June 28

Up at 4:45 am to catch an early bus into the Park. With tickets for Eielson Visitor Center (Mile 66) we boarded our 6:30 am bus. There are a couple of different types of busses one can sign up to take. Two primary ones are the brown buses or the green buses. Brown busses are narrated and you are with the same bus all day. A trip to the end and back is 12 hours or longer. They are expensive.

The green busses you can get off and on where you wish. The trip out to mile 66 was $40 each. The bus drivers stop whenever there is wildlife to see or special sights to photograph. Our bus driver heading out was Patty and she did an outstanding job. Out and back for mile 66 is an eight hour trip. At mile 66 at the Eielson Visitor Center we went on a Ranger led walk meeting the needs of Marsha who is still on a busman’s holiday.

To go beyond mile 15 in the park your transportation choices are limited. To take a private vehicle beyond mile 15 you need: 1. Campground reservations at a campground no further than mile 32 where you set up your campsite and not drive any more until you leave. Reservations must be for at least 3 days and are hard to come by unless booked way early in the year; 2. You enter and win a lottery system allowing you to drive further into the Park for one day in September.

We saw plenty of wildlife but most of it was further out. The key to finding wildlife close by is spend more time on the road so it is the luck of the draw on what you see. What we did see were moose, golden eagles, fox, caribou, dall sheep.

Tomorrow we head towards Fairbanks.

Fox bring home breakfast for her kits

Caribou

Caribou

Caribou

Denali – Many visitors to the park don’t get a view of The Mountain. Maybe three quarters of the time it’s not visible. We saw it 3 days in a row. After this was taken it clouded over.