Alaska Part 7: Hiking The Tundra

[olivermoss]

It's hard to tell scale in that picture. I was on my knees photographing the ground.

Only about 30% of visitors see the giant mountain called Denali. People who make it further into the park are usually pretty focused on the really big mountain.

Hiking the tundra:


I was more interested in the tundra. Other people were strategizing how to get a chance to see the mountain and I was off taking pictures of the ground. I did a lot of hiking out there, but I wish I'd done more ridges and also had time to poke around Wonder Lake. I did most of a 1,000 foot elevation hike only to find no one could get on top of the ridge because it was too windy.



So I sat on the trail and took pictures of my feet:


Another picture of the ground:


Seeing spring tundra is why I went when I did, though a lot of flowers were still just emerging.

Wild Valerian not yet in bloom:


This little critter agreed with me that the tundra was cool:


Tundra is such a fascinating mix of plants and it varies so much. Also, the tundra was vast:


I also hiked some very wet tundra:


Down to a river:


Next post is Part 8: Denali, The Mountain.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

pretty!

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

[cuddyclothes]

Beautiful!