(We saw something moving on the riverbed in front of us
and stopped. We peered closely noticing the animal's
cat-like movements. It was a lynx! Amazingly, it climbed
almost straight up one of the cliffs lining the riverbed.
At the top of the cliff, it stopped to look down onto us
for a long time before it quickly ran back into the
woods.)
We had a treat during our trip to Denali.
We were among the few people who had seen a Lynx over the
summer. They are rare in Denali and no one really knows how
many Lynx are living there.
We had a just come out of the frigid river
and were silently hurrying along the riverbed trying to get
warm. We stopped quick because we both saw something
moving on the riverbed in front of us. We peered closely
noticing the animal's cat-like movements. It had long legs
and a sleek body with soft looking grayish-brown hair..
It was a lynx!
Even though Lynx usually hunt in the evening
we feel it must have been out for an early morning hunt to
get a breakfast of hare, squirrel, rodents, or ptarmigan.
We were a little frightened by its size. We feel it
was male because they can grow to be 35 pounds while females
usually only grow to be 11 pounds.
Amazingly, it climbed almost straight up one
of the cliffs lining the riverbed. At the top of the cliff,
it stopped to look down onto us for a long time before it
quickly ran back into the woods. A ranger told us that
the Lynx has very interesting feet. It will use its
claws to help it climb steep embankments, like the one we
saw, and to capture prey and fight off predators. Also, in
the winter the Lynx's large broad feet serve as snowshoes
