Day 3 July 6, 2022, Wednesday afternoon

After a refreshing nap, we were back up at the parking lot bus stop by 1:10 p.m. as instructed. The sky was a beautiful blue and the air was warm. Still, I’d brought my windbreaker along. Later I was glad to have it. The Denali Park Bus came and picked us up. There were other people staying at the Denali Bluffs Hotel who got on the bus with us. Evidently, one makes a reservation through the park to take the Denali bus tour. One of the benefits of going on a Nat Hab tour was that we didn’t have to think of those things.

The bus also stopped at the Denali bus stop near the Denali Visitors’ Center and filled up. I don’t think there was an empty seat anywhere. The driver introduced himself as Cloyd. He said, “That’s like Floyd with the letter “C” instead of “F.” He knew a lot about the park and had many stories about it and its inhabitants. Of course, I remember very few of them. He told us that just a year ago, the tour went to mile 92, but with the collapse of the road at mile 45 in August 2021, we could go to only mile 43.

Bus Description

The bus was described to us as an old school bus, but it really wasn’t. Probably the original buses the Park Service used were, but Cloyd told us the bus we were in was a relatively new bus and the AC worked. A bit too well, I’d say. This was when I was glad I had my windbreaker. At the turnaround, we all got off the bus. I suggested in private to him that he could turn the fan on the AC down a bit. He did, which I greatly appreciated.

The other fun feature of the bus was that it was equipped with a video camera with a long lens that was hooked up to a pull-down screen from the ceiling and scattered throughout the bus. The driver could get out of the bus, direct the lens to whatever it was he wanted to show us and we could pull down the screens and see a close-up of the animal. It worked quite well. The other nice thing the park provided was a snack box on each seat. Since lunch had not been that spectacular, I really appreciated having the snacks.

Tom had set our expectations low the first night at dinner. Lots of land, he said, so we might not see many if any, animals. Boy, did this trip blow all our expectations out of the water. It started slowly but, on the way, back what a show!

The Tour begins

The Denali tour started with us being able to see The Mountain, Denali quite clearly. Evidently, that is rare. The wind was blowing the smoke away and there was very little cloud coverage. It’s pretty darn majestic. With few mountains the same height nearby, it stood out against the blue sky with its snow-capped heights and all that glory.

On the first leg of the trip out to mile 43, we saw a bear who thoroughly entertained us. The bus driver pulled to the side of the road and let us watch it. On the hillside to our left, the bear gamboled across the sloped side of the hill, took a dip in a pool of water, and scratched his back against a tree. Tom has a great video of that. Here’s a still picture from Tom of the bear scratching his back.

We drove to mile 43, stopped for leg stretching, and turned around. Unfortunately, the road has collapsed at mile 45 due to the permafrost heating up from the high temperatures Alaska has been experiencing lately and is now impassable by vehicle. There are plans to rebuild the road, but that will likely take more than a couple of years. The only way to get to the “town” at mile 92 now is by plane.

On the drive back, we saw caribou, moose, and Dall’s sheep.

This picture is of Dall’s sheep. They look close in the photo, but this shot was made with a telephoto lens. Seeing them with the naked eye, you could see little dots of white on the top of a very tall hill.

Home Again, Home Again

As he finished the drive back to the bus station and the hotel, Cloyd told us some stories of bear encounters that had not turned out well for the humans. His point was to never turn your back on a bear and never underestimate them either. Always keep your guard up if there might be a bear around. He certainly raised my respect for the bears.

The Denali bus took us back to our hotel. We rested a bit, but not very long. We’d spent so much time looking at the wildlife that we got back to the hotel about an hour later than these tours usually take. It was well worth it.

Dinner!

The Nat Hab bus driver suggested we go to the Canyon Steakhouse for dinner. It was really tasty. I took this picture and almost got hit by a car as I stepped out into the driveway to take it. Sheesh. I could see that headline: Tourist hit by car photographing restaurant sign.

The next day we were going to see some sled dogs and take the train to Talkeetna. Tom told us that we would be using at least 10 different modes of transportation on this trip. So far, we had used two. The jets to get to Alaska and the big tour buses. The next day we’d add trains.

Fitbit for July 6: 9,262 steps, 3.69 miles, 1770 calories, 14 floors, 41 active minutes