Nearing the Toklat Glacier, it became irresistable to not scoot up one of the various mountain folds surrounding us. After we set up camp and polished off our Tasty Bites, I scampered up a nearby ridge to get a bird's eye view. Pretty choice location for a bird's eye, I must confess. Looking down on the valley in the damp, chilly wind, I was reminded of Jared Diamond's description of Viking Greenland in the 15th century. Not because I thought myself a Viking at that particular moment (althouth I'm sure I have some Swedish and Danish Viking in my genetic code), but because the only things growing in this part of the valley were ground level shrubs and alpine grasses and flowers. A small group of dall sheep negotiated the hillside to nibble on the shrubs, and I thought of Vikings bringing their sheep to Iceland and Greenland, only to discover the land was too fragile to support the hungry chomp of the domestic sheep's mouth. It appears Alaska's interior has worked out a biologically symbiotic agreement between Dall sheep and alpine vegetation.
A handful of Dall sheep resting atop one of many scenic overlooks. 
The beginnings of the Toklat River, as viewed atop one of the Green Dome's ridges late at night.
The Toklat Glacier and the Toklat River's headwaters as seen from the high ridge sloping off of the Green Dome.
A late evening rendez-vous with Emily, Jared, and our new friend Toklat.
And there he is: evil incarnate. The big, bad, bloodthirsty antichrist scheming his next sport-killing event. This carnivorous canid was exceptionally shy, and left as quickly as we arrived. And no, I did not see him along the Toklat. I saw him from the Denali bus. But I didn't know where else to put this photo, and I reckon it's a fine photo, so I had to include it somewhere. Since we saw a handful of wolf tracks paralleling the Toklat as we advanced upriver, I figured I'd capitalize on a little poetic license here...
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