First Full Day Deep in the Park

May 21

It’s a bit colder 30 miles into the Park. We are awake a couple of hours after sunrise, but sunrise is before 4am. Our plans are to ride the bus along the Park road with the hopes of spotting wildlife. The transit buses come along every 30 to 60 miles. We catch one heading towards the Park entrance. We ride to Savage River where cars are not allowed to venture deeper into the Park. The buses continue beyond the Savage River stop, but if we go any further then we need to purchase new bus tickets. Our tickets, $33.25 each, are good for our entire stay while we stay beyond Savage River at Mile 14 to the turn around point around Mile 42. The road remains closed beyond that point due to the construction where the major landslide happened. I heard the repair will be completed in 2025-2027 timeframe. If you are headed to Denali NP check their website on road construction updates.

The transit buses are not narratives on what one sees, but most of the drivers will stop if you shout out STOP and all on the bus including the driver will look for or at the wildlife. They don’t need to stop, but normally they do. Plus, they will talk about the wildlife habits. Our first bus ride did not have someone that really wanted to let the riders know much of anything. If somebody yelled STOP she stopped the bus for a few seconds then continued on. At Savage River we boarded a bus back towards where we had just traveled. The bus driver encouraged us to look for wildlife and he stopped for just about anything. We saw several bear shaped rocks and vegetation that resembled a moose, but no successful sightings. We did see Cariboo and Dall Sheep. At the bus turn around point we continued back to our Campsite. We caught our first bus at 10 and hopped off around 2.

Back at our camper we had lunch and hung around for a bit. They we invited a couple camping near us to join us for a bit. It was a delightful conversation.  

May 22

Another cold morning with an inside temperature of 46. We could warm up the camper overnight, but it’s so cozy with the cold air while being under warm blankets. Before coffee making time I turn on the heater and wait another 15 minutes before getting out of bed to make coffee.

By 8:30 we were out waiting for the bus to take us to the end of the open road. We spied Dall Sheep, one with a newborn kid, and plenty of Cariboo. The lighting was beautiful. The bus dropped us back at our campground just before noon so next was lunch. Afterwards we walked out on the gravel bars along the Teklanika River. Soon we spotted 4 Cariboo. Although I did not have a long lens they were close enough to capture some decent photos.

With our late afternoon ritual playing Cribbage we were outside at the picnic table when a Spruce Grouse flew into the tree 20 feet away. I had my camera with me and captured a nice shot.

River Bed next to our camp site

A view from the river bed looking at our camp site with Marsha heading back to the trailer

Dall Sheep with lamb

Rugged Landscape

More Rugged Landscapes

Spruce Grouse – While playing Cribbage at the picnic table at our camp site this guy flew into a tree 20′ away. I took this while sitting at the table.