June 26th: Various shuttle bus, tour bus, and camper bus packages are available in Denali National Park. We bought tickets for an 11-hour shuttle bus ride, which took us on a 170-mile roundtrip to Wonder Lake and back. The morning half of the ride was quite rainy and muddy, but Nancy Russell, our driver/guide, carefully cleaned all the windows at every rest stop.
A Snowshoe Hare:
Alpine Aster:
Dall Sheep . . .
and a Gray Wolf!
It was so exciting to see the sheep, and suddenly Nancy cautioned us all to be quiet and pointed out the wolf. It crossed the road in front of the bus, entered the cover of scrub brush, and intently watched the sheep. It then decided that the best approach to the sheep was from a different angle, came back out to the road, and then hid in brush once more. When he sprang from cover, we all held our breath. It was exhilarating to see his speed - and that of the sheep. While we understand that the wolf's survival depends on his meals, we were still relieved to see that all the sheep survived. The wolf was simply out of his element on the steep rocks. We wondered why he was hunting alone.
Back to the scenery:
The Eielson Visitor Center is 66 miles inside the park, and is hardly visible from the road. Its sod roof, solar panels, and a curious Arctic ground squirrel:
Wildflowers near the center
Dwarf Fireweed:
Pussy Toes, only about 3" tall (the ferny leaves belong to a different plant):
Tundra Rose (also called Shrubby Cinquefoil), only about a foot tall:
Narcissus-flowered Anemone, about 8" tall (creamy petals and yellow center didn't come out in the photo, but it was such a great find, we had to include it):
Low-bush Cranberry, about 3" high:
POISONOUS! Monkshood! (Karen's been wanting to see one of these for years.)
Capitate Valerian?
Many-flowered Stickseed, almost covered by grass:
Hitchhiker on the bus:
We've seen gorgeous pictures of Mount McKinley reflected in Wonder Lake, but cloudcover kept us from seeing the mountain at all. Still, it was a lovely setting, and we could see a loon on her nest on the other side of the lake (and wished we had a zoom lens).
After the turn-around at Wonder Lake, the bus startled a mama moose, and she took off - with her babies keeping up as best they could. Nancy said she had never seen a moose take off like that before, weaving back and forth and in a sort of panic.
Nancy stopped our bus so that she could talk with the driver of another bus which was traveling toward us and had also stopped. The buses were no more than a foot apart, and this red fox calmly walked out of the brush, onto the road, and between the two buses. It then decided to take a break in the middle of the road.
This grizzly bear was lying on her back, nursing one cub while the cub that's visible here slept.
Mama and two babies lying back down for a nap:
Mt. McKinley off in the distance:
A mama grizzly playing with her cub, that is nearly as large as she is:
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