MAMA GRIZZLY 'GOLDILOCKS' BEAR & HER THREE CUBS & WE DID GET TO SEE DENALI TODAY! (DAY TWO AT TEKLANIKA) - Sunday, July 2, 2023

Once again we woke up this morning with hopes of seeing the "Great One" in our journey on our e-bikes today. It was a bright and sunny morning with big, fluffy clouds floating along in a pale blue sky. It was a chilly 48 degrees, but that didn't matter as today our chances for seeing the "Great One" had drastically increased. The temperature would reach 72 degrees in the afternoon.

We took off on our e-bikes at around 8:45 a.m. to go to mile 43 where the road was closed due to the Pretty Rocks Landslide. We had high hopes, but also knew that our journey today would be long and difficult with many high strenuous climbs on our bikes up to Sable Pass. Below is the elevation profile for the Denali Park Road and you can see that Sable Pass is at about 4,000 feet (actually 3,974 feet) in elevation.

Sable Pass is an area encountered from roughly mile 37 to mile 42 on the Denali Park Road. Like all passes in Denali, the area is high enough to be mostly devoid of trees, allowing for expansive views -- and consequently, better chances to see wildlife than areas where thick brush and vegetation exist close to the road. This area was supposed to be particularly good for viewing caribou, sheep and grizzly bear -- but we didn't know that likelihood of that.

Look at the beautiful blue sky with just a wisp of clouds as we begin our ride.

We stopped for a brief rest before we continued on. And then in the next few minutes, just around the corner, we got our first of the "Great One, aka Denali!" Wow what a beauty!

Called Denali by the native Koyukon Athabascan people, the word means, "The Great One" or "The High One." This special mountain is Alaska's highest peak as well as the tallest on the North American continent. The South Peak, 320 feet higher than the North Peak, tops out at 20,320 feet.

The next few pictures show the view we had of Denali on the way up to Sable Pass and down to mile 43 at East Fork (the location of the Pretty Rock Landslide).

After looking at "The Great One" and taking lots of pictures, we continued our ride down to mile 43 at East Fork.

The East Fork River, a braided river with channels of water and gravel bars that stretch into the distance toward the Alaska Range mountains. The Denali Park Road crosses a bridge over the East Fork River at mile 43. While the Polychrome Plan is underway to build a bridge over the Pretty Rocks Landslide, this location is the end of the road for all traffic on the park road.

The interpretive sign below describes all the changes that have taken place prior to the Pretty Rocks Landslide and what they are doing to correct the situation.

The picture above and the next few pictures below shows more of the Alaska Range and the East Fork River.

Mel reads about the construction to take place in the Polychrome Area due to the Pretty Rocks Landslide on an interpretive sign. It says that they will construct a 475-foot steel truss bridge to span the Pretty Rocks Landslide. Earthworks and bridge foundations are scheduled to be completed in 2024 and the bridge is expected to be built in 2025. The project will be completed in 2026.

Our e-bikes parked at mile 43 at the East Fork River Bridge.

Looking back across the East Fork River Bridge at mile 43. It has an elevation of 3,061 feet.

Above is the temporary Ranger Station at mile 43. While the next few pictures show more views from mile 43 -- the Alaska Range mountains and East Fork River.

We decided to get headed back knowing we have 14 more miles to go and some big hills to climb. As we do on our way back, we get another chance to see "The Great One." 

It is so awesome as that magnificent site comes into view once again. Two times in one day -- we have been so blessed! The 20,310-foot mountain (formerly known as Mount McKinley) dominates the horizon like nothing else -- a dazzling, white behemoth that can be seen from all over Southcentral and Central Alaska.

Denali "The Great One" appears as a craggy mound, buttressed by sweeping ridgelines and skirted by huge glaciers. The Great One presents an overwhelming vision looming like an entire range jumbled into one spot and armored in ice. Against a blue sky, the shimmering sight is unmistakable and postcard perfect.

In the closeup above of "The Great One" it feels like you could reach out and touch the clouds.

Shirley in front of "The Great One."

If you look carefully, you can see the one Caribou that I saw in the above picture of "The Great One." It is just in front of the snow patch in the center of the picture.

