We woke up for the morning check in at 9am. After packing gear for the day we sat by the lake for a while, eating breakfast of eggs and apple, enjoying the view, watching the pair of arctic loons here, and osprey. We hiked south across the tundra toward the other lake on our map, which turned out to be the smaller of two lakes that way. It was surrounded by brush and some trees. We hiked down in and along the shoreline where we saw strange plants, prints from grizzlies, moose, and fox. This is the direction yesterday morning's bear was headed so we weren't surprised to see lots of bear sign. There are many snails in all of the lakes here and we looked at lots of shells along the receded shoreline. I heard a frog too, but couldn't locate him for a photograph. Wish I had, these wood frogs are amazing, surviving winter by producing a natural antifreeze-like substance that keeps the insides of their cells from freezing. The water between cells freezes as they hibernate, spending eight months of the year or so frozen, with no heartbeat. We climbed up and out of the lake and continued on to what we saw was another lake. It was much bigger. We lunched in the shade of a tree above the lake: more cheese and crackers, then hiked along to upper bank, planing to go around the lake and back to camp from the other side. As we hiked along, there was a loon floating and calling, making the variety of goofy sounds loons can make. Then suddenly he let out a loud "yip!" before quickly diving. It sounded and looked like he was grabbed from below, maybe eaten by a lake monster. We had a good laugh.

Instead of hiking around the lake we hit a spot at the southwest edge where the turn of a creek (the one from the northern Rainbow Lake) runs tangent to this lake, passing in and right back out with a small island to define the edge between lake and creek. We went down to the bank and found lots of moose sign and trails. We got back up and out and headed back toward camp, pausing again at our lunch spot for a break in the shade. On the way back we went down into the lake bed instead of around, taking a short cut. Such incredible views from down there, the sky and light with the mountains, color of the green grasses, and flowering cotton grass was amazing.

On our slow hike back to camp across the tundra, Tyler spotted a bear along the water edge on the south east side of our lake. That makes five grizzlies we've seen so far. It disappeared into the brush. We headed back into the woods near camp to burn more of the wood from that camp, spending about three hours. We were exhausted from a very long day of tundra travel, which equaled maybe 4-5 miles as the crow flies. Dinner was noodles and red sauce with mushrooms and canned peaches for dessert. I dipped into the lake for a sponge bath that felt amazing. We read and wrote for a while, enjoying the view, and pausing to make note of the many planes that flew nearby, up the Kelly River. We had been asked to keep track of planes with numbers or descriptions. Part of our backcountry duties.

Another late bedtime with the sun still up in the sky. As I periodically wake in the night, I've noticed that the darkest time seems to be around 4am, and it's still not what I would call dark.

Out tents, looking south.

A couple of Osprey we saw while eating breakfast.

Our pair of Arctic Loons.

Ranger Tyler, geared up and ready to hike!

Looking behind us, north, at our tents, the lake, and mountains beyond.

Panorama of the view north.

Looking south at our first destination.

Looking east from down in the lake bed.

The water level was low, exposing mud, plants, and animal sign.

Looking east.

Looking south.

Panorama looking south.

Love these little plants, like miniature trees.

The little plants in context.

Animal tracks! Bear and fox.

Unidentified plants. Working on identifying...

More bear tracks.

Perfect grizzly tracks, one front foot and one rear.

Tyler walking along the tracks for context.

Closeup of the little plants.

Still more tracks: bird of some kind.

A bit of salmon, likely leftover from a bear's meal.

Found some flowering plants.

Bear scat, plenty of berry consumption going on here.

One of the snails we found so many of.

From across the lake this looked like something much more fascinating, a beaver den or something. Still interesting though.

A last view back at this lake on our way to lunch and the next lake.

The south end of the next, and bigger, lake.

Looking across.

Looking east across this lake.

The lake and small island at the tangent point of the creek and lake.

Closeup of the island.

The island from the bank of the north side of the creek.

Looking towards the lake from the creek.

Looking back down on the area.

Panorama of the area.

Looking west as we hiked north out of the creek bank.

Looking north toward the other lake and our lake.

Carribou antler, one of many we've found.

West across the big lake.

Closeup.

The northern shoreline.

A drainage stream into the north end of this bigger lake where we took a shortcut across to get back to camp.

View from the northern shore.

Looking south from the norther shore.

looking south and west from the northeast shore.

The northwest shore of this big lake.

The west shore.

A view of the lake where you can see under the water.

Hiking north across the tundra toward camp.

Panorama of tundra.

A view of our tents from the east side of the smaller lake.

View across the smaller lake.

The smaller lake.

Last view of the smaller lake.

A view of the mountains across Lower Rainbow Lakes from near where we had our fire.

And another view.

Another still night by the lake.

Looking south along Lower Rainbow Lake.

Watching the golden light engulf the landscape. It lasts from evening until midnight.

