Bluegrass, Boats, and Big, Big Ungulates

We are having a great time getting out and exploring the areas around Talkeetna. This past weekend was the Talkeetna Bluegrass Festival, which is apparently a well known camping and music and substance weekend. We managed to wander over there on Sunday afternoon after most of the crowds had abandoned their tent sites, and we got to see the calmer side of the festival. Everyone was very friendly, and I found a Winnebago that I really like. Hmmm…maybe for the next time we make this trek.
About 45 minutes north of where we are staying is Denali State Park. It is right at the edge of the national park and offers some great views of the mountains around Denali (and Denali itself if there were no clouds). We headed up there and found the perfect place to try out our newly acquired boat. After a quick chat with the information center, we learned that this lake is actually fed by a stream that has a salmon run, so we were eager to get in the water and check it out. The boat was much easier to set up than we anticipated, and we were quickly in the water paddling along. It is amazing. I just love being out on the water and getting to see everything from in the middle of it all. The boat is a trooper and carried the two of us with no problems whatsoever. Off we paddled to the opposite shore where there was a sandbar and the aforementioned salmon. The girl had also mentioned that there were loads of bear scat in the ankle deep water because this is where the bears come and they have even been seen teaching their young how to fish here.
Well, even when we were quite a ways away, we saw lots of waves in the water, and when we got closer, there were coho salmon all around us. They are the brightest red you can imagine and have dark green heads. They swim toward each other and then seem to fight underwater and cause a great disturbance before they all swim in different directions only to repeat the scenario over and over. We paddled up onto the sandbar and just sat and watched them for a good long while (ever alert for hungry bears given that there was indeed scat on the sandbar). It was such an amazing sight! They are huge fish and are so powerful when they swim and the colors are just striking. Definitely worth the trip!
On the way home our nature experience continued when we came upon a great big moose on the side of the road. I did a quick turn around, and we were able to watch him for quite a while until a semi came down the road and he went charging away.
Good day overall!