Somewhere along the way the weather cleared up. Once we were settled in, we went to the area of the park where the sled dogs are housed and trained. Denali is so big and undeveloped that they actually patrol the park via dog sled in the winter. We were able to see the dogs up close, hear about their food, care, training, etc. and view a demonstration of the dogs pulling a sled along the road. Of course there was no snow. The dogs were smaller than I expected but full of energy. They couldn't wait to pull that sled. We left there and took a drive on the park road to the Savage River. This is the end of where you are permitted to drive. If you want to go beyond this point, you must go by bus. Of course WE wanted to go beyond this point. That was our goal for the next day. We went back to our campsite for the night and took advantage of the fire ring by cooking all of our meat. That meant that the next few days only required that we reheat it or add it to some other tasty ingredients in a one pot meal. This would be a real help if the weather was nasty.
The next morning we visited the Wilderness Access Center and purchased bus tickets. There are various options for the bus ride. One main road leads deep into the park. You must decide how far you want to go before you get on the bus. Tickets are priced accordingly. We opted for the 4 hour ride to Eielson Visitor Center. There were several scheduled stops along the way where we could get out and stretch, use the "facilities", and gawk at the scenery. The driver explained that we were allowed to get on and off the buses as often as we wished. All we had to do was ask him to stop and let us off. We could got hiking for as long as we wanted to, and then stand on the side of the road and wait for another bus to come along. Buses would pass by about every 30 minutes. Cool! Why not get on and off several times along the way and go for some short hikes? We had backpacks filled with rain gear, food, water, pocket knives, first aid kits, etc. This sounded like a great plan. We were so naive.
Shortly after beginning our bus ride, a lynx ran across the road in front of the bus. It disappeared into the brush. The driver told us that it was fairly rare to see one. We were lucky. Dall sheep and caribou were visible through binoculars. Then came the event that changed our plans. We saw a mother grizzly and her cub. They were just hanging out not far from the road. We were told that if we decided to go hiking, we should NOT take the trails that wove through the tall grass. Those were made and used by the bears. The grass was beaten down by their huge bodies walking on it. We were to avoid them. Our decision was swift and firm. There was no way were getting off that bus until we were at a rest area or the end of the route. We then saw a mother and 2 cubs, and farther down the road, 2 young bears. All of the bears that we saw were grizzlies. That's 7 grizzlies visible from the bus. In Alaska, they are referred to as brown bears or brownies. Their coats range from blonde to dark brown. They are bigger and meaner than black bears.
When we reached the visitor's center, we ate a picnic lunch and went inside to check out the trail maps. The visitor's center was in the tundra, which means that we could see for miles around us. There were enough people around that we felt safe hiking there. There were no brown bears visible. We hiked from the Eielson Visitor Center to the top of a mountain on the other side of the road. The elevation changed 1,000 feet in about one mile. It took a little over an hour to hike up; less to hike down. On the way up, we saw Dall sheep hanging out doing what sheep do. We viewed them from a safe distance. There were low growing wild flowers along the way. They stood out brilliantly against the brown soil and rocks. Every now and then we would stop to look back at the Visitor's Center to see how far we'd come. Oh yeah, and to catch our breath. When we were nearing the top, a big storm cloud seemed to come out of nowhere and we heard thunder. We were like sitting ducks out there in the open. A decision had to be made. Do we try to go back down, or continue up? Getting struck by lightening was not in the plans. After watching the cloud, we decided to head up. When we reached the summit, it was cold and windy. We had to hold on the the rocks to keep from being blown off of the mountain. The view was spectacular. Snow covered mountains were everywhere. The visitor's center looked very far away. We hiked back down, boarded the bus for the 4 hour ride back to the Wilderness Access Center.
Along the way, we saw all of the grizzlies again. This time however, the mother with the 2 cubs was walking down the road! A bus going in the opposite direction from us was stopped on the road. The passengers were hanging out of the windows taking pictures. Our driver was furious and adamant that we not place any body parts outside of the bus. The mother grizzly was big enough to take a swipe at us if she got up on 2 legs. If you've never seen a picture of a grizzly paw, believe me, you do NOT want a grizzly taking a swipe at you. Our driver stopped the bus and allowed us to open the windows and take photos as long as we followed the rules. The picture above is taken from my seat. At one point, she was directly below me! Later, we passed the other set of two young bears again and watched them running through the grass. I can't tell you how exciting it was to see all of these animals in their natural habitat. As we continued down the road, someone on the bus asked about the possibility of seeing a rainbow. The driver told us that it was very rare to see a rainbow in Denali. About 10 minutes later, someone shouted out,"rainbow!", and we all looked out the window and saw a beautiful rainbow! On one day trip we saw 2 rare sights- a lynx and a rainbow.
Once we got back, we ate dinner and enjoyed hot showers. I felt so blessed to have seen so many animals, but just a tiny bit disappointed that I had not seen any moose. Remember, this is the beginning of our trip. Just as we pulled into Bear Loop, we saw the mother and calf that I blogged about in an earlier post. It was such an incredible day. This trip was a dream come true.
We never did see Denali, or Mt. McKinley as it it commonly known, while we were in the park. It showed itself the next morning, but because we were in the woods, we couldn't see it. The summit is so high up in the clouds that you can only see it if you happen to be looking when the clouds part or if it is a very clear day. We did get to see it another day from very far away.
If you decide to visit Denali NP, keep this in mind. The animals here are wild. They are not tame, and no matter how cute and cuddly they look, they WILL eat you, stomp you, kick you, etc. STAY OFF THE BEATEN PATH!!!
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