Beeman's Cabin at Byers Lake

We camped for a couple of days at Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park, Alaska.  One of the coolest “find” Jeff and Miki made on one of their morning walks was Beeman’s Cabin, a deserted cabin buried in the woods around Byers Lake.  Of course, I went with them to see this treasure in the woods!

 

 

When walking thru the woods, it’s almost easy to miss.  It’s sort of buried, or almost buried, with trees growing from the roof!

 

There are all sorts of warning signs around the cabin, warning not to enter it.  I didn’t, but I did walk around to get a good look at this.  It looks like it’s really old, doesn’t it, including…..

 

….the inside of the cabin, complete with rustic work tables.  I peeked inside the window in the image before this one, and this was what I saw.  I wondered how old this was, as it certainly seemed like an antique.

 

Can’t you just imagine a pioneer, gold rush prospectors, or some other rough and tumble Alaskan setting up a homestead there?  Well……as it turns out, this cabin was built in 1959, the year Alaska became a state.  Darn!  And, I had such a good story going on in my head!!  LOL!!

Enjoy! 

Flowers and Fauna at Byers Lake

As we walked along the paths and trails at Byers Lake, we came across quite a few interesting and different flowers and fauna…..

 

There was such lush greenery all around us and this photo drawing is of some great huge green leaves throughout the wooded area.  I love the lines of the leaves and this drawing effect really serves to show that off.

 

Isn’t this a lovely dwarf dogwood bloom?  There’s something so perfect about how the leaves frame the very small bloom.  It’s delicate but pretty tough to survive and thrive in this area.

 

As we walked the trails, we came across some trees that had moss hanging down.  I always thought of moss in trees as a southern thing, but obviously it can be found in the north as well.

 

Here’s an image of the state flower of Alaska, the fireweed flower.  As you can see, the blooms are slowly making their way to the top.  Once that happens, the summer is over and fall is around the corner.

 

There was something about this birch bark in the greenery that I really liked.  This image has a sort of peaceful feeling about it that I really liked.

Enjoy!

Fabulous Views at Denali State Park

Just down the road a bit from Denali National Park is Denali State Park.  We decided to stop and visit there for a couple of days, to take it what it had to offer, including great views….

 

One of the things the state park offers are some good vantage points of Denali (the mountain).  Of course, it was hiding in the clouds, but this time we managed to see the South Peak (we saw the North Peak while at the actual National Park).  The South Peak is actually the taller of the 2, and many years ago, a climbing expedition known as the Sourdough Expedition climbed to the top of what they thought was the highest point on Denali, the North Point.  How disappointing to find out they missed the mark of the highest point!  The incredible thing about this expedition (which occurred in 1910) was that it was 4 guys with no experience, and they were fueled by hot chocolate and donuts.  Must have been some mighty powerful donuts and cocoa!  The first successful summit of the South Peak happened 3 years later, in the Stuck-Harper Expedition.  Walter Harper, a young local Athabascan Indian, was the first man to stand on that summit.

 

Like the national park, the state park offers up some other great views, other than Denali!  I loved the way the clouds just hugged close the mountains in the Alaska Range (I believe).

Enjoy!