Day 101 – June 19 (Alaska Day 10)– Denali National Park Day 2

Hopes and dreams for better weather blew away on a horse feather.  Okay it was a bad rhyme, then again so was the weather today.

Dorrie and I got up at 5:30 to a cold morning.  I had turned the furnace on before we went to bed at the lowest temperature setting – 55 degrees.  It kicked on a couple of times during the night but it was still cold in the camper.  It made getting dressed a major priority.  After taking the dogs out we finished getting ready for our bus ride into Denali.  We had guaranteed seats on the 9:10 bus but wanted to try catching the first bus of the day at 7:10.  The bus will take us to the Eielson Center, about 30 miles deeper into the park.

At 7:10 on the nose the bus pulled up to our stop.  Driver said he had room, so off we went to see grizzly bears, moose, caribou, maybe fox and wolf.  It started to lightly rain soon after we got on the bus, not bad just some spots on the windows.

At one point someone yelled, “Stop, bear”.  The driver stopped the bus and everyone looked.  It was soon discovered to be a rock!  We didn’t see a bear on the whole trip.  Nor did we see a moose.  We did see caribou, but we had seen them before - they are wild reindeer, or are reindeer tame caribou?

The longer we were on the bus, the worse the weather got.  The road was not paved and many places there wasn’t enough room for two buses to pass.  I said we took the first bus – there were other buses on the road from a tour company and the park service had buses that went to other places than our destination.  At times it appeared the driver decided to end it all and drive off the side of the mountain.

At the last minute he would change his mind and we lived for a while longer when he made the tight turn around the mountain.  There were several stops along the way and we finally got to the Eielson Center about 10 o’clock.  Yes it was that long to go 30 miles.

We had 35 minutes at the center to look around and then board the bus for the return trip.  When we got to the center you could see part of Mount McKinley through the clouds.  We took fast pictures and then went into the center.

I was very disappointed, I thought they had a museum type center there but it was really just a building with flush toilets and a couple of exhibits.  We ate the sandwiches we had made for the trip and got back on the bus.

On the way back we saw more caribou and at one point other buses reported seeing a wolf.  We stopped but no one on the bus could find it, so we moved on.  Just after one of the rest stops we got to see some Dall Sheep high up on the mountain.  

The rain was coming down harder and the road was really muddy.  The tires and passing buses throw mud on the windows to the point it was almost impossible to see out.  We stopped to see a Raven nest on the side of a bridge.

We got off the bus about 1 in the afternoon and walked back to the camper.  We are now trying to decide what to do tomorrow.  Do we try the bus again or give up and leave Denali early.  To this point we are all very disappointed with Denali.  Maybe it is the weather or maybe we expect something more than what the park has to offer.