One final look at "The Great One," before we continue on our ride.

The view above shows the road up to Sable Pass.

Next we are now back at Sable Pass. Since we have had a lot of steep hills up and down on the gravel road, the battery on my e-bike is about spent. We have been walking our bikes off and on for about 2-1/2 miles. (The entire trip from start to finish on our e-bikes was about 28-1/2 miles with each way being about 14.2 miles.)

Shirley in front of the Sable Pass elevation sign.

At was at this point, when we were at Sable Pass that a green park bus pulled up beside us and opened the door. Mel told the driver we were ok, but the driver insisted that we get on the bus as a mama brown grizzly was making her way down the hill with three cubs following behind. So we watched and tried to see them from a long distance along the above ridge.

The little white spot on the left side where there is green shrubs is the mama grizzly making her way down.

In the picture below, mama grizzly and her cubs are moving down the hill toward us.

Zooming in, this provides a closer look at mama 'Goldilocks" grizzly bear and her three cubs.

So mama 'Goldilocks' grizzly bear tries to keep her bear cubs under control, but a couple of them are pretty playful and try to go their own way. 

So mama 'Goldilocks' grizzly bear tries to keep her three cubs in line.

So mama 'Goldilocks' grizzly bear and her three cubs make their way onto the rode beside the bus and go behind it before going back up the side of the mountain on the other side. It was hard for her to always keep or corral her cubs. They were constantly trying different antics to frustrate her, but she was at last able to make them follow her. We all had to remain on the bus until she was definitely out of sight.

When the bus driver was content that the mama grizzly bear and her three cubs had really moved on, we got of the bus and the bus continued on down to mile 43. 

Now that the bears have moved on, Mel and Shirley pose for a selfie in front of the Sable Pass elevation sign.

We then continued down the road, while looking for a spot to pull over and fix our lunch.

We came to the "Sheep Crossing" sign, so I stopped to take a couple of pictures. We have wondered how the sheep know when it is time to cross here anyway, huh.

Shortly after that we came to a flat area where a road grater was sitting. It looked like a great place to have lunch.

So Mel got out his little canister propane blended fuel "cook stove" and turned it on. It was a little hard to keep lit due to the windy condition of where we were. 

He then measured out the appropriate amount of water (1-1/3 cups) for the one serving packet (or MRE) of "Mountain House Freeze Dried Adventure Meal" of Chicken & Dumplings that we each were having for lunch. He put that amount of water into the metal cooking cup and put it above the flame.

Mel found that if he somehow shielded the burner from the wind, it would stay lit better (the tire of the road grater did help).

After the water was heated to boiling, it was then added to the zip-lock pouch, stirred and carefully sealed. After 5 minutes, the pouch was reopened, stirred again and then resealed. After 4 additional minutes, we opened the pouch and stirred it one final time and then enjoyed a delicious meal.

The Chicken & Dumplings -- a new twist on an old Southern favorite had layers of chicken, vegetables and fluffy dumplings in a white gravy. This recipe gave us the home-cooked flavor we craved, while the pouch made the freeze-dried meal portable enough to take with us on our bike ride. Yummy! 

Of course, Mel repeated the process and made one for himself. Below shows Mel in the shade of a little shrub enjoying his MRE lunch.

When we were done eating, we continued our ride back to the Teklanika River Campground, arriving around 2:30 p.m. When we got back, our neighbor Randy in the Holiday Rambler right across the road from us came over and Mel shared one of his beers with him.

Randy then told us that he had a "Free Wi-Fi Guest Network" that we could use if we wanted -- and the password was, "helpingothers."

That was so nice of Randy to share his Wi-Fi with others. I did take advantage of it whenever I could.

And the campers above, brought their lawn chairs and laptop over to use the free Wi-Fi as well. The girl was very happy as she had college class work to catch up on.

Tonight for dinner we had halibut and potatoes.

We were truly blessed with seeing two great things today in Denali: 1) "The Great One" also known as Denali and 2) one of the five wildlife animals everyone wants to see while they are in Denali -- a brown grizzly bear (and she had three cubs which is unusual with two cubs being most common).

Here's to "The Great One!"

Shirley & Mel