Becoming part of the food chain at Denali National Park

Tuesday 16th July
After another comfortable night at the Grizzly Lodge we decided to visit the Alaska Pipeline before leaving the Fairbanks area. We took Anita's advice and instead of going to the viewpoint north of town we drove round to the road behind the Grizzly Lodge and there was the pipeline in all its glory, stretching for miles. There was no one else there so we could wander up and down having a really good look at it. It is well insulated and supported on special towers which have brackets which can withstand movement such as earthquakes. It does go under the ground in some places, but mostly it is above ground so that it is not affected by permafrost. James and Davie were very excited to be there, and even I found it to be rather majestic and impressive. There are notices telling you not to climb on it but Davie did anyway!
We then set off back south to Denali National Park, but before going into the park we stopped off at our lovely log cabin in Healy. We were really glad that we had booked there (thanks Tripadvisor!) because we were not impressed with the sprawling and unattractive accommodation that is to be found around the gates of the park, eleven miles down the road.
However when we went into Denali National Park itself we really liked it. There was an informative visitor's centre with helpful staff who gave us maps of the hikes. We went on a couple of short hikes (about an hour each); one near the visitor's centre and one at Savage River which is fifteen miles into the park. By the way, Denali National Park is absolutely huge; it's bigger that the state of Vermont! On our first walk we came across a mummy moose with a baby moose, strolling among the bushes very near to us, which was great to see. Although apparently mooses are more dangerous than they appear - especially when they are with their young. The advice in the park is "If you see a moose, run, and try to hide behind a tree. If you see a bear don't run, stay still and talk to it in a calm voice." I hope that I would get that the right way round in an emergency!
On our second walk at Savage River we were again tormented by mosquitos! However in the visitor centre one of the information boards explained that mosquitos are an important part of the food chain in the park, because they are eaten by birds who in their turn provide nourishment for foxes, wolves etc. So we should be pleased that we have become part of that food chain! We're not though! We hate those horrible little creatures! I even found a dead mosquito in my pants later which James thought was very funny, and it had managed to bite me four times on my rear end before it died. At Savage River we saw some cute little ground squirrels who were watching us, they were shy if you got too close though. The main excitement was when we were driving back towards the park entrance; in a dry riverbed near the car James spotted a big wolf! It was huge and black, and it looked up and stared at us just as we saw it. By the time we stopped the car, it had disappeared into the woods.
Dinner was at the 49th State Brew Pub very near our log cabin, and recommended by our hostess Anne Marie. It was very busy and had lots of character, it has its own brewery so James was persuaded to try a selection of different types of beers - 5 small glasses of beer were brought on a tray and he enjoyed them all. James and David had absolutely giant burgers and I had beef nachos which were very good. Now we are heading for an early night because we have a very early start tomorrow.