Denali National Park

On Monday June 19 we had a very busy day at Denali National Park. We walked up the hill to the main lodge to get a quick coffee and breakfast sandwich which was terrible. We didn't have time to have a decent breakfast, we were trying to get on an earlier tour bus into the park but they were all full . We took the free shuttle bus to the park, went to the Access Center and Visitor Center to see the exhibits there- quite nice. We watched the videos about the park which were a great overview of the history of the park.

We took the shuttle back to the hotel and walked across the road to have lunch at the Salmon Bake, where Kirk and I stayed the last time we were here. I had crab grilled cheese with seafood soup- very good! Kirk had a halibut burger. Our Serbian waiter was very nice and we enjoyed talking with him as the place was pretty empty.

We got on the tour bus for the 8 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour at 3:10 in front of the hotel. We had our doubts about taking this long tour at that hour, but our driver/guide Cindy was awesome! Forecast called for rain but it held off until 9 p.m. on our way back.  We were so lucky, we had a grizzly sow and two yearling cubs come out and cross the road in front of our bus! We also saw moose, caribou, Dall sheep, ground squirrels, a fox, and birds. We stopped about every 90 minutes for a rest break. At our turnaround point (Stony Hill, at mile 62), we were able to see  part of Mount McKinley surrounded by clouds. We had a caribou run down the road in front of the bus too. We got back about 10:30.  It was still light out even though it was raining. What a day!