Denali Bus Trip to Tolkat River

We finally had a beautiful, sunny, day - just in time for our six hour bus trip 53 miles into Denali National Park.

We are now members of the 30% club (that’s the percentage of park visitors that actually see the great one – Mount McKinley)!!! The sun was shining brightly on the snow that blankets the two peaks. We couldn’t see the base due to the mountains that are in front of it (the darker ones in the picture). The mountain is about 50 miles away in this picture.

There wasn’t lots of wildlife along the route, but enough to keep us interested. That’s part of what makes the trip so long. The bus driver, a very perky young lady named Anna, stopped the bus to let us take pictures of the wildlife and the mountain numerous times.

We saw grizzly bears grazing on roots (their diet is 80% vegetation): (She's hard to see in the willows)

Caribou walking on snow patches, on hillsides, and in the river (with huge racks):

Dall Sheep high, high up on the mountain slope. We wonder how they stay up there it is so steep!

The park doesn’t allow unrestricted access, so these bus trips are the only way to get to some of the further campgrounds and rest stops. The rest stop facilities are very nice. This is the one at Teklanika River:

One particularly scenic section of the drive is in the Polychrome Mountain area:

When we got to Toklat, there were antlers of both moose and caribou available to look at closer (and pose with). We were surprised at how heavy they are! One side of moose horns weighed about 40 pounds!

They also had a book store there with more information on the area. E.g. not much more than 50% of the climbers that attempt the summit are successful. And the oldest and youngest successful climbers are 71 and 11 years old respectively. Quite a few people die climbing Mount McKinley every year. Something like nine so far in 2011!

The pups were happy to see us home, especially as it was approaching their supper-time.

We made a campfire and roasted hot dogs for supper, since it was such a nice evening. Then I took Reba and Gino for bike runs before we loaded the bikes up on the motorhome for travel.

Tomorrow we’ll be leaving Denali National Park and heading south toward Anchorage. It’s really nice here, but this city girl is happy to be getting back to civilization!