Denali

July 3, 2012

Left at 7:00 this morning, heading to Denali - and we were able to get on the 11:15 shuttle!  Yea!  We chilled out at the RV while we waited, made some coffee, put on some warmer clothes, and then loaded on the bus.

They had two buses, so we chose the second one, with Wendy as our driver - she was great.  She drove a school bus in Anchorage for a living, so we felt she knew what she was  doing since we were in a school bus for the ride, and she loved doing this and has studied about the area for years so she also gave us wonderful information.  I think she had been driving for Denali for about 17 years....

The bus was only about 1/2 full so we were not feeling cramped at all, and everyone was quite pleasant.  A  group of kids from National Geographic joined us, and they were there to learn about photography - what a nice summer camp experience....



We were about 1/3 of the way thru the morning ( it was 4 hours out and 4 hours back) and they made us blend with the other bus - this dude was nice, but never talked and would rarely slow down for wild life, he was very set on staying on schedule.  We greatly missed Wendy's commentary and her humor and knowledge.  We did manage to see a grizzly bear and a single caribou with a huge rack - wow - I do not know how they balance their heads, I would be running into things all the time.

When we reached the half way point, we ran into Wendy again, and she told us she would be taking a bus back a little after Ken's bus left - so we ditched Ken and drove back with Wendy. : )  On the way back, we saw a mother grizzly and her two cubs, they were on the road right next to the bus for quite some time.  I got a few pics of her but when she was right next to us on the bus, my camera died so you will just have to take my word for how close she was.  : )

We also saw another grizzly, some more caribou, a mar-something, maybe marmet?  ( white and looked like a huge rodent of some kind) and it was delightful. This little fella may have been my favorite though, he was so cute.

 The mountains and valleys and creeks and rivers were again amazing to see - the colors on the mountains that were just rock was like a brown rainbow - They may be my favorite.  I know Charlie likes them.

The last fourth of the trip, folks were tired and just settled in and tried to stay warm, it was freezing on the bus.  Charlie and  I were both very happy we had chosen to wear our flannel lined jeans and our coats.

We got back around 7:30 and drove down the road for about 70 miles and just stayed on a pull over.  There are no bad views in Alaska - so even the pullovers are breathtaking.

It was 11:00 when I went to sleep and it was sunny and nice outside, you could spend 19 hours a day doing stuff here and never run out of daylight.