by Judy Young
“I hope we do,” Toni said.
I’ve seen tons of mountains, Buck thought. I hope I see a bear.
Dad pulled the Green Beast into a parking lot. Shoop pulled his rented RV in a spot beside them. In front of them was the Riley Creek Mercantile.
“We have to get our camping permits here,” Dad said.
As Shoop and Dad talked with the park employee behind the counter, Toni and Buck wandered around the small store. There wasn’t much there. Only a couple of loaves of bread, some cans of baked beans and soup, and a few other groceries were on the sparsely covered shelves. In one corner was a stack of caps with DENALI written on them, a handful of small souvenir pins, and three Denali T-shirts, all size extra-large.
In another corner were some compasses, canteens, and maps. Buck picked up one of the compasses, looked at the price, and dug into his pocket as he walked to the counter. Toni followed him, carrying a bag of marshmallows, the last box of graham crackers, and the only four chocolate bars.
“I got stuff to make s’mores,” she said as Buck put his money on the counter. “I thought it would be fun to have a campfire tonight when it gets dark.”
The park employee laughed and so did Buck.
“What’s so funny?” Toni asked.
“In the summer, the days are really long this far north,” the employee said. She looked at a chart taped to the counter. “Let’s see. August eleventh. The sun won’t set until ten twenty-four tonight.”
“And even then, it won’t get really dark until almost midnight,” Buck added. “I’m still not used to going to bed before the sun sets or having it bright and sunny at five thirty in the morning.”
“We can still have a fire; it just won’t be dark,” Dad assured Toni, and turned to the park employee. “Add three bundles of wood to the bill too, and I need a topographic map of the park and surrounding area.”
“I know where they are,” Toni said. As she hurried to the far corner, Buck followed Shoop out the door to where the wood was stacked. Soon Toni returned and handed Dad the map. Dad paid the employee, took the camping registration papers from the counter, and picked up the bag of groceries.
“Here, take these,” the employee said to Toni. “There’s information about why Alaska is called the land of the midnight sun in one of them.” She handed three little booklets to Toni. Then she gave her three more. “Give this set to your friend.”
Toni looked at the booklets. A blue one said Junior Ranger Activity Guide for Ages 4–8. A green one said the same thing except for ages nine and up. The third, an orange one, said Junior Mountaineering Ranger. It didn’t have an age on it. Toni handed the blue ones back to the employee.
“We’re too old for these,” she said.
“Keep them anyway. They each have different things in them, and there might be something that interests you in that one too.”
“Thank you,” Toni said, and hurried out the door. As she followed the guys back through the parking lot, Toni thumbed through the booklets. Some pages had facts about the park’s plants and wildlife. Others had information about dogsleds, hiking, and mountain climbing. There were drawings of animal tracks, photos of wildlife, and several different activities like scavenger hunts, word puzzles, and Denali bingo games.
“There’s stuff about a compass in the orange book,” Toni said, handing a set to Buck.
Buck took the booklets without a word but didn’t look in them. If I ignore her, he thought, she might decide to go with Shoop. Concentrating on his new compass, he wandered in zigzags all over the parking lot. However, when Dad unlocked the Green Beast’s door, Toni jumped in.
Buck sighed and climbed in after her. Before buckling his seat belt around them, he reached across Toni and dumped his junior ranger booklets inside a storage compartment between the two seats.
As Dad started driving, Toni opened her green booklet to a page with a map. Several stars on the map marked the park’s campgrounds.
“Which campground are we going to?” she asked.
“Teklanika,” Dad answered.
Buck glanced at the map on Toni’s lap. Teklanika Campground was about a third of the way down the only road on the map.
“Why that one?” he asked.
“It’s kind of complex,” Dad said. “There’s only one road, and it goes ninety-two miles into the park. The first fifteen miles is what they call the front country, and people are allowed to drive back and forth on that stretch. But at mile fifteen, there’s a checkpoint, and only those camping at Tek can drive past that point. Tek is another fourteen miles into what they call the backcountry. That’s the farthest anyone can drive. Once you’re at Tek, your vehicle has to stay there, and you have to take shuttle buses to go any farther in.”
