Music of Denali - Our Big Adventure - Antler Creek Trail

Last night there was another Caravan dinner/show and more salmon!! It's a good thing we like salmon. Frederick likes the sweet, brown-sugar glaze they use on the the salmon in Alaska; me, not-so-much, I prefer lemon. Last night's dinner show asked that we not take pictures so I only have one of the cast at the end of the evening.

Venue of our dinner.

Frederick on the far right.

The cast - the musical was all about the first climbing of Denali, very entertaining with much audience participation. 

I'm going to save our big adventure for the end of this blog, so the next few pictures are about our afternoon hike, climbing the mountain behind the campground on the Antler Creek Trail.

Half way up the ridge trail.

View toward the east.

Looking back and down at the RV park.

West

North - the road toward Denali National Park.

Antler Creek of the Antler Creek Trail - the trail is on the right, out of sight.

The upper meadows were covered in low-bush blueberries.

Delicious low-bush blueberries - quite small but very juicy.

Frederick ate hands-full of them.

Our Big Adventure of the day - of the Alaskan Caravan??!! - River Rafting! Going on this trip is an example of what being on this Caravan encourages us to try. A couple of days ago, Laura Lilawski knocked on our door to ask if we would like to go on a river rafting trip - sure!!

The Nenana River is the most popular white-water-rafting area in Alaska. The trip was 22 miles long, 5 hours, and divided into two parts - the milder section was the first 11 miles and south of the the park entrance. The river's main white-water stretch begins near the park entrance and ends 11 miles north, near here, in Healy. It's rated class III and IV, and involves standing waves, rapids and holes with names such as "Coffee Grinder" in a sheer-sided canyon. 

Fortunately the rafting company, Denali Outdoor Center, stations a photographer along the shore for pictures during two of the ten rapids sections in the white-water stretch. 

Here we are! Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Others in the boat are from left - Mike and Laura Lilawski from Shirley, NY, on Long Island; above Frederick is Craig Wasteney (his wife Sharon is behind John, our guide) from Hannibal,Missouri; and, to my left, Linda and Brad Bailey from Cambria, CA.

 There was another boat with four more couples from the Caravan including Dave and Oneida Starr. Dave just celebrated his 84th birthday a week ago.

You might notice I'm holding on, for dear life, to a red strap. Earlier in the trip, we were slammed by a wave and I got knocked backward off my seat because the anchor ring on the hold rope came loose. The red strap is an emergency fix and actually worked better for me - that's why I'm able to wave in the pictures when we saw the photographer on the river bank and our guide told us to wave.