I was standing at the door of the restaurant this AM when it opened at 5AM. Kathy chose a little extra sleep over breakfast (she had leftover pizza for breakfast, a piece we had brought back to the room after supper last night). We met at the main lodge and boarded the bus at 5:50AM. The thermometer in front of the lodge read 37 degrees, I think the overnight low was 35. Then it was off for an 8 hour bus ride into Denali and back out.
We travelled about 150 miles,
One of several stops for photos.
The bus didn't bother this grizzly bear at all. He just kept digging for some type of root he found tasty. We probably set there watching him for over 5 minutes. He moved about 10' and started digging in a new place just before we left.
This was at our turnaround point. It was 65 miles into the park and as far as tour buses could go today. Next week the will be able to host to the end of the road, another 30 miles. Denali, or Mt. McKinley as it was known for some years to those of us in the lower 48 states, is directly abvoe Kathy's head. We were still 35 miles from it. Our driver has been doing this for 12 years. He keeps records of weather and animal sightings. He said that Denali weather has been clear enough to see the top of the mountain on 18% of his trips.
There are a bunch of Dall sheep on this mountainside. You could see them with the naked eye, especially when they moved around. The driver had a 300 zoom video camera that played on screens we could watch. Below this photo is one of the screen.
75 miles in & then 75 miles back out on the same road. The weather was absolutely beautful, bright sunshine with just a few high clouds and a moderate breeze. The scenery was spectaclar. In addition we saw Dall's(mountain goats), caribou, deer, a grizzly bear as well as several types of birds and small animals.
We got back to the lodge at 2 PM. It was pretty warm on the bus, the outside temperature hit 68 degrees. With 50 people on a Bluebird school bus, no AC, it got quite warm inside. Sometimes we were able to go a few miles after someone opened a window before some other person complained they were cold.
I took a nap. Kathy went down to the "square" and read. About 5PM we walked over to a restaurant on the square for supper. On the way we started talking to a couple who were also walking over for supper. We had seen each other on the bus trip. They are from near Bakersfield, CA. As we walked along Les made a comment about something he had seen on Fox this afternoon. I asked him if they were allowed to watch Fox in California. He grinned and said they have to keep the volume real low so that the neighbors don't find out they are conservatives. We sat together and during supper Les seemed serious when he said he had thuught about putting a couple of bumper stickers o hie car, ones with conservative ideals, but he was afraid his car would be vandalized.
After supper we parted company both hoping to spend more time together as our tour/cruise travels progresses. We will be on the same cruise ship. Kathy wanted to walk down to a neat looking pedestrian bridge that crosses the river so we headed off on our hike. It was well over a mile, up hill and down hill. We were both pooped by the time we got back to our room.
The path was a lot steeper than it looks in the photo.
This bobcat was making a level place on the side of a steep hill. I'm not sure how the operator got it down there and I could see no way for him to get back up, short of getting a crane.
The walkway over the river.
God is good, may He bless you & yours.
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