We wake up the next morning to cool, cloudy and showery conditions. We are thankful that we did our flightseeing the day before when conditions were better. We get ready and wait for our bus at the stop just outside the campground. It shows up right on time.
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| Showery morning at Savage River campground |
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Ranger welcomes us to
tour of Denali Park |
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We cross country that is hilly to mountainous without many trees.
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| The road through Denali Park |
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Before too long we spot
Dall sheep on a steep slope. Peter is able to capture them with his more powerful telephoto lens (note to self - buy a better telephoto lens before our next trip).
We cross several river valleys as we move deeper into the park. Our driver tells us to look for wildlife around the rivers.
Sure enough, not far away we spot grizzly bears. We are surprised by the wide variety of different colors they come in. The grizzlies in Denali Park are mostly vegetarians because of the lack of fish in the rivers and streams, which are so full of glacier milt fish can't live in them. Consequently, Denali grizzlies are smaller than their coastal cousins who go large and fat on fish runs.
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| Mother and two cubs |
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| Two blond bears |
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The road snakes up the side of the mountains going over the Polychrome Pass, which gets it's name from the multicolored rocks and soils in the surrounding mountains.
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| The road climbs through the Polychrome Pass |
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The road is very steep and narrow through the pass. In fact, the road drop offs are so dramatic that a previously very chatty man from the East Coast, becomes very quiet and abruptly leaves the bus at our next rest stop.
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| Steep drop off through Polychrome Pass |
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| Valley formed by glaciers |
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| which deposited a gigantic boulder in Poly-Chrome valley. |
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We stop at the top of the pass and Michael, the best critter spotter on the bus, points out possible bears on the edge of some of the lakes below.
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| Michael points out possible bears at the top of Polychrome Pass |
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The volcanic hills with their green slopes remind us of Hawaii... but the cold winds tell us we're in Alaska.
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| Volcanic hills |
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As we move farther into the park, we spot more
caribou (aka reindeer) and Dall sheep.
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| Female standing on ridge top |
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| Male caribou |
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| Dall sheep |
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As we near the
Eielson Visitor Center, the terrain becomes more mountainous. Our bus driver tells us all to close our eyes and then after a few minutes tells us to open them... but there is nothing much to see except a pile of clouds where a dramatic view of Denali mountain is usually seen.
We all get a laugh out of the hidden mountain.
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| Becky - my chatty traveling companion from Bethesda MD |
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| We poise for a photo at a rest stop |
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Of course there are still more wildlife and mountains to see.
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| A large male caribou on top of a ridge |
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| A younger male |
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Towards the end of our trip we have our closest encounter with a grizzly bear. He first appears very close to the side of the road, so our driver stops for us to take photos all the while cautioning us to be quiet and not hang out of the windows.
At one point the bear rambles on to the road directly in front of our bus, blocking the way for several minutes.
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| We all focus on the bear in front of us |
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| Finally the bear wanders back into the bus and we move on. |
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We reach the Eielson Visitor Center and are treated to wonderful views even if the clouds are still hiding Denali Mountain.
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| Eielson Visitor Center |
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While at the center, the clouds part enough to give us glimpses of the mountain.
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| Denali Mountain |
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| The summit |
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We leave the Visitor Center with a better understanding of the saying the mountain creates its own weather.
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