SATURDAY,
AUGUST 24:
Spent a
good part of the morning doing laundry, while waiting for the fog to
dissipate. The most up-to-the-minute
weather forecast had indicated that heavy fog could be here in the morning, but
should clear up to mostly sunny skies this afternoon. And that the sunshine
should continue for a couple of days.
Hurray!!
So in the
afternoon we drove again into the Park.
What a difference clear, blue skies make! Made the entire road and first impressions of
the Park a different experience!
We went on a couple of short hikes. The first was at Savage River, 15 miles down
the Park road. This was an easy 2-mile
loop around the little river.
Bill loved it for its wide open, almost austere expanses of transition terrain from alpine to tundra, and its interesting geologic formations on the rocky slopes.
I loved it for its gorgeous blue skies above. In some places, the sky was a deep azure blue
like you see in Colorado; in other places, a blue I don’t think I’ve ever quite
seen before – kind of a delicate yet deep lighter blue, bordering on a light
turquoise, that’s almost the equivalent
of blue-spun cotton candy.
And we both loved it just for the freshness of
the air and the bigger hints of autumn coming around the corner and the exercise,
even though when the breeze blew down the river valley, it felt really chilly.
On bridge at end of loop, looking up the river valley:
Our other hike was the Mountain Loop Vista, a
few miles back up the road. This was
another easy mile walk, with wonderful views of the Alaska Range all around
us.
Some peaks were capped with what looked like fresh
snow; they were most likely some of the same peaks we flew over the other day
as our pilot pointed out the contrast of the fresh autumn powder against the
earth and vegetation hues.
It was a wonderful few hours. Beautifully proved the proverb that you need
to have some rain in order to appreciate the sunshine! We surely did!
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