“Buses? I thought a ranger would be driving us around,” Buck said.
“Some of the time,” Dad said, “but we’ll be taking buses too. We want to keep our experiences as close as possible to what it’s like for anyone coming to Denali. Anyone with a bus pass can hop on a green bus, go as far as they want, and get off where they want. To get back to the campground, you just hitch a ride with the next green bus that comes along.”
The twisty road was steadily climbing, and wide valleys stretched out to meet mountains rising in the distance.
“This is so beautiful,” Toni stated.
“It sure is,” Dad said. “I think Buck and I have worn the word beautiful out, we’ve used it so many times on this trip.”
“Beautiful, awesome, gorgeous, unbelievably amazing,” Toni said. “We could make a whole thesaurus about this place!”
Buck rolled his eyes, but Dad and Toni took turns seeing who could come up with another word to describe the landscape’s beauty, counting each word as they went. Buck refused to join in and kept his eyes open for bears. Toni had counted thirty-eight words when they pulled up to the checkpoint. Beyond it, the road turned to dirt. Dad rolled down the window as a ranger came up to the Green Beast.
“Hi, I’m Craig. I’ve been expecting you.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dad said, reaching out to shake the ranger’s hand. “I’m Dan Bray. They said you’d meet us here.”
“I’ve been assigned to be your escort and have been looking forward to seeing this monster in person,” Craig said, looking up and down the Green Beast. “Pretty awesome ride.”
“It’s been all over the world, in some pretty rugged places,” Dad said. He handed the ranger the registration papers. Craig looked through them.
“You’ll need to write your name on this one and clip it to the post at your campsite. And this other one is your permit to drive to Tek. Tape it in the corner of the windshield.” Craig handed Dad back the permits and a piece of tape.
“I know who Mr. Bray is; I’ve seen his shows,” Craig said, looking around Dad. “But what are your names?”
“I’m Buck, and this is Antoinette,” Buck said, grinning.
“I go by Toni, spelled with an i,” Toni cut in quickly, elbowing Buck in his sore arm.
“Well, welcome to Denali. I’m looking forward to having some fun with you guys,” Craig said, then turned back to Dad. “Let me see those papers again.”
Craig shuffled through them. “Only you and Buck are registered with this vehicle. I’m going to have to call in to get Toni on the permit.”
“You’re in trouble now,” Buck whispered, but Toni ignored him and leaned around Dad.
“I’m not with them,” she told Craig. “I’m with Shoop. In the RV behind us.”
Craig glanced toward the back of the Green Beast, a puzzled look on his face. Buck checked the side-view mirror. Nothing was behind them.
“Only one road and that man can still get lost,” Dad said. He shook his head, but there was a smile on his face.
“Maybe he stopped to look at some wildlife,” Craig suggested. “There’s been a black bear in the area back there. We’ll wait a few minutes.”
It wasn’t long before Shoop’s RV pulled up, and
sure enough, Shoop had stopped to watch a bear. Buck sighed.
“Everybody has seen a bear but me,” he complained.
“Don’t worry,” Craig said. “Keep your eyes peeled. I’m pretty sure you’ll see some. Farther into the park, a grizzly and its cubs have been hanging around pretty close to the road lately. And we’ve been keeping our eye on a male bear near there too.”
Craig gave the side of the Green Beast a slap. “All set. I’ll stop in at Tek this evening to go over our plans.”
Dad pulled through the gate, Shoop followed, and they headed up the narrow dirt road. Although Buck’s eyes scoured the surrounding landscape, he didn’t see a single bear in the forty-five-minute drive from the checkpoint to Teklanika Campground.
Tek Campground had two loops. Dad circled counterclockwise through the first loop, slowing at each campsite that was not occupied.
