If I Were Going...: An Unexpected Visit and Moving On

This first part of this post has few photos taken by me. It's a lesson in unexpected surprises and the power of the brain to close off possibilities.

What Happened?

We were here

After our day on Kenai Fjords, we were exhausted. The waves, damp, wind and standing for the entire duration of the trip really takes it out of you.

We grabbed a pizza and drove north to the Ptarmigan Creek Campground, ate and crashed. I even briefly considered sleeping in my jeans - that's how tired I was.

Campsite; Photo: Alaska.org

Ptarmigan Creek is a basic National Forest campground (it's in Chugach National Forest) with a pit toilet and lots of vegetation. It is fairly remote, so I was a bit concerned about (well, really, just cognizant of the possibility of) Bears, especially Grizzlies.

The campsite was off a curved road. I woke up about 4 a.m. and got out of the trailer to go to the bathroom, which was just about 20 yards around the curve to the right. When I stepped on the road, I suddenly realized there was a large animal in the road to the left. I stopped and looked at it and it looked at me. Then, it quietly slipped into a campsite two slots down. I was perplexed. I had no idea what it was. At first, I thought it was a large dog, but it wasn't quite right.

It was tall with very, very long legs, somewhat like a great dane, but its legs were thicker and not shaped like a dog's. It was a cream color like a very blond Grizzly, but its legs were too long and its body too slim to be a bear (by size, it would have been a cub).

Its face was round without a prominent nose with darker brown markings.

I knew it wasn't a Wolf or a Coyote.

I figured a very odd dog, so I actually walked toward where it disappeared to get a better look, but it was gone.

I went to the bathroom and back to bed. When Scott got up, I described it and he was puzzled too. I even went for a walk to see it there was a dog around. No and the campsite it had come from wasn't occupied. I did, however, see a snowshoe hare.

A good place for information

So, we took off, heading toward Homer and I kept puzzling over the strange animal. As we neared Homer, we decided the landscape was getting boring, so we decided to turn around. I saw a sign for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, so we ducked into the Visitors Center.

Scott suggested I ask the Ranger. The first thing I mentioned in my description was the oddly long legs, and she said, "was it a Lynx?" I said I didn't think so; it was too big and it was creamy, not tabby-like.

She countered by saying coats vary, coastal Lynxes are much larger than inland Lynxes (which I have seen before) and that long legs are a major Lynx feature. She also said they are famous for the ability to step into the bushes and disappear. Then, she pointed out a stuffed one right behind me.

OMG! It WAS a Lynx. I have seen small ones in Denali, but never a big one. And, the stuffed one had the creamy coat, not the tabby stripes. Yikes, I stood about 10 yards from and stared down a large Lynx.

It's interesting that it never occurred to me that it was a Lynx because I didn't really know the variety in coats.

My extraordinary photo from 2001

Oddly, I had seen a stuffed one earlier with a less striped coat and was second-guessing whether the one we saw in 2001 was really a Lynx. It was.

I had never seen a standing Lynx that wasn't in tall grass.

Plus, I didn't clearly see the ear tufts on the one I faced down.

See the pix below -- long legs, creamy coat (the one I saw was much less marked than this) and flat face.

Photo: Anchorage Daily news

I will NEVER go to the toilet without my camera again!!!

Back to Anchorage

A laid back few days – in Anchorage for oil change, laundry and miscellaneous errands. Had a great meal at Yak & Yeti, a Himalayan restaurant, plus visited the Anchorage Market.

Then we drove around in the mountains above the city.

Looking down on Anchorage

We didn’t make it to the Solstice Celebration!

Here's what summer solstice looks like in Alaska

We did see a porcupine!

A North American Porcupine in a tree

Plus, we spent a loooooong time in very strong wind waiting for the bore tide to come up Turnagain Arm. It was supposed to be a good tide and strong wind from Portage is supposed to make it better.