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Finally made it to Denali NP and what a long day it has been but totally worth it. We were a bit rushed this morning as took a while to get organised to leave which was a shame because when we got up to the main lodge to gobble down breakfast, the view of the Denali mountain range was breathtaking, totally clear and so big. They say you have a 30% chance of seeing it in its full glory so I guess we are one of the lucky few.
Our bus to the Denali park entrance left at 9.15am and we arrived just after noon. Some more beautiful views on the drive but unfortunately the bus driver isn't allowed to stop for photos...this is called the "Park Connection" bus. We grabbed a quick bite to eat before we met up with the bus which was to take us into the park and our accommodation for the evening. We are staying at Kantishna Roadhouse which is at the end of the park road. Private cars are only allowed for the first 14 miles of paved road. Park founders had some common sense and knew this beautiful park would be overrun with cars so the only way to get further in is either stay at one of the 3 lodges at the end of the road or do a day trip out from the park entrance. There are also some camping grounds and people also do back country hiking.
We left the entrance at 1.30pm and didn't arrive to the roadhouse until around 8pm as we had 92 miles to cover and lots of wildlife to view. We had an amazing driver Kirsty who has been doing this for 18years and was a fountain of knowledge on the area, history, fauna and flora plus good wildlife spotter too. Although it wasn't too hard to spot the grizzly mama bear and two cubs that were wandering down the road and holding up all the buses or a little further down the road, a lone grizzly going for a meander down the road and right past the bus. Probably held us up for a good half hour. Saw lots of caribou, unfortunately no moose. Also saw a fox, snow hares and the Alaskan state bird Ptarmigan. It is a very dusty trip in as only the first 14 miles is paved and after a while it also becomes a single lane road so buses pull over for each other.
Unfortunately, by this time, Mt Denali wasn't so clear due to the smoke from the wildfires in Canada but it slowly started to reappear just before we reached the roadhouse. About 3 miles from the roadhouse is Wonder Lake which they advised we could walk to or bike to if we wanted tomorrow. Was nice to make it to Kantishna as it had been a long and bumpy trip. Our bus, also known as Frederson or Fred was more comfortable then we had thought. We knew it was going to be like a school bus but our bus the windows actually slip open as opposed to going up and down like many of the other buses. It is also the newest bus on the park road, only 2 years old. Kirsty was very proud of Fred and talked about him as if he was a person. During our trip, we actually ran into Joe, another Kantishna bus that had unfortunately broken down (Kirsty told Fred not to look). We picked up the driver Emmet and he rode back to the lodge with us.
After arriving, they served dinner and we had a small look around. Moose creek runs right next to the property and mum asked about fly fishing but they are unable to provide a guide as they need a license for that. Can show her what to do but then on her own so she has decided not to do it. We have both booked in for a massage tomorrow and I have signed up for an easy hike. Have some other things they do in the afternoon that we will check out too.
Beautiful sunset, jealous of those who were already here as they have been shuttled out to Wonder Lake while we were having dinner to view the Mountain range and sunset. Some beautiful colours in the sky.
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