Oops, wrong mountain

Fewer adventures today, but a couple of minor misadventures. We started by taking the bus to Savage River, where we did a short hike alongside the river. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so the views were amazing. It was slightly prettier than yesterday’s hike at East Fork, but it was more crowded and the hike was less interesting.

Afterwards, we returned to the Mountain Vista trail, which we visited when we drove in. An Arctic Squirrel hounded us as we ate our lunch. Greg tried a few times to scare it away, but it was undeterred. When we took the Mountain Vista trail, someone told us that we did not actually see Denali when we first visited because we were looking in the wrong direction! Denali is, infamously, hard to see due to the clouds.

We were a bit tired, so we tried to take a bus back. The first transit bus was full. The second transit bus was also full. We gave up and took a bus that only went back to Savage River. While we waited, we talked with a park ranger about the aggressive squirrel. The ranger was very familiar with the aggressive arctic squirrels and said, with a laugh, that there are few options besides walking away. Eventually, the Camper Bus arrived, and it was practically empty, unlike the transit buses.

The other day at the campground, we were trading stories with others who made the drive. One group said they tried to take the same route as we did, but they had to take two detours around the wildfires we passed: a multi-day detour in northern British Columbia and a nearly full-day detour in Alaska. Remember, we missed both of these road closures by less than a hour. Considering our good luck, maybe we should buy a lottery ticket.