by Judy Young
After inspecting a wood frame backpack used by early mountaineers and a canvas tent they slept in, Buck went over to the big picture window. There was no view of Denali, just fog. To the side of the large window was a table filled with pelts. Grizzly, black bear, lynx, wolf. The furs were right beside a long counter, where two rangers stood ready to answer visitors’ questions. At that moment no visitors were there, and the two rangers were talking to each other. As Buck stroked the furs, he could hear them plainly. He listened intently until a lady came up to inquire about restrooms and put an end to the rangers’ conversation.
Buck looked around the large room. Toni was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a huge quilt hanging at the far end. She had her sketchbook out.
“Isn’t this cool?” Toni said as Buck rushed up. “The quilt has the whole mountain and all sorts of flowers and animals that are here in the park too. Since we can’t see Denali today, I’m sketching it from the quilt.”
Toni held up the sketchbook to show Buck, but he barely glanced at it.
“I have important news. The cubs are missing!”
“Missing?”
“Yeah, that’s why the sow was so upset. She can’t find her cubs.”
“How do you know?”
“I overheard some rangers.”
“The cubs were there last night when we drove by after the moose shot,” Toni said. “They were all still eating blueberries. What do they think happened to them?”
“No one knows. One of the rangers said the cubs might have wandered off and gotten lost, but the other said sows keep pretty good track of their cubs, so that wasn’t very likely.”
“Remember how Craig said a male bear was hanging around that area? Maybe it killed them,” Toni said.
“They talked about that, too, but said there wasn’t any evidence. If a boar killed them, the rangers would have seen the cubs’ bodies or a food cache, but they didn’t. They didn’t see anything.”
“What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know, but I do know one thing. The cubs didn’t just disappear into thin air.”
TAKE 11:
“GRIZZLIES WANDER OVER LOWER ELEVATIONS DURING THE SUMMER BUT SEEK HIGHER GROUNDS TO HIBERNATE.”
A voice called out through the room, announcing that those signed up for the compass class were to meet on the patio.
“I wish we could be with Craig today,” Buck said as he and Toni headed out the door. “If he’s still there when we go back, maybe we could get off the bus.”
“They’re not even letting the buses stop for pictures there,” Toni said. “No way they’d stop to let two kids off.”
“You’re probably right,” Buck said.
K’eyush was waiting on the patio. Because of the weather, only a few people showed up. There were two older women and a young couple who spoke German to each other but understood English, too.
“Hey, Gerald and Romana are over there,” Toni said. She and Buck headed across the patio toward the Rails.
“Gerald, it’s our friends!” Romana said. “How’s your finger, Toni?”
Toni held up her hand. “Much better. It’s still purple, but the swelling has gone down.”
K’eyush introduced herself and started handing out compasses to anyone who didn’t have one when a man’s voice called out from behind them.
“Is this the compass class?”
Everyone turned around. A family of five was hurrying down the stairs from the parking lot.
“Declan!” Buck called out just as Toni said, “Anna!”
K’eyush waited while the family came to stand beside Buck and Toni. “Welcome,” she stated. “You’re just in time.”
As K’eyush explained the basics of a compass, Buck whispered to Declan, “Did you just get here?”
“No, we’ve been here for about an hour. We hiked up that trail on the other side of the road.”
“So you were on the first bus. Did you see a bear with two cubs just after the Toklat rest area?”
“We saw a bear but not any cubs. The bear was really upset. We stayed there for a long time, and our driver radioed in to the rangers that something seemed wrong. Why? What’s going on?”
“That bear has two cubs, but they’re missing.”
Buck started to explain more, but K’eyush interrupted. “Are you guys coming?”
The rest of the group had moved over to the table where K’eyush was opening a map and spreading it out. Buck and Declan hurried over.
“This is a topographical map,” K’eyush explained. “See all those squiggly lines? They’re called contour lines, and they show elevation.”
“What’s elevation mean?” Liam asked.
“How high up you are,” Declan answered.
“Right,” K’eyush said. “The closer together the lines are, the steeper the hill is.”
“It must be really steep there,” Buck said, pointing to a place where the lines were so close together, they were almost on top of one another.
“Probably there’s a cliff there,” K’eyush explained.
“See that line, the one that makes a little circle near the Stony Dome overlook?” Toni said, pointing out a spot to Anna. Declan, Romana, and Gerald leaned over Toni’s shoulders to see where she was pointing. “It’s really flat right there, and we found a Dall sheep horn in a rockslide nearby.”
“Wicked!” Declan said, and turned to his dad. “When we get done here, can we go find the sheep horn?”
“That would be fun,” Romana said to Gerald. “We were talking about hiking after the class. Maybe we should try there.”
“Show us again. Exactly where did you see the horn?” the German couple said.
“Yes, where is it, honey?” one of the older women asked.
K’eyush interrupted everyone’s excitement about the sheep horn as she started showing them how to lay a compass on the map.
“You shouldn’t have told about the sheep horn,” Buck quietly scolded Toni.
