We woke up as it was just getting light. Got out of
the sleeping bag, big mistake, to find that it was freezing cold with
ice all over the tent. We dressed warm in long underwear, sweaters,
hats, gloves, jackets… and went to cook breakfast (oatmeal and
coffee). We washed in the river (ice cold) and got ready to hike up Polychrome
Mountain.
We spied out our route with our binoculars and were
off. We made our way back up the river, through some tall
willows on the bank, and then up onto the ridge that would lead us to
the top of Polychrome Mountain.
It was a steep climb on a narrow ridge that continually got steeper as
we headed up and up. It was beautiful with 
a variety of plants and flowers. First, we spotted the Alpine
Bear Berry, Soap Berries,
Arctic Poppies, and Arctic
Forget-Me-Nots. About half way up we spotted some Dall
sheep grazing on the high tundra. We were able to get really
close to them before they moved off. Dall sheep are beautiful Animals
with great horns. Toward the top we got above the tundra line and were
hiking in scree (small loose rocks). We some great examples of volcanic
rocks (see the close-up of
these volcanic rocks). Finally, we made it to the top. The
views were awesome. Alaska Range
(South) and the Wyoming hills
(North). Out of nowhere clouds began to roll in. We were worried about
a storm so we had to boogie down. We took a more direct route down.
This was very steep but we were walking most of the way on good dry
tundra. About ¾ of the way down we started to get back into wet
tundra. It started as low shrubs, and then got swampy, and finally
turned into willow hammocks. We were
very worried
because there were bear tracks, bear scat, and other signs that a bear
had been there. So, we had to constantly call, "hey bear" in
our deepest voices. This was to alert bears that we were coming in the
hope that we would scare them off. It worked because we did not run
into a bear. Finally, we made it back to camp. We were tired so we
crawled into the tent and took a short nap. Upon waking we broke camp
and started down river towards the East Fork River (about 2 ½ miles).
The riverbed was good hiking but we kept getting pushed into willow
hammocks and having to cross the river. It was tiring hiking with our
heavy backpacks but we kept catching glimpses great things, Caribou,
waterfalls, and the Wyoming Hills.
After a long hard hike along a small creek bed and through many will
hammocks we finally made it to the East
Fork River. We set up camp and ate dinner (Hot Chocolate and
Rice and Salami) just as it started to drizzle. We got into our
sleeping bags in our tent to keep warm and would peek out once in a
while to great views rays of sun shining through the mountains and a
rainbow. Finally, we nodded off around 8 PM. Another great day
in Denali.
Morning-
Sunny, Cold (ice on tent) 
Evening- Rain
