June 22 & 23rd

THE DETAILS:

WEATHER: Beautiful. Temps from 49 to 70 degrees. Afternoon showers (of course)

DISTANCE: 39 miles to & from Denali. 85 miles to & from Wonder Lake


Okay, our day started at 4:30 when we had coffee, got ready for the day, packed our back pack with all our touristy paraphernalia, our lunch and headed out at 5 am to Denali. We had decided, if we were to have a chance at all for viewing we would sit in the front of the bus somewhere behind the driver because the mountain and open areas would be on that side. WELL….. We ended up on the right side of the bus all the way in the back!! So much for planning. It actually worked out best because there was a full area behind us that was empty where they carry hikers gear in & out of the park but today it was empty. That meant that whenever we saw an animal we could stand in the back of the bus on either side and get great pictures. So there are the “top 5 checklist” which is: grizzly bear, dall sheep, moose, caribou & wolf. We were able to check off 4 of 5 off that list. Gary did see a grizzly WAY off in a field but I never saw it, so I am not going to check that off. We got some close shots of the sheep, wolf and the moose, but the caribou were far off and needed to be viewed through binoculars. We also saw a golden eagle & falcon. The ride was bumpy and at times we rode along the edge of sheer cliffs. The driver was great, took her time & gave us lots of information (not as much as you Dan). So we are now part of the 20% club!! We did not buy the T-shirt but we have pictures to prove that we have seen Mt. McKinley. Hopefully we can post some of these pictures.

The trip was 11 hours and very exhausting for some reason. We were just on the bus but we were both tired and hungry when we returned. We went out for a dinner of halibut fingers and walked through the tourist traps in the Denali down town area. It was a great end of a great day.

Today (Wednesday the 23rd) will be a day of rest and preparing for our next move. It will be difficult to leave this campground. It is beautiful here. I spent my morning with the Lord outside on the picnic table in 74 degree weather with the Nenana river as my background. It was beautiful to sit in the sun, listen to the glacier river run and smell the pine trees.