A grizzly day in Denali National Park
Yesterday we took an 11-hour bus trip to Wonder Lake in the heart of Denali Park. While the scenery is always spectacular and I love seeing any animals up close, it’s the grizzly bears that make or break a trip for me. From that narrow perspective, yesterday was a winner, as we saw 12 individuals.
We left the Wilderness Acess Center at 9:15 with 36 people on the bus, and found our first grizzlies at 11:10 as we started up the climb to Sable Pass (see a map of the Denali Park Road). One of the cubs was quite funny, as he chased a magpie several times.
Looking back at the road along Polychrome Mountain.
The view from Polychrome Overlook.
Just before the Toklat River crossing, we met this youngster, who had apparently been trying his hand at sheep hunting on the cliffs.
The photo-panel at the lower part of this photo shows the view from the Eielson Visitor Center on a clear day – we weren’t so lucky.
Another couple of views from the Eielson Visitor Center.
A tiny corner of Wonder Lake, which we reached at 3:00 pm. The light was very poor for broad photos of it.
The blueberries were ripe, plentiful and delicious 🙂
Just north of the Muldrow Glacier.
The McKinley River is the largest of many braided rivers in the park.
The Toklat River, one of the rest stops that are made on the trip.
At 6:35 pm we finally got a view of Denali (Mt. McKinley), though by that time she was far away. It cleared completely about 15 minutes later.
A close look at the Teklanika River from the final rest stop.
Our final grizzly was in an area where bears are not usually seen.
This young fellow was apparently not used to buses, as he stayed on the road for a long time. We named him “The Jogger”. 🙂
Today, we’re off to Fairbanks for a one-night stay.
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