Alaska - Day 4

I'm a day late in posting this one (and possibly others to follow). Heather, Joie, and I went camping over the weekend and I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. More on the camping in another post.

They were to set out to explore the wilderness in Denali National Park. They were warned to be prepared for the area’s mosquitoes by wearing long pants, a long sleeve shirt, both light colored and mosquito repellant, with DEET as the main ingredient. Mosquitoes are most active in the late afternoon to dusk. However, preventative measures should be taken all day. 

Some of what was planned:

• Begin your day with the Murie Excursion, which will take you across expansive 30 miles of Denali Wilderness. This excursion into the park will provide a truly unique experience in Denali.  
• Along your excursion stop for hikes in the pristine wilderness and gain a deeper understanding of the climate through learning to use equipment including scopes and telemetry.  
• Explore the works of characters such as Adolph Murie and contemporary park wildlife biologists, and discover the reasons why humans wish to preserve this place 
• A park ranger will introduce you to the philosophy of environmental conservationism and how it applies to the millions of acres of preserved Alaskan wilderness. 
• This evening, relax and enjoy your dinner after you day of wilderness exploration.

The leader that went with her from Cincinnati sent us the following message:

We're doing well in Alaska, seeing and learning a lot.  I'm forwarding parts of an email sent by another leader that includes an update of yesterday's activities. 

Olivia continues to be her awesome self, always helpful, kind and interested in everything that we are doing.  She is making friends with the delegates from the other groups and seems to be having a great time.

Update: 

Here's what we've done so far:

1. Met new friends at the Alaska native heritage museum for a feast of native Alaskan foods and a presentation by storyteller Marge about growing up Alaskan
2. Swimming!!!
3. Drive to Denali national park with a few surprises
4. Stopped at Iditarod headquarters where we were supposed to just look at the museum and maybe buy gifts but were handed a handful of puppies! Ray Reddington began the races. We met his son, Ray Jr who placed 6th last year and whose son Ray 3rd placed 5th. Each delegate took a photo with a puppy so be sure to ask!
5. Saw a black bear climbing a fence in anchorage
6. Became part of the 33% Denali club (you'll have to ask)
7. Amazing dinner at the world famous Denali salmon bake
8. Adaptation presentation at Denali education center
9. Saw a moose
10. Mini tour of Anchorage

There are tons of things I left out, but these are the highlights.