On Tuesday we hiked a few miles of the Triple Lakes Trail in Denali National Park, starting at the southern terminus on the Parks Highway. We brought with us a pamphlet detailing different animal tracks and scat identification and had a field day as we made our way along a ridge line to the beautiful lakes for which the trail was named. We passed squirrel middens, which we learned contain some 30,000 spruce cones digested by EACH RED SQUIRREL. The squirrels cache their food for the winter in this network of burrows underground. We’ve also learned to identify moose scat (both summer and winter varieties) and saw several signs of a happy moose both by tracks and scat along the way. While we didn’t encounter any on the trail itself, we’ve had two separate sightings along the Parks Highway, which have been a highlight of the entire trip thus far for a few of us.

Once we arrived to the first lake, Wells expressed his excitement with some signature moves:

We also saw a beaver lodge in one. And while we didn’t see any wildlife other than squirrels and moose tracks, we did catch Brooke impersonating a fish:

The weather when we started was a bit misty, but when we arrived at Second Lake, we caught some brief sun right after lunch.

After lunch, we played a game called Recorrido, which Patricio introduced us to. This involved camouflaging ourselves into the landscape while he counted down from a nearby stump. The game was a combination of hide-and-go-seek and tag and was a real hit. Then, sated and exhilarated, we headed back out for afternoon adventures.

— Anna & Kevin