We took this photo while kayaking on Byers Lake in Denali State Park, just south of the national park. It was one of our favorite kayaking experiences. We saw some common loons in the middle of the lake. They’re pretty big birds, and one of them showed its displeasure at Mike taking photos of it. It squawked at Mike and raised out of the water spreading its wings. The other loon tried to hide the baby loon swimming by it.
Iris had fun swimming in the lake, and we found a sandbar surrounded by water where we could let Iris run off leash. Surrounding the sandbar were shallow areas where we saw tons of spawning salmon. They were huge and red, some must have been 2′ Iong or bigger. They were so close, you could almost reach out and touch them. As we explored the sandbar, Mike turned around and got a surprise – a nice view of Mt. McKinley. We had no idea it was there.
Behind the sand bar, we found a creek and paddled up it. Someone had moved part of a newer-looking beaver damn across the creek, allowing us to pass. The creek was really cool and a little creepy. It was perfect for paddling but tall grass on the banks blocked any view. It was like paddling in a canyon of grass. Also, it was fairly shallow and we paddled over more large salmon. Hmmm….tall grass, patted down in some areas by the creek, big salmon spawning in shallow water, on a lake where salmon fishing is not allowed, in the wilderness, and close to our campground with the bear sitings posted. We made sure to keep up the chatter to warn off any critters who might be hungry for a nice salmon dinner. We did see a large beaver. That was cool. We were close enough to see its tail when it dove into the water.