Today, we got a relatively early start to check out a Nenana River Ice Jam, then drive to Teklanika in Denali National Park.

We have spent at least 4 hours at a Nenana River ice jam in the past 2 days.  We are fascinated watching the dynamic process, with newly arrived ice crashing into the jam, and existing blocks breaking off and sweeping downstream.  We like looking at stalled ice “targets” and guessing if the next piece of moving ice will make contact and send our target whirling.

This porcupine pictured above sat back on his haunches with his front paws in the air.  His posture to get a better look at us was very cute.  But Most Adorable Porcupine still goes to 2023, below.

The grizzly bear below was far away, but we enjoyed watching him for a long time.  We even saw him cross Teklanika River.  I hoped he would shake on the other side (the icy water HAD to be cold), but he didn’t.  We took the photo below through a scope.

We saw 5 female caribou in the Teklanika area as well (miles east of the bear).

Closer to Savage River, we saw 2 young male caribou grazing.

In Savage River itself, we saw our first Harlequin Duck of the season.   The photo below is from an earlier year at the same location.

Altogether today, we saw one each: Snowshoe Hare,  Porcupine,  Grizzly Bear,  Moose,  Harlequin Duck, and Dall Sheep.  We also saw 7 Caribou, 2 Gray Jays, and at least 25 Ptarmagin.

We ended our exploration with another stop at the ice jam, which was behaving impressively.