in our camp chairs for awhile, so hard to say
good-night to this light and blue, after almost two days of going without.

Today, the 3rd, we slept in til 8 a.m., due to Mark's wakefulness during the night and early morn
and my weird dreams, the worse being me losing a friend's cute, blonde and blue-eyed toddler
girl in Walmart. I looked at the cart after perusing the aisle for kids' b'day presents, and no girl in
it. She looked like several other little gals I saw, and when I woke, I so badly wanted to return to
the dream so I could find her. I woke feeling so incomplete, helpless. Haven't looked too
deeply at the symbols, however, since we got on with excitement over the gorgeous sunny day.

Between hiking or biking, we chose taking the shuttle to Eielson Center and riding to Toklat rest
stop on the river there. Before catching one of the green buses, I was engaged with a couple
from Holland, and Mark was talking to a gal on the bench who turned out to be the woman Vicky
had told me would be at Teklanika, from Homer, Gail. She hugged me when I told her Vicky is
my best friend, and gushed over how great a person she is. We touched in with her later
tonight, gave her some of our just eaten pasta, and sat with her at the evening ranger talk. She
seems to be on a form of life journey, via travel to Europe, parts of Alaska to explore. Nice
woman.

Our bicycle ride was another three hour up and downhill work-out, and with gorgeous weather
that brought out animals today. Mark got terrific photos of two caribou, very close to us, grazing
in the brush, and the other on the river bed. Beautiful racks and dark, almost black molting fur
mixed with a lighter brown. I had a certain distance of security and mutual respect calculated,
and asked Mark to honor it, which he did, willingly. A passing park employee in his truck,
stopped and pointed out a grizzly a good safe distance away, across the pass from us, which
was nice of him to do.

We trucked up some long hills in the road, and then were gifted with a freeing long ride down to
the Toklat rest stop. It felt wonderful speeding and slowing down, to make this ride longer
before ending it and shuttling back to camp. Right away, the first shuttle was able to take us
and our bikes. The buses have a well-designed and simple bike rack for two, in the front, with a
pulled out anchor for the tires and frame. I was just thinking that we hadn't had a young woman
driver yet, and voila, Anna shows up, perky, fun, and who Mark remembered because of her
dynamite personality, from two years ago. She's been driving shuttle for 10 years, starting as a
barrista in Denali before then. The gal is from northern CA, but makes Palmer area her home,
when not here.

Anna was the perfect host to end our exhausting and exhilarating biking with, and she
accommodated and assisted we passengers in spotting wildlife, i.e. the closest huge grizzly
grazing sighting, and drove slowly and cautiously, much like Keith our first driver. We visited
with her at the last rest stop, deciding to ride to Tek, and exchanged names with her.
We are sooo tired right now, after heavenly showers after the wildlife presentation, and delicious
chicken, mushroom pasta with marinara sauce. Probably an evening slow walk around the
campground and to bed. Another gratifying day.