Since we survived the basic hike, we decided to kick it up a notch and try the intermediate hike. Folks who had gone on that one the day before said it was a difficult hike up a very steep incline. However, the routes changed and the path we took was not vertically challenging. It was more of a hike than a nature walk today, though I did sneak in enough pauses for photographs. I was a little worried that running from behind would attract bears! Today our hike took us for a total of 6 miles, in to the McKinley River bar. Our guide today was Jenica. She pointed out alot of things as well, and I have found that all of the guides have been extremely knowledgable and so willing to share. I saw some new plants, considering we were in a different type of terrain but also saw quite a few now-familiar ones.
The rocks and soils of Alaska are the same as other parts of the world-- or should I say, many parts-- because the glaciers have left deposits of soils around the world that have been pushed there and left behind. We were again in the taiga, or "and of trees that have no leaves". The wind easily knocks over trees with their shallow root systems. On one small spruce there was a bare spot on the trunk from wind sheer; the branches down below would have been covered by snow. This area is actually high desert. They receive 11-14 inches of rain per year. After the glaciers, the lichen came in and then moss and then other vegetation took hold.
We saw wolf, moose and bear tracks in the mud of the trail but saw no animals. We crossed a stone field and areas where the permafrost melting had created ponds. We ate lunch on the McKinley River bar and it was so beautiful! Sitting among the rocks, watching the river and seeing Denali in the background was simply amazing. A peanut butter sandwich never tasted so good! One gal- Kate- had a good idea; her fanny pack came with an inflatable sitting mat, so she was able to sit comfortably on the ground while the rest of us balanced cheeks on rocks! I could easily have stretched out to nap there, except for the fresh bear tracks we noticed! Just on the other side of the little crossing was a thicket where moose had eaten down the willows, snapped of at browsing height.
Our guide for this hike, Jenica, is also a specialist in herbal medicine and sustaining gardens. I borrowed the book from the library that I mentioned before, and use it for reference.
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Horsetail can work as a pot and pan scrubber, due to the silica content. It is good for skin and nails and can be used also as decoration and added to liquid soap. Silica has little gritls so it exfoliates; if it cleans the outside, it cleans the inside! You can make horsetail tea. When they emerge in the spring as little fingers they can be eaten and the Natives call them "first berries." In the Amazon, the plants are as big as trees! It is apparently not good for horses to have in their hay, however, as the grits create problems.
I saw a plant called the Tundra Rose, whose name is Potentilla biflora and immediately recognized it as looking like the same potentilla we use in landscaping, including the yellow flowers.
The Sitka Burnet, a perennail, forms underground runners. It is edible raw when young. The flower is on a long stalk with pronounced deep pink stamen.
Labrador tea has needles like an evergreen and smells very good when you pick it. The flowers are small, white open bells and when it goes to seed you just see red pods. Not to be confused with Bog Rosemary, which is poisonous! The flowers are urn shaped and it has evergreen type needles, as well. The Prickly Rose, and rose hips, is good for jellies and jams. The petals are used for teas and jellies, too, and are very high in vitamin C.
I think I saw the leaves of the Frigid Shooting Star, which grows in meadows, wet tundra and alpine slopes. It looked like a Lily of the Valley leaf. The ones I saw had no flower, but they would be pink with a white center.
The Tall Fireweed has magenta flowers on a stalk.
We ate more bog blueberries and low bush cranberry, which are also known as lingonberries. I have lingonberry jelly at home! The lingonberries have a shiny green leaf with a vein in the middle. Dogwood is poisonous and has bigger, rust and green colored leaves, not glossy, but also have red fruit. It was said that plants in Alaska are either very useful or deadly; there doesn't seem to be much middle ground! The eskimo potato has a long stem, called a raceme, with small, narrow pink flowers. The vine looks like a pea-vine. We saw where a bear had been digging them. The poisonous wild sweet pea is easily mistaken for eskimo potato, apparently something that occurred in "Lost in the Wild". I haven't read the book myself but people commented on it now and then, and how ill prepared the young man was.
The Soapberry has little red clusters of berries that are bitter and inedible but a favorite of bears. I noted a large flowered wintergreen, whose leaves are much larger than the ones here but have the same uses. I saw a pretty white buttercup flower and was told that it is an anemone. I believe, consulting the book, that it was a narcissus flowered anemone.
We tasted alder catkins, which Jenica claimed tasted like grapenuts cereal. I'm not convinced. They tasted quite dry. Perhaps with a little milk and tasty berries...
I took a photo of "Old Man's Beard" hanging from the tree, and also where a bear had scratched and rubbed on a tree, leaving hair hanging from the bark. More wolf scat on the trail. Jenica pointed out spaghum moss in the bog and informed us that it was used in WWII to stop bleeding wounds because of it's highly absorbent qualities. When a Native girl was born, the young men in the clan were sent out to gather spaghum; whoever returned with the most, would be promised to marry the girl and subsequently became her protector as she grew up. Spaghum was used in the baby's diaper, to absorb liquid and odors.
So many senses were stimulated with these hikes. The smells, being observant for clues left by wild animals; odors of the plants and the tastes of their fruits; seeing the beauty of everything around us as potential photographic subjects... the only piece lacking was sound. Although we were told that the area under the permafrost is active and noisy, our hike was devoid of the common sounds you would expect in lower areas, such as birds.
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