“This place seems deserted,” Buck said.
“Yeah,” agreed Toni. “There are plenty of RVs and tents, but no one’s around.”
“They’re probably all on buses for the day,” Dad said. “Let’s see what’s in the second loop.”
“How about that spot?” Toni asked as they turned into the other loop.
“Too close to the outhouse,” Buck said. “It may smell. And you don’t want the inside of the loop. Those sites aren’t as private.”
“I guess Shoop’s not worried about it.” Dad laughed, looking in his rearview mirror. “He’s backing in.”
Dad continued driving. As the one-way road curved to the left, Buck called out.
“That’s the one.”
“The corner one on the right?”
“Yeah, it’s got a lot of trees separating it from the other sites.”
“I think you’re right.”
As Dad backed the Green Beast into the campsite, Buck looked out the window. A path just beyond the picnic table and fire ring led into the woods.
“Can we see where that goes?” Buck asked as he jumped out of the cab.
“Go tell Shoop where we are first,” Dad said, “and see if he needs any help. Then we’ll all go exploring together.”
Buck and Toni raced each other up the road and helped Shoop get his camp set up.
When they got back to the Green Beast, Dad had sandwiches made.
“After we eat,” Dad told Shoop, “I want to show you the scripts Buck and I have come up with.”
“I thought we were going exploring,” Buck complained.
“First things first,” Dad said. “We’ll go as soon as we can.”
Buck sighed. “Can I at least check out the campground?”
“I don’t know,” Dad said. He was already looking through papers. He never even looked up.
“We’ll stay together,” Toni added.
“Okay,” Dad answered, “if it’s okay with Shoop.”
“I’m good with it.”
Buck looked at Toni. I guess having a girl around is better than nobody, he thought.
“And the path, too?” Buck added.
“Yeah,” Dad said. “I checked it out while you were helping Shoop. It doesn’t go very far. Just stay together.”
Buck stuffed the last bite of sandwich into his mouth. “Let’s go!”
The first place they headed was down the path.
TAKE 3:
“AS BIG AS THEY ARE, A CARIBOU’S ANTLERS CANNOT PROTECT IT FROM A POWERFUL GRIZZLY.”
Just as Dad had said, the path wasn’t very long. It cut a narrow swath through the forest and ended at the wide rocky bed of the Teklanika River. The glacial river was the same gray color as the rocks. It didn’t even look like real water. The powerful force from the slow movement of glaciers ground up rocks and filled the water with grit, making it look more like liquid cement. Instead of stretching from bank to bank, the water rushed in narrow channels that intertwined and alternated with wide gravel bars. Buck and Toni stood on the bank a couple of feet above one of the gravel bars.
“I can see why the junior ranger book said the rivers here are called braided rivers,” Toni said. She started to turn back toward the campground, but Buck jumped down.
“You shouldn’t be going out there,” Toni said. Buck ignored her and walked away.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Toni said louder. “You shouldn’t go out there.”
Buck stopped and turned around. “What’s the big deal? It’s not like we’ll get lost on a riverbed.”
“What if a bear’s out there?”
“If there was a bear out here, you’d see it.”
“Not necessarily. It could be hiding.”
“Where?”
“There,” Toni said, pointing to a grove of willow trees growing on one of the gravel bars just upstream from them. “That’s so thick, you can’t see if there’s anything in there or not.”
“If you’re so worried, we won’t go that direction.” Buck turned downstream. After a few yards he turned back to Toni.
“Are you coming or not?”
“I guess,” she said, “but only because your dad told us we had to stay together.”
Toni jumped down, and they walked to the edge of the first river channel. It was only about two feet wide, but the water was so gray, it was impossible to tell how deep it was. Buck squatted at the edge and reached in up to his elbow.
“It’s freezing!” he said, and splashed water at Toni. Toni splashed him back.
“And gritty,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “I wouldn’t want to have to drink it.”
