Up to this point we have been driving into mile 15 to observe the scenery and the wildlife as that is as far as you can go with a private vehicle. We thought the scenery was spectacular up to this point but it was nothing compared to when we actually took a bus into the park. The first time was on the 7th when we took a shuttle to the Eiselson Visitors Centre at Mile 66. It was an 8 hour return trip but you could get off at any time to hike or just look around and then catch a later bus to return. We decided to come back with the bus we started out on as we enjoyed the bus driver and his commentary. Another reason is that there were only 13 people on the bus and as it stopped for wildlife sightings we could move around to get pictures.
The second trip was a tour we had reserved for the 9th that would take us to the end of the road within the park. It stopped at an old mining town called Kantishna that was active in the early 1900's but now is just a tourist town with a few lodges. When we got to the town we met up with a Ranger who gave us a history lesson of the town and its people. However it was hard to hear him over the swatting of mosquitos. This was the only place where we ran into a bad mosquito investation. Some of the old timers here will tell you that the State Bird is not the Ptarmigan but is actually the Mosquito.
The second trip was a tour we had reserved for the 9th that would take us to the end of the road within the park. It stopped at an old mining town called Kantishna that was active in the early 1900's but now is just a tourist town with a few lodges. When we got to the town we met up with a Ranger who gave us a history lesson of the town and its people. However it was hard to hear him over the swatting of mosquitos. This was the only place where we ran into a bad mosquito investation. Some of the old timers here will tell you that the State Bird is not the Ptarmigan but is actually the Mosquito.
We started the trip at 7:30 AM and got back to the Wilderness Centre at 7:30PM, a long day. The bus driver was also our narrator and gave us a lot of history and folklore about the park. If you want to know what we learned, take the tour.
The road we took was the same for both tours and was paved up to Mile 15 when the pavement stopped and the gravel took over. The viewing from this point was unbelievable and we couldn't decide what to look for, scenery, wildlife, Mt. McKinley and before you knew it the tour was over.
There was point in the road that was a little nail bitting. We had to go over and through Poison Pass ( a little drop will kill you ) where you were looking straight down ( over 1000 ft ) with no guardrails on a one way gravel road. Thankfully we didn't meet anyone coming the other way.
During our first bus trip into the park we did get a view of Mt. McKinley on a couple of occassions. The first time was further in the park where we got glimpses of it through the clouds. You could see parts of both peaks but could not get a good grasp its enormity. On the return trip the entire mountain came into view, it was not a great picture as there was still a haze in the air but it did show the entire mountain. This was the point where we realized just how big the mountain is and why the natives called it Denali or The Great One.
Denali National Park has been great and we could have stayed another couple of weeks without any trouble but we have to move on tomorrow. We had hopped to get better pictures of the mountain but c'est la vie. Next Year? We did learn that if anyone is coming to Denali to make sure they take the shuttle into the park. The real beauty starts after Mile 15.
The beauty of Denali National Park.
Wonder Lake
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