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August 26, 2013 Monday
Day 50
Woke at 5:00am, excited to start our day and get on the 7:15am bus tour through Denali National Park. It was cold, Michael had to scrape ice off our windshield before we could drive. There was a light dusting of new snow on the mountains. They call this
"termination dust" because once it first arrives, it signifies the end of summer.
Our bus ride through the park was like a treasure hunt. Everyone was on the lookout for wildlife and we were told to yell "Stop" to our driver if we spotted anything. The drive was incredibly scenic, mountains, glaciers, rivers, lakes, creeks, meadows, just spectacular untouched wilderness. As we travelled we ascended to an elevation up to 4,000 feet. Off in the distance, we saw wolves, dall sheep, caribou, moose and brown bears. We had a few up-close sightings of moose and brown bears, too. About 2pm, we reached Wonder Lake, 85 miles into the park, and the farthest point of our trip. Six of us decided to leave the bus at this stop and hike a mile or so to Reflection Pond. We would catch another bus when we were ready to head back. We were all headed in the same direction, and in conversation, we met a couple, Caryn and Bill from St. Louis. Turns out, they were camping at Denali RV Park and they were in the spot right next to ours! They have been on the road since mid-May and they have been to a lot of the same towns we have visited. We exchanged tips on places to stay or not stay, things to do, etc. for the rest of our trips. Really nice people.
After taking some photos at Reflection Pond - we all tried to get the reflection of Denali on the pond in our shots. One of the guys discovered that you could get the shot if you laid down flat on the ground at the waters edge. He was right! Check out the pic (once I post it on the blog).
We hiked back to Wonder Lake and waited awhile for a bus to come by. We took this bus to Eielson Visitors Center at 62 miles into the park. Checked out the exhibits in the Visitors Center, watched a short movie about climbing Denali, took a little hike, the Tundra Trail Loop, sat in the sun and just stared at the unspoiled, vast wild lands.
About 6pm, we caught a bus to take us back to the park entrance. On the way a bear came running so fast in front of us, crossing the road and continuing to run (fast) up and over a very high hill. He must have been running from a bigger bear, but we didn't see another one. Cool to watch.
Got back to our car around 8:30pm. Had dinner in town, it was so-so, but we were too tired to care.
Wildlife Sightings
4 Moose
20 Caribou
4 Wolves
8 Grizzly Bears
32+ Dall Sheep
1 golden Eagle
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