September 10, 2017

More Caribou (September 3rd)

Another group of Caribou was on the ridge near Eagle Summit!

After driving back from Circle, we stayed at Eagle Summit Wayside for another night.
Just before making supper, we found another group of caribou and went up to the summit again.   This time, we found much more caribou on the ridges around us.

CircleからEagle Summitに戻って、もう一泊車中泊しました。
夕食前にもう一度頂上まで歩いてきたのですが、前日よりもたくさんのカリブーの群れを観察できました。



The tiny dots in the center are caribou.













 こっちに気付いて、警戒しながら
すすんでいきます。

They noticed us.

And they kept moving on.







We spotted another herd on the flat top of farther mountain.

Can you see the tiny dots? 
遠くの方にも群れを発見。

They were getting closer to the edge by the highway.
Can you see the whitish dots?
They are all caribou.

They were going down towards the highway. 
ハイウェイの方に下りてきたかと思うと…

They were crossing the highway! 
大群でまとまって横断し始めました。

Lots of them!
2,3度、このために車が来ないタイミングを見計らっていました。

They were going into fall colors on the other side of highway.


They were blending with fall colors and disappearing.
I can still see bunch of dots in the center.  Can you? 
真ん中らへんに黒い点々があるのが、全部、カリブーです。
紅葉したツンドラに混じってどんどん見えなくなっていきました。

Campanula lasiocarpa (Mountain Harebell or Alaska Harebell).
Only a few of them were still blooming. 
咲き残っていたのはイワギキョウ。


There are some caribou shown on this picture still.



The view from the trail near Eagle Summit Wayside.

A group of caribou showed up by the wayside 
while we were cooking supper! 
夕食を準備中に、駐車場のすぐ近くに
また別の群れがやってきました。


Some of them got pretty big antlers!

Central and Circle (September 3rd)

The blueberry bushes turned red near Central.
Autumn is here now.

On the second day of our trip to Eagle Summit area, we drove all the way to the end of Steese Highway, which is Circle.
We enjoyed beautiful fall colors on the way to Circle.  I saw the Yukon River for the first time.  The river was huge!  All the stones by the shore of the river were smooth and round.

Eagle Summitからさらに足を伸ばし、50マイル強、進んだ所にあるユーコン川沿いのCircleという小さな集落に出かけてきました。
白樺類の黄葉を中心に、ブルーベリーの仲間の紅葉も見られました。

The leaves were getting yellow.

The highway becomes a little rough just after Central, 
but it is fine as long as you are not speeding.

The view of Birch Creek.

Here is the another shot of Birch Creek.

Here is the shot of Circle.

The Yukon River at Circle.

It is a huge river!



H. C. Company Store at Circle.
It seems this is the only store in this community.

The old phone booth was in front of the store.

The Yukon River.

The bridge crossing Birch Creek.

The view of Birch Creek from the bridge.

The bridge over Birch Creek.

Birch Creek.

The birch leaves were getting yellow.


 

The view near Eagle Summit.