“You told first.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. You told K’eyush out in the parking lot.”
“But I didn’t point it out on a map. Now it will be just like Craig said. Everybody and their brother will be up there.”
Toni turned her back on Buck as K’eyush continued explaining how to determine directions and coordinates.
“Couldn’t you use a GPS device instead of a compass?” Buck asked.
“Yes, but even those who use GPS devices should have and know how to use a compass and map. A GPS device may tell you to go northwest at two hundred and seventy-three degrees, but it might not tell you that a cliff or a river is right in your path.”
“Yeah, and your battery could go dead,” Liam spoke up.
K’eyush smiled. “How old are you?”
“Seven.”
“Well, you’re absolutely right,” K’eyush said. “So we’re going to play a game to learn how to use less technology and become more self-reliant. First, I want you to get in teams.”
K’eyush handed several laminated maps to Liam. “Here, give one to each team.” As Liam handed out the maps, K’eyush continued, “Use your compass to follow the coordinates on the back of your map. Don’t just follow another team. You should all end up in different places.”
Buck and Declan finished at the flagpole on the patio. Toni and Anna ended at the picnic table. Liam and his parents were near the entrance doors. The German couple stood on the stairs, and Romana and Gerald were coming toward the patio from another direction. When the two older women reached their destination, K’eyush called everyone back to the picnic table.
“It looks like everybody ended up where they were supposed to,” she said. “And I have a special award for Liam. A junior ranger badge for being the youngest in the group to complete the compass course.” As K’eyush pinned a gold badge, similar to the ones the rangers wore, on Liam’s shirt, Buck pulled Declan, Toni, and Anna aside.
“Declan, why don’t you and Anna talk your parents into going hiking to the sheep horn, and Toni and I will show you the way?”
“That sounds great!” Declan exclaimed, and he and Anna rushed off to their parents.
Toni turned to Buck. “I thought you didn’t want to tell people where it is.”
“The sky is beginning to clear up. We may be able to see what the rangers are doing with the mother bear from up there.”
“You can’t see that from where the sheep horn is.”
“Not from there, but remember when we skirted around to the front of the mountain and could see the road below us?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think—”
Declan and Anna returned, interrupting Toni.
“Dad says Liam’s too tired for another hike and Mom wants to look around in the center,” Declan said.
“Sorry,” Anna added. They said good-bye just as K’eyush came over, holding a box of compasses and maps.
“I’ll go put these away,” K’eyush said, “and then escort you to a bus.”
“We’re heading for a bus too.” Romana had come up behind them. “They can come with us.”
“Will that be okay with you two?” K’eyush asked.
“Sure,” Buck said.
“Thank you,” K’eyush said to Romana, then she turned back to Buck and Toni. “It’s been nice meeting you. I’ll make sure I watch your show.”
Buck and Toni followed the Rails onto a bus. This time the driver was a woman. She whispered to Buck and Toni, “The best views going back will be on the right.”
Buck slid into the first vacant right-side seat he saw. Toni sat beside him. Romana found a seat three seats behind them, but Gerald had stopped to talk with the bus driver. As he headed back toward Romana, he stopped beside Buck and Toni.
“I asked the bus driver to let us off at the bottom of Stony Dome,” Gerald said. “Why don’t you guys come hiking with us? You could show us where that sheep horn is.”
“Sure!” Buck said without any hesitation. Toni started to say something, but the bus driver’s voice through the intercom cut her off.
“Be seated quickly, please,” she said. “We’re ready to go.” Gerald hurried to his seat.
“I don’t think we should go without our dads’ permission,” Toni told Buck. “They’ll be really angry if we do.”
“It will be okay,” Buck said. “It’s not like we’re going with strangers. And I know we’ll be able to see what’s going on from up high.”
“What if the bus driver won’t let us off?”
“We got on the bus with the Rails, so she probably thinks we belong to them. She’ll let us all off together. So, are you in?”
“I guess so, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
A few miles down the road, just before going up the hairpin turns, the bus pulled to a stop and the four got off.
“Good luck, intrepid hikers!” the driver said. She gave them a salute before she closed the door and continued down the road.
As Romana snapped a fanny pack around her waist, Gerald opened a side pocket on his backpack and pulled out a canister of bear spray. Then Buck led the way across the valley, heading toward the knuckle ridge.
This time they saw no caribou. Nor did they see any other animals as they hiked up the mountain. Leading the way, Buck went around the rock pile and had just gone over the rise when he stopped short. In the middle of the flat below him, two short parallel lines smashed down the tundra.
“What an unusual feature,” Gerald said. “Who would expect such a big flat piece of land way up here in these mountains?”
“Where’s the sheep horn? Is it down there?” Romana asked.
“No, it’s on the side of that mountain over there,” Buck said, pointing to the left. “Go on down. I have to tie my shoe.”
Romana and Gerald started down, angling toward the mountain on the left. Toni started to go too, but Buck put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.
“Did you see those lines?” Buck whispered when the Rails were out of earshot.
