Denali National Park - Day 13

Mon. July 6

We’re up at 7a.m. and board our bus into the park at 8 a.m. The bus is full, about 80 people onboard. Wendy Hassler is our driver today. She's been giving bus tours into Denali for over 20 years. In the winter, she is an Anchorage school bus driver. Wendy is a wealth of information and provides excellent informal commentary about everything in the park. She assures us we will see plenty of wildlife today and then immediately spots a moose alongside the bus in the tundra. She pulls over and the picture taking begins (I took almost 200 pics inside the park alone!). From here we go on to see wildlife at every turn and the scenery is spectacular – mountains and vast tundra as far as the eye can see. The scent of spruce and pine is in the air, along with smoke from the wildfires. Wendy tells us the fires started out controlled in Fairbanks, but got out of hand. She explains that because of the smoke, warm temps today and sunshine, it will be very unlikely that we see Mt. McKinley (darn!).

After too many wildlife sightings to detail, we make a rest stop for lunch - its noon. We anxiously open our backpack for our sandwiches, but guess what . . .there are NO sandwiches! Miscommunication we suppose and just laugh it off. After all, we do have a big bag of red cherries, a bag of chips, a granola bar and water . . .lol.

After lunch, we continue on to Eielson Visitors Center, 66 miles into the park. We can get off and hike, continue on to Kantishna (the furthest point into the park 90 miles ahead), or head back to camp. At Eielson, we look at the exhibits, take some nice photos and then decide to head back on the same bus with Wendy. The bus is now only half full as the kids from Switzerland decide to stay at Eielson for a hike. As soon as we get back on the road we see a bear and her cub right on the side of the road, the bus stops and Wendy shuts off the engine. We spend about 10 minutes in awe as the bears eat so gracefully, not even noticing we are there. Wendy gets us back to camp about 4:30 p.m. We hop in the RV and head straight to the Crow's Nest for food . . . we're a little hungry . . .lol

Denali is the most magnificent vast wilderness we’ve ever experienced. The beauty of this land and the wild animals that call this place home leaves an impression that truly touches the soul. It was a remarkable day and we feel so fortunate to have visited this very special place and seen so much wildlife.

*Denali National Park contains 6 million acres of lakes, tundra, peaks and wildlife dominated by North America's highest peak, Mt. McKinley, at 20,320 feet. The park is larger than the state of Massachusetts. This dynamic glaciated landscape supports a diversity of wildlife, including grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, dall sheep and moose. Birds and wildflowers grace summer slopes. The word "Denali" means "the great one" in the native Athabaskan language.

** We find out from Wendy today that what we thought was a glimpse of Denali yesterday was actually Mt. Foraker, which sits to the left of Denali.

Temp: 77 degrees
Wildlife Sightings: 6 Moose, 2 Lynx, 12 Caribou, 10 Dahl Sheep, 7 Grizzly Bears, Golden Eagles, Weasels, Marsh Hawks, Willow Ptarmigans