Happy Trails Dog Kennels

These are pictures from our last day in Alaska. On our way from Denali to Anchorage we stopped at the Happy Trails Dog Kennels. This was truly one of my highlights of the trip. The kennels are owned by Martin Buser who has raced in and won the Iditarod Race. The race celebrates an event in Alaska's history. In January 1925 a diphtheria epidemic broke out among the Eskimo children in Nome, Alaska. The only way to get serum to Nome was to send in on the train from Steward to Nenana and then to haul it the rest of the way on dog sleds 674 miles. Twenty mushers worked with 100 dogs in a relay to get the serum to Nome in five days. The Iditarod Sled Dog Race started in the late 1960's. The race covers 1049 miles in 9 - 15 days. One picture shows how excited these dogs get when it's time to harness up with each other to start racing. They all wanted to race. Another picture is their version of a dog treadmill (or treadwheel). I actually saw several dogs get in the wheel by themselves and start running. These aren't your pretty Alaskan husky thoughbred dogs either. These are all mixed breeds bred for stamina. During the race the musher must carry enough food and supplies for his dogs. There are mandatory stops every twenty to sixty miles during the race in which both the musher and a veterinary must check out each dog. If a musher has a problem with a dog while racing he must be able to carry the dog in his sled to the next stop. The mushers start out with 12-16 dogs and must end with at least 6 dogs. I was really impressed with the love and care given to these dogs. All the dogs let us pet them. They even let us hold the puppies.

Trip though Denali Park

These are pictures of a grizzly bear and it's yearling (a one year old cub) and a caribou with a radio collar. I'm not even sure how the caribou holds those antlers up. Caribou is the only one in the deer family in which both the female and the male both grow antlers. These pictures were taken from the bus while we were traveling through Denali Park. There is only one road through the park most of which is unpaved and is 92 miles in length. No private cars are allowed past the first fifteen miles. After that you need to be on what looks like a school bus repainted either green or tan. The top picture shows us stopped at one of only three allowed rest stops washing our windows. We traveled about 50 miles into the park with everyone on the bus spotting for wildlife. Most of the wildlife spotted was too far away for my basic digital camera but these three critters were kind enough to be relatively close to the bus. The scenery along the way is absolutely fabulous.

Mt. Denali/McKinley

From what we were told only 20 per cent of the visitors to Alaska actually get to see Mt. Denali (due to clouds) which used to be called Mt. McKinley. The Alaskans object with good reason to one of their most magnificent sites being named after an Ohioan senator who never set foot in Alaska. This picture was taken from the Talkeetna Lodge which is still 90 miles from the base of the mountain. The town of Talkeetna is popular as a staging area for climbers wanting to tackle Mt. Denali. Most people take a bush plane from here to a base camp at 7,000 feet elevation and from that point try to climb another 13,320 feet to the top of Denali. We felt very lucky to get a peak of the majestic mountain peaking from the cloud cover for a limited time.

Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center

These pictures were taken at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center which takes care of orphaned animals and those with special needs. It was a wonderful facility with plenty of room for each group of animals. The eagle only has one wing so it can't fly and the Kodiak bear and his/her sibling are orphans. We also saw caribou, moose, bison, musk ox, and a very smelly porcupine. I discovered that there are only three major types of bear. Black bear which are smaller, brown bear which are bigger and include grizzly bears and polar bears. Unfortunately polar bears are only found much further north in Alaska from where we visited.

The Hubbard Glacier

Sorry I had to interrupt my Alaskan blog but I lost internet when we disembarked from our cruise ship. So even though I am home I will continue for the next few days with my Alaskan trip. This is a picture of the Hubbard Glacier which we sail by on our way from Sitka to Steward to the end of our cruise. The dust in the middle of the picture is from the glacier calving. While we were watching parts of the glacier would split apart and fall into the ocean causing a loud boom like thunder. It was quite magnificent to experience. You won't want to miss the end of my trip. On the last day we visited the Happy Trails Sled Dog Kennels.