Wildflowers, Glaciers, and Dinosaurs!

Hello everyone, and happy belated 4th of July.   Things here in Alaska are moving right along, and the summer's going by quickly as usual.  Denali is beautiful in July with lots of green and wildflowers.  Here are a few pictures of the park recently.  I apologize for not posting many wildlife pictures, but I just don't see a lot of wildlife.  I do see tons of arctic ground squirrels and ptarmigan, but they move so fast!  As far as the large mammals, they're usually so far away that I can't get a good picture.  Lots of flower pictures are in this posting.

Wildlfowers along the Toklat River, just a couple of miles from where I live

The Toklat River viewed from a nice tundra bench

Can you see the dinosaur cast in this picture?  It is supposedly of a therizinosaur, a 4-toed dinosaur that lived in central Alaska a long, long time ago.

Moss campion, a beautiful flower that grows high on the tundra of Denali 

Many rangers who live at Toklat grow veggies in our community greenhouse.  Here is my small plot of kale, chard, and lettuce.  The lettuce is real tasty!

Mt. McKinley on a nice, clear day viewed from Stony Hill Lookout



Another nice view of McKinley from near Wonder Lake.  Lots of mosquitos live in this area because of all the little ponds like this one.  That's the McKinley River in the middle of the picture. 

Would you believe it if I told you that this is a glacier?  This hilly, tundra-covered lumpy ground is the old terminus of the Muldrow Glacier, which drains about 1/3 of the ice on Mt. McKinley and is 40 miles long!



More pretty flowers along the Toklat River - mountain avens, wooly lousewort, and a few others