Backpacking in Denali National Park, Alaska #2 Unit4

 2nd backpacking in Denali was in Unit4, Upper Savage River unit. 

First time in my life seeing aurora in person

Unit4 is called Upper Savage River, the main is obviously the Savage river. From the park road, you start walking on the river bar, then some miles later Alaska mountain range starts. River is a key to the ecosystems. River provides habitats for livings. Indeed, this Savage river valley is a great habitat for moose and bears. 

Here is our 4 nights/5 day backpacking in the Unit4!

<Day1>

At the beginning

You might think backpacking in Alaska sounds all exciting, but remember, you WILL get wet! Being wet is cold!
In fact, from the very beginning, you have no choice but crossing the river (left picture). Cold water from glacier up to your knee high :) While we were checking our backpacks and map before starting, a guy came back from the hike and came to us by crossing river. He had something like rain boots and thick pants that protects from water (I don't know the name but sure there is a special name for it). He is a retired army, living in Alaska for 30 years. He said that this year had the least water flow he had ever seen. Wow. 

He was so nice and he shared useful information. He found a really good used trail and shared GPS coordinate. No trail for backpacking in Denali National Park, but he thought that for some reason there is almost an abandoned trail or old mine trail was there. He said, "killer trial". So we registered the place at our trail App as a killer trail! He also mentioned that that day was good for seeing aurora. To see nice northern lights in Alaska, 1) clear sky + 2) strong sun activity are needed. He somehow knew the information and told us good to check it out at night. 

Caribou antler

After a nice chat with the Alaska guy, we started hiking. Occasional fording was needed, but it was not bad. Also occasional encounters to the antlers. The left picture is caribou's. No any other places like here to see so many antlers! We saw at least 30 antlers during this backpacking. 

river 

As the Alaska guy told us, indeed very good "killer trail" exists for about up to 2 miles. It was really nice after bush-whacking experience during previous backpacking. 

After the killer trail gradually disappeared, we tried to follow a game trail. Actually most of the way there was a good moose trail up the hill along the river. I saw a number of moose footprints on the trail. They must use the trail a lot and keep it nice. 

view from game trail

The view was gorgeous all the way. It was really nice day with blue sky (left picture). Actually I had heard that Denali National Park has lots and lots of rain and cloudy days, so we were lucky having nice days. Green mountains with recent snow were very beautiful. We found a flat spot in the meadow and decided to camp there on the first night. Based on the Alaska guy's advice, we got up at 1 a.m. and.... he was right. We saw aurora! The picture at the top of this entry is the one! Actually I didn't know how northern lights display in the sky. I had never seen aurora in person. I only saw was pictures, which now I know quite different from one you see in eye. First, I didn't know aurora moves in such a dramatic way. Not all the time aurora appears. About once in 10 minutes really amazing one appears. The lights appears from West to East (at that night at least) as if you rolling out a paper or closing curtain at a window. It looks more white rather than green. However, when a very strong aurora wave comes, it is indeed light green even with eyes. Furthermore, one of the strong waves I saw that night I could even see some pink with naked eyes! Every 10-15 minutes a really nice light wave came and left stripes of waves for 7-8 minutes. Then another wave came. I didn't know every moment is a different scenery in the sky. I was really wowed and in an awe. I was so stunned and my mouth was kept open. It was super memorable and that excitement I will never forget.  

<Day2>

Tent in the morning light

Day2! The right picture is our tent in the morning light. The cooking area needs to be 100 meters away from the tent: this picture was taken from our breakfast spot. By cooking far away from a tent, it prevents bears to come to the tent! Mr.N told me a story in Montana a long time ago in 1960's when there was no such bear-protecting rules. Those time people messed food all over near the tent and no use of bear-proof containers. Then one night, a bear came to the area people were sleeping. Popcorns were everywhere. Maybe not enough popcorn for a bear? The bear dragged a person who was sleeping in a sleeping bag without tent (cowboy style) and ate her. Actually that same night in the different area another bear ate a human. These incidents changed bear-related rules. Now food must be stored in a bear-proof canisters/Ursack, and never left anywhere! Cooking area, canister storing place, and tent are all 100 meters apart as a triangle shape. 

Going toward mountains

Beaver dam

After my ochazuke (Japanese food), and Mr.N's oatmeal breakfast, we started hiking towards the Alaska range mountains. Tundra had pretty fall colors. Wonderful. For a while we followed a game trail, then came back to a river bar. 

We saw a huge beaver dam. It was multiple cascades of dam. They did so much work (in the left picture). I had never seen such multiple dams. It was like a cascades of rice field!

Then we continued walking on the river bar for a while, and  decided to pitch a tent, then took a day pack to explore around there. We saw moose bull's antler moving in the bush far away. 

