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Published: July 12th 2016
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As the day came to an end and the bus rolled downhill to the parking area I looked at Michelle and said, “What an amazing day.” She stared out the window for a few moments, turned back toward me, “After this, how can you ever say anything else is beautiful.” She was absolutely right, nothing else we have seen or could possibly see would be more beautiful then Denali National Park. You can visit and drive yourself for the first 13 paved miles but the real guts of the park is restricted to approved bus travel only. We booked an afternoon bus that would take us to Eielson Visitors Center at Mile 65.9 with stops at two rest areas along the way. This is an 8 hour Shuttle that allows for departure and reboard anywhere along the route and turns around at one of the best Mt. Denali photo stops in the park. I’ll end the suspense now: the mountain was completely shrouded in clouds for the entire day but it made the trip no less special. We got a good start right on time at 11:45 and we had not been traveling 20 minutes when the bus slowed for a
Mother Moose with baby in tow. They moved through the brush next to the road and the bus, eating lunch and posing for pictures. Ronda was ecstatic that we saw a moose so early, one of her must do items for Alaska. The mother was a beautiful color and her calf was shy, staying partially hidden most of the time. We rolled on, leaving the blacktop and starting to climb on the dirt road. Soon we spotted a lonely Dall Sheep cruising along a hillside taking those rocky crags like only sheep can. He did stop to pose on one of the little outcroppings just long enough for the perfect sheep photo. As we continued to climb the views of the surrounding snowcapped mountains and tundra filled river valleys inspire multiple photos that of course cannot do justice to the scale of the actual scenery. We then spotted another moose, a young bull, swimming across a little lake, shaking himself off and having some fresh water lily. Proving that not all wildlife is massive the bus stopped for a family of Ptarmigan and I was fortunate to be in the right window at the right time to get some great
shots of the birds Michelle and I had often seen but never got close enough to capture. We came to our next rest stop and two Caribou were sunning themselves in the middle of the river rock. Even though they were a ways out the massive antlers were plain to see and they seemed unperturbed by the bus crowd. Coffee recycled and photos taken we continued, climbing slowly up and away from the river valley. We soon had another Caribou just meandering in the road seemingly lost and lonely. It finally turned and walked into the brush, apparently searching for a herd to join. A few miles further up the road we make a sharp right turn, a little downhill and we made an extraordinary wildlife sighting, a monster mother grizzly with her two cubs walking down the road. We cautiously followed her and the cubs, stopped as she climbed the embankment and took off running, slowed when she returned to the road to cross the bridge and watched as she bearishly dug into the river bank searching for an artic squirrel that made the fatal mistake of running across the road in front of her. We spent almost 30
minutes watching this all unfold until we had traffic backed up in both directions and we were forced to move on. I have maybe two dozen excellent photos but not enough bandwidth to post them all so I have picked some of the very best. We could have turned around there and I would have thought I got my money’s worth but there was still more to see. We finally made Eielson, shot some pictures of the clouds where Mt. Denali was hiding and returned to the dirt path back going back down the mountain. Not far down we spotted four Caribou in the distance traveling across the snow pack, and then spotted another Griz just off the road, digging for his supper in the marsh. He had his back to us most of the time and it showed a nasty scar that I can only imagine happened when he tried to move in on some big bears mate. As we moved along and it got closer to evening we spotted a herd of Dall Sheep spread out across the hillside and ridge seemingly headed for the lower green grasses. Though hard to see and harder to shoot I got
some exceptional pictures given the long distance. This stop put a check in one of my must see in Alaska boxes. Now edging closer to the end and past the last rest stop we all relaxed thinking it was likely over for the day when we rolled up on another mother moose and calf. We didn’t stay long but there were still a few excellent photo opportunities. We were soon back on the pavement and then back to the truck. While the trip was over the memories will last a lifetime. Denali National Park truly redefines beautiful and it was all that much better as we were able to share the experience with our loved ones, Wayne and Ronda. I would encourage anyone that has the ways and means to visit Alaska and Denali NP to do it. You will never regret it and you will never be the same afterword. For us, we are now in Fairbanks for seven days. Time to get the oil changed again, stock up on some grocery’s and soon make our way to McCarthy. There is still a lot more to see and more awesome photos to be taken but I could leave today
content that we have experienced the best Alaska has to offer.
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Diane
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Beautiful pictures!