Anchorage to Denali National Park (Detail added)

We left Anchorage planning to drive to Denali National Park and Preserve and then on to Fairbanks, but after talking to folks before and during this leg of the trip, we decided today that there is more to do in the Anchorage area than in going north to Fairbanks, so we will return to Anchorage. The reason we left Anchorage before being finished there was due to weather forecasts. On average, Denali, (the big one or high one in native language) or you may know it better as Mount McKinley, is only visible on average four days a month. The weather predicted today to be clear, but only for Monday, today. We saw the mountain all day from base to top. Our guide said it is even more rare to see it all day as it often gets covered up by lower clouds most days when it is visible. So we made a good decision to get here when we did. The photos did not do justice to just how big and high it really is. While Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on earth above sea level, it is further south in latitude than Denali, or Mt. McKinley, with less wind. Mt. McKinley is taller from it's base than Everest is. Therefore they both claim to be the tallest mountain along with another in Hawaii.
This day may have been the best yet for both David and me. We saw a fantastic mountain which almost looked like a ghost. We saw 10 bears in 16 different sightings during the day, which were too far away to get good photos. We saw two wolves, again pretty far away, a lynx up close, golden eagles, ground squirrels, and two different moose, or meese, or whatever with their calf! We saw the second pair up close and personal. I decided to get a closer look as the mom was lying down, with the calf standing next to her. As I moved closer, maybe 15 ft. I zoomed in for a photo and she heard my camera and first turned her ear, then her head to look at me. I slowly backpedaled and decided I been close enough! It was a fun eventful day.
We are staying at a fascinating place also, it was originally home steaded in the fifties, however they allowed it into the 70s. They no longer allow home steading, but may open it back up in the future as new roads are built. The current operator of the campground and cabins, the third generation went to the lower 48 to go to school and to get a mate. The place was nice and well kept, but we went walking and found some "strange" things, including a place that looked like it was out of a James Bond movie with a tall privacy fence and a huge metal building all closed up and locked. We decided not to look further as it was posted to keep out and secured by the "owners right to bear arms". There was a windmill generator and old junk cars and other interesting things there too. I did learn that the place produced its own power for years, but now is on public utilities. When I asked about what we had seen, the owner said that it is private property. When I asked again in a different way, he again said that it was private property. Later he said that they lived back there, however it was obvious that they lived in and behind the office, so I decided to not mention it again.
We are just 15 miles from where Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) died in the Denali windneress. We saw and crossed the river that is small in the Spring, but gets wild when the glacier and snows melt later in the summer, which kept him from escaping. That along with not knowing there was a bridge nearby nor what plants of the Alaskan wild are edible is why he died.
I will post more details when I am out of the area and have more time. More to come as I remember it, as today we were worn out with a 12 hour trip and seeing so much.