Walking to rock glacier

The edge of glacier

We continued hiking on the river bar further ahead. River got smaller as we got close to the glacier. In the Denali area, some glaciers are covered by rocks. So it looks like rock, but actually glaciers below them. In the left picture above, you might be able to recognize a typical shape of glaciers, but it is covered by rocks. Because it is still glaciers, it is dangerous to walk on it even if it looks like a rock. In the right picture above is the edge of glacier. You can see glacier is indeed a rock color. Glaciers are melting and dropping water from it. Sadly we walked a lot more than the map indicated to reach the edge of glacier, since glaciers melt much faster than the map gets updated. On a map, glaciers were much bigger and obviously we were walking in the moraine. Despite of that, the rock glaciers were still magnificent and made me feel even smaller although I knew I am small. 

Another side stream

After we enjoyed the massive rock glacier, we hiked up along another side stream of the same river. This time top of glacier remains white as you can see in the left photo. Each side stream goes to glaciers. The area is really gorgeous. There are a number of side streams, but time is always limited. After we enjoyed two glaciers, we came back to our campsite and had dinner along the river. 

While we were eating dinner, I saw a brown thing moving. I said, "BEAR!" 

Mr.N replied, "Really?" Then he looked at it and said, "Oh it is a porcupine!"

Cute!!! Sooooo cute! It was my first time seeing a porcupine in person. He was walking slow. Each step his body tilted right and left. Fun fact is that many animals use river bank to move to a different area, because it is much easier than bush whacking. We had the same problem, so now we know! Indeed we saw thousands of animal footprints on the river bank. Because porcupines have weapon: needles on the body, they don't care anybody, bears or humans! The porcupine was other side of river and we had a lot of time to observe him. 

Porcupine!!!

climbing a tree

climbing tree

He found a favorite tree and climbed it. However, he is slow and struggled a lot to climb the tree. He climbed the tree then came down, then continued walking upstream the river. Definitely one of highlights of this backpacking! I named him Porcu and still occasionally talk about Porcu with Mr.N after we came back to Mass. 

<Day3>

We would camp 2 nights at the same spot, so we kept the tent and explored around there on day3. 

We decided to climb up to the ridge near our camping spot. When we were half way to the top of the ridge, we looked back and found 2 moose! 2 males. One had big antlers (in the picture) and the other had small antlers. The antlers of 2nd male were too small to challenge the big one. I guess that is why they can stay together. If they are rivals, they can't stay together, especially in the mating season. The mating season lasts 6 weeks from August to October. We were there in September. Due to some rain, I had a pink umbrella. The pink was really highlight pen color pink: moose might have not seen such color in the nature before. He was monitoring us first, but soon they decided not to care us and back to their business. We hiked up and sometimes looked back and enjoyed observing them. Soon they laid down/bed to rest. It was really wonderful to observe wildlife in Alaska. Soooooooo much wildlife out there. 

Fall color tundra

The left picture is the view from the ridge. Fall color tundra was very beautiful. And....can you find our tent in the picture? This is a difficult quiz! 

rainbow!

Sanctuary river and side valley

Soon rain stopped and we saw a rainbow! Wow, wow, wow. Continuously wonderful thing showed up (right picture) How priceless the hike was. At first because of rain, we thought about going back to our campsite early, but rain was over. Why not hiking up another ridge? 

When we reached the point where we were able to see another valley, I was stunned. It was a side valley of next big valley, Sanctuary valley. The tundra color was ecstatic. Yellow and red in the mixture getting the sunlight escaped from clouds. This lightening and color was momentum, and just me and Mr.N looking at them. It was beautiful. Really memorable scene still clearly remember in my heart now, and will forever. 

Caribou

Then again! Miracle after miracle! 

A group of caribou. Both males and females and two sets of mother and baby. One mother was injured but still walking with other caribous. I didn't know caribous go really high up to the ridge. It seems moose stay lower elevation, but caribous go higher. It was grateful to see such caribous in deep wilderness. 
 

<Day4>

Looking down another valley

This day we explored another ridge! At the top of the ridge we saw different valley from the one we saw on a previous day. This direction there are trees as you can see in the left picture. Due to cold   environment, there are not many trees under more harsh area, but little less harsh area you will see trees. However, the tree area is quite limited. Actually areas with many trees are not ideal for off-trail backpacking. It is really difficult to walk. Even with tundra, it is sometimes difficult for humans to walk straight. 

What a lighting

This scene was extra striking. The lighting on the silvery dark mountains and fall color tundra was astonishing. This is THE hidden gem. I was grateful and happy! I admit how lucky to be able to be there. 

After a day hike in the morning, we head back half way to the trailhead and camped. 

<Day5>

bull

This day we hike out to the trailhead. On the way back we saw another bull! Amazing! Bulls are easier to sight because of their giant antlers. We saw many antlers on the ground and now I know they are really heavy. Wow they carry them all the time?! So much work. Not only they carry them, but also they head down and up to eat. Tough life.  

Wow we saw soooooo much and soooo enjoyed and came back to the trailhead.