They jumped across the narrow stream and ran to the next channel. The water in this channel was racing, wild and turbulent. It was way too wide to jump across. They followed the churning water downstream until they came to a long mudflat. It was the color of a dark rain cloud and looked really gooey. Buck stood in the gravel at the edge of the mud, bending his knees and swinging his arms forward and backward.
“You aren’t going to jump in that, are you?” Toni asked.
“Why not?”
“You’ll sink in over your knees.”
Buck grinned at Toni, still bending his knees and swinging his arms.
“I’m not coming in after you if you get stuck,” she warned.
Buck laughed and sprang as far as he could, but when he landed it wasn’t gooey at all. It was almost solid, like wet sand. Buck stomped around and looked at his footprints. The soles of his shoes made a pattern of little triangles in the gritty mud. Toni joined him. Her shoes left rows of zigzags.
They continued walking downstream, sometimes on gravel bars, sometimes making tracks on mudflats. They had just run to another mudflat and Buck was mid-jump when Toni yelled out.
“Watch out! Don’t land on them.”
Buck’s feet landed only an inch away from two different impressions.
“Wow! That’s a bear print. Look at how long the claw marks are. It could rip you right open with just one swipe.” Buck slashed through the air with his fingers curled like claws.
“That other one’s a caribou,” Toni stated.
“How do you know? It could be a moose or maybe a deer.”
“I bet you it isn’t. I bet you it’s a caribou.”
“What are you going to bet?”
“A chocolate bar.”
“I don’t have a chocolate bar.”
“Yeah, you do. I got one for each of us at the mercantile. You in?”
“In,” said Buck. He pulled out his camera and took a picture of the tracks. Then he put his foot between the two prints and took another picture.
“You’re going to lose,” Toni said, squatting down to examine the prints. “First off, there aren’t any deer in this part of Alaska.”
“How do you know?”
“I read it in the junior ranger booklet.”
“It could still be a moose,” Buck said, shrugging.
“Nope,” Toni said. “There are pictures of animal tracks in the booklet too. A moose track is long and looks like an upside-down heart divi
ded in half. Caribou tracks are more rounded, kind of a horseshoe shape.”
Saying nothing, Buck quickly walked away, kicking at the gravel. But suddenly he stopped short.
“Toni, look at that!” he said, instantly forgetting his irritation at being tricked out of a chocolate bar.
“What?” Toni asked, hurrying to catch up.
About two hundred yards downstream, the riverbed turned to the right. Standing on a gravel bar was a huge bull caribou. It was stripping leaves from willow bushes.
“Wow! Look at the size of his rack,” Toni said. Its antlers curved in a huge semicircle. “Have you ever seen a caribou before?”
“Not in the wild.” Buck took out his camera, zoomed in, and clicked. “It’s not paying any attention. I bet we could get closer.”
“It says in the booklet not to approach wildlife.”
“We won’t be. If we go over to the bank, we can creep closer through the woods. It won’t even know we’re there.”
“Okay,” Toni agreed. “It’s a few feet higher up on the bank too. You’ll be able to get a better shot.”
Buck and Toni crept toward the bank, keeping the caribou in sight. The caribou didn’t notice them as they sneaked closer through the cover of the forest. As Buck took more pictures, it continued eating leaves from one willow to the next along the near side of the wide band of turbulent water.
“Holy cow!” Buck suddenly cried out.
A huge grizzly rushed out from a thicket a little farther downstream and headed straight toward the caribou. The grizzly covered the hundred yards in just a few seconds, leaving the caribou no time to turn and run. The caribou put its head down in defense, its rack extending toward the bear. It charged, but its threatening rack did not intimidate the grizzly. The bear attacked. It forced its head between the lunging antlers and raised up on its hind legs, its front claws gripping the sides of the caribou’s neck. The caribou continued its headlong charge. It pushed the bear backward into the rushing water, but the bear hung on and the caribou was pulled into the water too. It twisted and bucked over and over, trying to throw the bear off, water flying in all directions. But the bear hung on.