Truly wild...

So yet again I must say there will be no pictures on this post.
Somehow computers don't re- expand like sponges do, lesson learned.

We will have to recap after anchorage when we find a new medium to get
photos up.

The last day and a bit little bit has been a total experience. I will
keep it short and sweet and let the photos speak for themselves when
we can show them.

We went to Denali national park Sunday night and got organized to
leave Monday am with a forecast of rain all week. We figured the views
would be spectacular regardless and we were assured the wildlife
sightings would be worthwhile no matter the weather, so we agreed a
two day backcountry trip would be the next hing for us to do.

Yesterday morning we awoke to bluebird skies. To travel into the park
all people must take a bus and our bus driver said that a bluebird day
is a rare, very rare, occasion. The place we were meant to head into
the backcountry was well short of the optimal viewing spot of "the
Mountain" as they call McKinley here, so we took the bus past our
planned destination to the viewpoint. Ya we saw the largest mountain
in North America, no big deal.

Actually, apparently it is, and we are really freaking lucky. Every
year there are only maybe 20 max bluebird days to see the mountain and
they are almost always clouded over by noon. We saw the mountain at
2:30. Ya horseshoes!!!!

However, it did come at a price. Last night the winds were up to 100 +
km/h ALL night. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep..... Well
Shona didn't get any and I managed a bit of shut eye.

So sadly, we made the call to cut the hiking a little short. But the
fun didn't really stop there.... On our way to the road, we came
across 3 grizzly bears. We were 500 m away from them, but plenty close
enough for us. A way better scenario tha the couple we talked to
today that were charged by one that came up to 20 m away before
stopping. NUTS!!!!

Shoot. That turned out longer than I hoped. Wait for the rad photos.

Andrew