In Search of the Midnight Sun - Chapter 4

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In Search of the Midnight Sun - Chapter 4
August 6, 2008 Denali
This day apparently had more sun than they had seen in a month here. We went to the Information Center in the Park to book our bus pass for the next day to drive into the Park. They only allow private vehicles to drive to the 15 mile mark. But, there are many options for bus tours. We opted for the most popular and cheapest using the regular green school bus type transportation. You can also book for how many miles or hours you want to travel into the park and get off and do a hike or whatever and get back on a similar bus as they pass every half hour on the road. Busses start at 5:30 AM and we booked the 6:45 bus to Wonder Lake about 60 miles - an 11 hour round trip. We did that after making our booking for the next day and did a two mile hike at Savage River. We caught a glimpse of Mt. McKinley, the largest mountain in North America, on the way in. We visited the Information Center which had great displays of the wildlife, geology and history of the Park. We went to bed early but it feels like it did when we were kids and our mother put us to bed in the summer time when it was still light out. Larry keeps telling me to forget about it and just “close your eyes.”

August 7, 2008
D Day for Denali. According to the weather forecast it was supposed to be the best day in 10 days and yesterday was promising. However, as Robbie Burns said “the best laid plans” and indeed the weather did go awry today. We woke with the alarm at 5AM to heavy cloud and fog. The bus driver gave us a little hope for the trip when he said you usually see more wildlife on overcast days than on sunny days, even if we don’t see the great white mountain. We did see the “big 5” for Denali - Grizzley Bear, Caribou, Moose, Dall Sheep and Wolf. The road in is a white knuckler in many places, running along the side of mountains without guard rails. It is a one way road and when one bus meets another they stop and squeeze over to let the other go by. It was a good day in spite of the cold and fog but a long bus ride.

To be continued - Chapter 5 Ancorage and into the Kenai Penninsula

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Photos

Savage River
Nice hiking trail along this river.

Mama Grizzley and Cub
in Denali National Park

Mt. McKinley - highest mountain in North America
finally got a partial view as we drove south towards Anchorage.

Got 2
Mt. McKinley is shrouded in clouds behind and to the right of us. People working at the Park have only seen her 20 times this year.