Days 40 - 42, July 10 - 12, Denali

Wednesday, July 10, the group took the bus tour of Denali, an 8 hour ride into the heart of the park.  The driver/guide, Cassie Sears, was outstanding.  It takes a special skill to navigate these roads, where only park busses are allowed, especially when passing an oncoming buss on blind curves and narrow, cliff-hanging dirt roads.   We saw several caribou, ptarmigans, and even grizzly bears.  We did not see Denali, though.   Less than 30% of visitors to Denali actually get to see the mountain.  For us, it was the smoke from the fires that obliterated the view.  For most, it is the weather.

 Thursday, July 11, we chilled most of the day, then went zip-lining late in the afternoon.  Quite an experience.   There were seven lines that we traversed, and several swinging bridges (those were worse on my senses than the ziplines!)

 Friday, July 12 was a quiet, wet, rainy day.  I started coming down with a chest cold today (at first I thought it was just a lung irritation due to the smoke.)  I got a lot of reading done!












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