“Yeah, where do you think they came from?”
“I don’t know. Straight parallel lines don’t happen in nature.”
Buck took a couple of pictures, and they started down the hill.
“You know what else is weird?” he said.
“What?”
“When you looked down there just now, what was the first thing that caught your eye?”
“The lines.”
“Right,” Buck said. “Gerald didn’t mention the lines at all. All he said was it was flat.”
“Yeah, but we saw it without those lines yesterday, so to us they really stand out. But he might think they’ve been there all along, just part of the tundra.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Romana and Gerald had slowed their pace as they started to climb the other mountain. Buck and Toni easily caught up with them. Buck took up the lead, skirting the side of the mountain as they had done with Craig. As soon as the rockslide was in sight, Gerald rushed ahead, almost running.
“Is this it? Is it the right rockslide?” It was only a few seconds before Gerald called back again. “Romana, come over here and look at this. It’s fabulous! A perfect specimen!”
Romana hurried over. Gerald took off his backpack, leaned down, and picked up the horn. Then he did the same thing Buck had done the day before. He held it to his head.
“Get the camera out,” Gerald said. After taking several pictures, Gerald looked at his watch.
“We’d better get going,” he said. “We have a bus to catch.”
“We’ll keep skirting this mountain and then drop back down to the valley so we won’t have to backtrack,” Buck said. He picked up the sheep horn and put it back in the rockslide.
Gerald reached down and picked up his backpack, but instead of swinging it up onto his shoulders, he put it back down onto the ground.
“You guys go on ahead. I have to make a nature call,” Gerald said. “I’ll catch up with you.”
“Just a second,” Romana said. She took off her fleece and handed it to Gerald. “Put this in your backpack. I’m getting hot.”
“That’s why I carry this big old thing around,” Gerald said teasingly as he stuffed the red fleece inside. “I have to carry all the stuff Romana just has to bring.”
“Well, you never know what you might need,” Romana said in defense as she, Buck, and Toni walked away. When they were out of Gerald’s sight, Romana suggested they stop and wait. “We don’t want to get too far away from him. It’s safer to stay in a group.”
“Yeah, and he’s got the bear spray,” Toni added.
When Gerald caught up, they continued skirting the mountain until they reached where the valley spread out beneath them and the road stretched out beyond that. Buck lifted his binoculars. He followed the road as far as he could, hoping to see the ranger trucks parked near the grizzly sow.
“What do you see?” Toni asked.
“Nothing. The road curves behind a hill. You can’t see a thing,” Buck said as he let the binoculars hang from his neck.
The rest of the way down the mountain and back to the road was uneventful. Buck followed Craig’s way down almost exactly, choosing specific draws and slopes and avoiding others.
“It’s amazing how I can recognize rocks and even bushes we passed yesterday,” he told Toni.
At the road, Gerald took off his bear spray and stowed it in a pocket in his backpack. He stretched his back and rubbed his shoulders as they waited for a green bus to take them back to Tek. They didn’t wait long, though. Soon a bus pulled over, and its doors opened.
Buck and Toni kept their eyes peeled as they drove past where the rangers had been parked. They were surprised there were no trucks, no cones, no signs, and, looking as hard as they could, no bears. Not even the grizzly sow. Disappointed, they sat back as the bus continued its long journey to Tek.
TAKE 12:
“
A GRIZZLY’S EYESIGHT IS AS GOOD AS A HUMAN’S AND UNLIKE SOME ANIMALS, IT CAN SEE IN COLOR.”
Buck and Toni didn’t get back to the campground until almost suppertime. When they walked into the campsite, Dad stuck his head out the door.
“Did you kids have fun at the compass class?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was great,” Buck said as they headed toward the Green Beast. “And guess what. The bear cubs are missing! The rangers are trying to figure out where they are.”
“I’m sure they will,” Dad said dismissively. “But come on in here. We can’t wait to show you what we got done today. You’re going to love it.”
Buck and Toni climbed into the Green Beast. The four of them squished around the table where Shoop’s laptop sat. Shoop ceremoniously pushed play.
“This is so cool!” Buck said as the video started. “There I am sneaking through the tundra! It looks just like a real TV show!”
“It will be, dude,” Shoop said, chuckling.
Soon a grizzly with two cubs could be seen in the distance, feasting on blueberries. With the bears behind him, Buck also started eating blueberries. At one point, the camera zoomed in on the darker cub until it nearly filled the screen. The sow stood up on her hind legs and roared. The dark cub raced back to its mother. She spanked it and they returned to eating blueberries. At the same time, Buck’s voice could be heard saying, “We’re using a powerful zoom lens to see the bears up close. No one should ever approach a bear. Remember, we’re not on top of the food chain here in Denali!” At that, the video cut over to the scene showing the grizzly taking down the caribou.
“Wow!” Buck said. He could tell why Dad and Shoop were so excited. “That’s unbelievable! It’s all out of order, but it doesn’t look like it.”
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” Toni said, “I would have thought it really happened just this way.”