Dog Mushing & Train back to Anchorage

This morning we went to the Dog Show. I wasn't expecting it, but it was really good. The dogs are Alaskan Huskies that are different than American Husky because they are not pure bred and not bred for their looks. They are bred for strength and energy. I think their hair looks shorter and they seem more thin with really long legs. I got to pet some of them before the show. When it got close to show time, they all got really excited and wanted to be picked!

Here is the mushing sled before the show.

The mushing teams usually are about 10 dogs but it depends on how much is loaded on the sled.

I learned that the front dogs have to be experienced and disciplined. The middle ones are the ones learning to be leaders. The dogs closest to the sled are the young, hyper, energetic ones that give a really strong pull.

The park is closed to all machines and vehicles over the winter. In order to go in you have to be on cross country skiis or on a sled with dogs. There are only 5 people who work at the park all winter. Those that work with the dogs for patrolling the park for poachers, taking supplies to scientists and stuff like that. Each dog runs over 1,000 miles every winter and they really love their work.

This is the ranger who works with the dogs and told us all about them. I'm actually thinking that I might want to be a ranger some day, maybe in college during the summer time. I think it would be really fun to work with nature and help preserve it.

I lost my tooth last night!!! Next we get on the train and head back to Anchorage. I wish we had more time to hike around the park more; it was kind of a short part of the trip.

This is me in front of the town of Denali. Those buildings are restaurants and stores. All the stores are having 50% off sales since this is the last weekend that they'll be open. Most of the people who work here are from other places, like Bulgaria, Utah, Arizona, Scotland, Iowa and Minnesota.

This was a really good restaurant called The Salmon Bake and a lot of the wooden posts were shaped like this. We noticed they had this shape with bark on them in the woods. I want to research what this is and why it does this.

Me at the train station. I'm listening to my iPod and wearing my new moose hat until the train comes to take us back to Anchorage.