More great light.

Lake of glass.

I was photographing compulsively at this point. Just couldn't stop.

Love the rich colors the grasses pick up through the evening.

A duck, likely Northern Shoveler, with reflections of the opposite shore.

Still another view.

Last view of the lake for this night.

Today was spent hiking north to the other of the Rainbow Lakes then west to a creek that flows south out of the lake.

We were up about 9am and made our morning check in call to Denali Dispatch (we're Noatak R1 at Rainbow Lakes). While checking the distant tundra for bear, Tyler spotted one crossing from south of our lake over toward the lakes to the west. That's two grizzlies so far. Breakfast was two hard boiled eggs and an apple. We tried to lay things out to dry more, got packed up, and headed out to explore. We went north along the tree line, but well out onto the tundra so we could see for bears, to upper Rainbow Lake. Along the way, looking back at one point, we saw a mama grizzly and her cub coming out of the trees near where we'd walked past. The wind was in our favor and when she caught our scent she quickly pushed back into the trees with her cub. That's now four grizzlies. Made us wonder how many more bears were around that we're not aware of. This is clearly a great location for them, with these two lakes that don't freeze in the winter and offer year round access to salmon and other fish. As we approached the thick brush around the lake, there was an obvious trail used by bears and likely other wildlife. It was the best option for making it to the lake, but we were both a little nervous walking along this trail full of bear sign. On the way in was sign of bear and moose. We got to the lake edge, it was lovely but when we saw the quantity of fish in the water and along the shore, we did not loiter. This is clearly a favorite place for the bears. We headed toward the west and south to get down to the creek that runs from the northern lake. We had a bright blue day with spotty cumulus clouds, which always makes for great photographing. The views along the creek were spectacular. We were wearing rubber boots that hit at the upper calf, which is great for the spotty wet patches in the tundra, also for wading in along the edges of the creek, even crossing some of the more shallow areas. The further in we got the better the views were. At one point Tyler made it to an area that I couldn't get to, his boots are a little taller than mine and mine would have flooded. He came back and loaned me his boots so I could get over and see a stand of dead trees. While there, he hollered to look up and I caught photos of a Northern Harrier flying over.

We headed back toward camp around 1pm, arriving about 2pm. As the crow flies, it's about a mile, but the difficulty of tundra walking makes a mile take about an hour to navigate. We checked on the progress of the gear that needed drying out, then had lunch by the lake. There were triscuits, wasabi cheddar, dried apples, and granola bars. We cleaned up the kitchen area, filtered more water, then headed into the woods to begin to break down the remnants of the old hunting camp. On the way in, along a well established game trail, we saw cat tracks, most likely a lynx. Tyler worked on chopping apart the boards and dragging them together while I wrote and sketched by the lake.

Back at camp we had a dinner of macaroni and cheese and watched possible peregrine falcons flying, riding the thermals. We also saw Gyrfalcon or Osprey, likely Osprey. The lake turned to glass as we watched threatening clouds move around us and break up. Bedtime was at about 11:30. I'm sure I'll say it again, the sky and progress of the sun here is fascinating. There are hours of golden hour, that time in the evening when the sun is at an angle that casts a warm glow on everything - a photographer's dream. When the light gets just perfect, I usually have to jump on the chance to get photographs or I miss it. Here, when the sun is at the right place in the sky, instead of dropping to the horizon like I'm used to, it glides mostly sideways, hanging in that ideal spot for a wondrously long time.

View southeast from our kitchen area.

There are some spots where the distance between the tussocks lets you see the ground below.
Here there are blueberries, Labrador (tundra) tea, some mosses and lichen.

More sphagnum moss.

The view on our hike north across the tundra. The upper Rainbow Lake is beyond these trees.

Mama grizzly catching our scent on the wind, cub to the left.

Upper Rainbow Lake.

Obvious sign that this is a bear trail. Deep prints through the grass.

Salmon bones along the lake.

Upper Rainbow Lake.

The bear path back out of the lake, really the only reasonable way to make it through the brush.

Looking north as we hiked south. The colors in the tundra are already starting to change as fall comes.

Panorama looking west at the length of the creek.

The creek that flows from the southwest side of Upper Rainbow Lake.

The creek. I love the shadows on the water.

Another view.

And another view, looking a little more south.

Still another view of the creek.

The clouds were amazing today.

After wading across one ribbon of the creek, this stand of dead trees was visible.

The Northern Harrier Tyler spotted flying over me.

The creek.

These clouds!

Panorama of the creek.

This moth landed on my backpack.

Closeup of tundra plants.

Mushrooms.

More mushrooms.

Great colors in the tundra.

A vole hole with variety of tundra plants.

Tussocks tangled with blueberries and other plants.
When you step between tussocks, sometimes the interlocking grasses support your weight, sometimes not and you drop through.