The train to Denali was very long and while it was beautiful, the 9 hour ride (delayed slightly due to broken tracks) found Dave and I taking lots of naps. Once we arrived in Denali, we settled into our McKinley Chalet lodge before we went out exploring the area. We went to Glitter Gulch and purchased some very over priced groceries as we knew they would have no food in the park for us as we hiked the next day.The following morning we took the 2nd bus into the park (think alarm clock at 5 am!) all the way to the Eielson visitor center-- 60-some miles into the park. We stopped many times to snap photos of nearby caribou, moose, and grizzlies. We were lucky to have so many grizzlies near the road; we even got to enjoy a sow and her cub for awhile!
When we reached Eielson, we were disappointed to see that Denali (McKinley) was not "out." Hidden in clouds, we were told not to be upset because only about 15% of people get to see the mountain on any given visit. We ate our picnic up here and headed back down on another bus.
We decided to get off near Polychrome Pass to do some hiking. Since there really are no trails anywhere in the park, most people just hike wherever. We attempted to follow a hiking guide but quickly released we weren't great with these directions. After pretty much scaling a huge cliff, we made it to this ridgeline that offered a gorgeous panoramic view of the area. We made it to what we felt was the summit and couldn't really figure out any way to make it much further, so we hiked back down. We didn't encounter any wildlife, but did see some bear scat-- so I guess we consider ourselves lucky?
When we reached Eielson, we were disappointed to see that Denali (McKinley) was not "out." Hidden in clouds, we were told not to be upset because only about 15% of people get to see the mountain on any given visit. We ate our picnic up here and headed back down on another bus.
We decided to get off near Polychrome Pass to do some hiking. Since there really are no trails anywhere in the park, most people just hike wherever. We attempted to follow a hiking guide but quickly released we weren't great with these directions. After pretty much scaling a huge cliff, we made it to this ridgeline that offered a gorgeous panoramic view of the area. We made it to what we felt was the summit and couldn't really figure out any way to make it much further, so we hiked back down. We didn't encounter any wildlife, but did see some bear scat-- so I guess we consider ourselves lucky?
We went back to the road to wait for a bus down, but as we sat there waiting, we decided why not take one more trip back up to Eielson. The weather had seemed to get better out, and we had more than 10 hours before the sun would set. Boy am I glad we did this! Apparently the 2nd time is a charm as we got to see Denali emerge from the clouds when we hit Stony Dome. It was so impressive! Being from Colorado, we are fairly used to seeing 14,000 ft peaks, but we are also accustomed to seeing them from over a mile high. At the VC, we were only a couple thousand feet above sea level looking at a mountain more than 20,000 ft tall! Truly amazing.
We took the last bus out of the park and spotted many more grizzlies on the way out for a grand total of 16 throughout the day! At one of our reststops, we got to watch a wolve devour an artic ground squirrel.
Towards the entrance to the park (and the nearby campgrounds), we came across our first angry bear. The grizzly was frustrated with the bus following him on the road so he began to snarl at us. Frustrated, he decided to charge the bus. After he realized the bus wasn't going anywhere, he angrily ran off. Dave and I commented on how we were lucky that the only mean bear we encountered was when we were on a bus. Scary to think that this bear was near the campgrounds. By the time we got off the bus, it was well past 10 pm and we were starving. We enjoyed some good pizza at a local joint and went straight to bed. Still can't believe that the sun was no where near setting by this point...
Our last day of vacation took us back into Denali National Park to check out the dog kennels, some visitor center area hikes, and to enjoy some delicious ice cream before we boarded the motorcoach for our evening ride back to Anchorage. Dave and I tried to spend most of the bus ride sleeping because we knew we wouldn't get much sleep during our red-eye flight. There was only 4 other people on the entire bus, so it was nice to have space to spread out. We made a stop in Talkeetna to enjoy the views of the south face of Denali. We had four hours to kill at the airport prior to our red-eye, so we tried to occupy the time shopping, eating and sleeping, but there really wasn't much to the ANC airport! By this point in the trip, we were exhausted and ready to head home to see our girls. I really think the trip was just the right lengh-- any shorter and we would've disappointed it ended so soon and any longer we would've been tired and anxious to be home.
Towards the entrance to the park (and the nearby campgrounds), we came across our first angry bear. The grizzly was frustrated with the bus following him on the road so he began to snarl at us. Frustrated, he decided to charge the bus. After he realized the bus wasn't going anywhere, he angrily ran off. Dave and I commented on how we were lucky that the only mean bear we encountered was when we were on a bus. Scary to think that this bear was near the campgrounds. By the time we got off the bus, it was well past 10 pm and we were starving. We enjoyed some good pizza at a local joint and went straight to bed. Still can't believe that the sun was no where near setting by this point...
Our last day of vacation took us back into Denali National Park to check out the dog kennels, some visitor center area hikes, and to enjoy some delicious ice cream before we boarded the motorcoach for our evening ride back to Anchorage. Dave and I tried to spend most of the bus ride sleeping because we knew we wouldn't get much sleep during our red-eye flight. There was only 4 other people on the entire bus, so it was nice to have space to spread out. We made a stop in Talkeetna to enjoy the views of the south face of Denali. We had four hours to kill at the airport prior to our red-eye, so we tried to occupy the time shopping, eating and sleeping, but there really wasn't much to the ANC airport! By this point in the trip, we were exhausted and ready to head home to see our girls. I really think the trip was just the right lengh-- any shorter and we would've disappointed it ended so soon and any longer we would've been tired and anxious to be home.
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