Summer Vacation 2010: Denali National Park Bus Tour

For our first full day in Denali, we got up (very) bright and (very, for us at least) early, had bagels instead of trying to cook oatmeal, grabbed some apples and other snacks, filled the Camelbak bladder at the spigot, and headed out to the bus stop.

We got there before 7 AM, but that wasn't early enough.  There was already a family in line to head out on the first bus and they managed to get the last seats available.  We hung around for the next bus that went the full distance to the end of the park, which turned out to be the next bus, and managed to get seats on that one.  We headed out with our camera ready, hoping to see some wildlife and natural beauty.

Wildlife

Wildlife

Natural Beauty

We certainly got what we wished for!

We were told several times that only 30% of visitors to Denali National Park get to see one of the park's biggest draws, Mount McKinley (also and perhaps more commonly known as Denali - apparently there are a couple of Senators from wherever McKinley was from that have managed to keep an official name-change from going through for decades).  With the weather patterns of the area, there is quite often fog obscuring at least parts of the mountain and frequently the whole thing.  Throughout the day, the mountain was mostly obscured, but we were able to see bits and pieces of it.

 30% of Denali

The park road goes through valleys and also several high passes, with changes in altitude on the road of more than half a mile and back down again.  The scenery changes with the height and location significantly.  This first day, fog and clouds kept close in and gave everything sort of a mysterious look.  Several times we could look out and only the half of a valley closer to us, or the bottom (or top) half of a mountain range.

 Off the edge to the right it goes down for a loooong way.  The bus driver said something pretty close to "Quit whining! If you die, I die.  I'm highly motivated not to drive over the edge, and I haven't driven over it yet in 17 years."

The Dall Sheep would have been uncaring witnesses to our deaths if the bus driver had spoken too soon.

At the far end of the park road is Wonder Lake.

Apparently the ultimate photograph from the park is to capture Mt. Denali (behind us in this picture), with no clouds over it, being reflected in this lake, such that you see the mountain and a perfectly clear reflection at the same time.  I guess one guy did it once, and it was impressive.  They said he spent the whole summer camped on the other side of the lake to get it though, and it finally came through for him at something like 4am the week before he left.  I think a better idea is to buy prints of his picture than to try to get your own.

After turning around, we now had seats on the "good" side of the bus, which is the side facing the view 65% of the time instead of 35% of the time.  Even on the "bad" side, you get to see plenty.

The sun started peeking through the clouds on the way back, producing dramatic scenes.  This valley is filled with glacier, the very toe of the Muldrow glacier stretching 40 miles and a hard right turn from the face of Denali itself.

We got back at a reasonable hour, played around with our camping stoves, produced quasi-edible food (wasn't the stove's fault, instant stovetop-type food I wouldn't eat at home), switched over to candy (things we can't get in Japan) and retired early to read books in the tent by extended daylight until we felt like going to sleep.

You can see our several hundred Denali National Park Pictures here.