August 9 and 10, Denali National Park

Saturday, August 9

Denali.  Visitors are only allowed to drive 15 miles into the park.  You can go as far as you would like hiking or biking.  Having seen the grizzlies, I would not like it at all.  We had booked a bus tour 85 miles into Denali to Wonder Lake.  The tour would take about 11.5 hours because the bus has to go very slow and stops at every animal sighting.  The bus was a fairly new Thomas built school bus, built in High Point, NC.  The driver was Darlene Huss.  She was a good tour guide, giving us lots of facts about the mountain.  And she was an excellent driver.  I don’t know if I have words to explain the road she drove that bus over.  After the first 15 miles, we were on a very narrow, unpaved road that clung to the side of the mountain, with no guard rails. There were some curves that I know the people in the back of the bus could see the front of the bus before the curve was completed.  Then there was the matter of meeting other buses coming down the mountain.  It was very nerve wracking.  I said last night we had survived the trip that was exhausting and exhilarating.  The road contributed to that exhaustion. 

We saw lots of animals just as we were hoping and of course Mt. McKinley.  We saw golden eagles soaring (was unable to get any pictures though), caribou, moose, Dall sheep, and a number of grizzly bears.  We saw lots of little arctic ground squirrels but they were too fast and low to get pictures of from the bus.  There are approximately 2200 caribou in the Denali park area, approximately 250 black bears, and about 350 grizzly bears.  We did not see any black bears.  Our guide said most of them are on the other side of the mountain.   If there is a big shoulder hump, a mass of fat and muscle, it is a grizzly.  Actually, there is one less grizzly because on Thursday, a grizzly killed another one about 2/3 its size.  It was close to the road and we could see it.  On Saturday, he had been eating on his kill for three days.  Darlene said he would not leave the kill until it was all consumed because he feared some other animal may steal his kill.  He was not very happy that the bus was there and kept making noises.  We were not allowed to leave the bus at animal sightings.  Everyone put their window down on the side of the sighting and then shared the window with people sitting on the other side. It was fairly cramped and I woke up this morning with aching legs from stooping down to the window.

Sunday, August 10

We were so tired when we got checked in to the White Moose Lodge, I just fell in bed and passed out.  We literally slept for almost 11 hours but feel so much more rested.  First we’ll get the check in at the motel out of the way.  This motel had good reviews on the Internet and it is cute, like an old western building with the wooden walkway and railings all around.  The rooms are sufficient to what we need and very clean.  The beds are quite comfortable and even the pillows are good.  However, the check in process leaves a lot to be desired.  I had told the proprietor that we would be late getting here since our tour into Denali didn’t get back until 10:15.  Please understand, it is still light here at 10:15 so we were not driving on strange roads in the dark.  When we arrived at the motel/lodge, there were two other parties in the lobby waiting to check in.  One couple had been here over an hour.  There was a phone and a sign on the registration desk giving two phone numbers to call.  The other two couples said they had been calling those numbers repeatedly and all they got was a message to leave a number and he would return the call.  Finally, we looked in the phone book for the sheriff’s phone number.  Not finding one, one of the other ladies called the Highway Patrol and explained the situation.  It wasn’t long until the proprietor arrived having been visited by the HP.  He said those two numbers were forwarded to his cell phone and evidently it was not working properly.  He lives through the woods from the lodge.  He apologized profusely and gave us all discounts.  We had our room reserved for two nights so that made a significant difference.

After we ate lunch, we went back to Denali.  We drove as far in as tourists are allowed to drive.  At the ranger gate, there is a beautiful parking area along Savage River which is a braided river (new term for me.)  We walked down to the river and took pictures.  On the walk back to the car, we got lucky and saw an arctic ground squirrel.  He was standing there eating.  I think he has gotten too accustomed to humans being around because he didn’t run unless you got very close.  We saw another caribou but it was in the woods and we couldn’t get a good picture.  It has been a great two days at Denali.

These pictures are not in correct order.  I've tried to move them but only succeeded in deleting a couple.

This grizzly was walking down the road.  We finally eased by the bear.  About a half mile down the road, we saw some hikers heading toward the bear.  I hope they did not have an unpleasant meeting.

This was a huge bull moose.

Taken through the window at the seat beside me.  That is the road we would be going on that looks like a goat path.

Mt. McKinley.  The clouds had settled over the top of the mountain making it look flat.

This is the bear that had killed another bear.  He stays at the kill until it is all gone.

Another view of Mt. McKinley with less cloud cover.

Dall sheep way up on a mountain above the grizzlies normal path.

This was a sow (female) grizzly who had two young ones with her.  The young ones pretty much stayed behind brush and I was unable to get a picture of them.

Just taking in the sun.

The Savage River is a braided river.  That was a new term for me.

Description of a braided river.

Arctic ground squirrel

This rock formation was near Savage River.  This is only the top of it.  It was fairly big.  This guy had climbed to the top of it and is obviously taking a selfie.

The leaves of some plants are beginning to change.  We saw reds and yellows.  Everything pretty much shuts down here at the end of September because it starts to snow.

The car has been washed once since this trip started.  We have driven through so many construction sites and so much dust, the plates are unreadable.