July 3rd, 2012: A Long Ride To Wonder Lake

The grizzly plodded toward the bus as if it wasn't there. It reached the passenger side and then turned as if it were thinking, "Why won't it move?", before it continued along the side and then crossed in front. It was the eighht grizzly of the day and by far the closest and biggest.

We were riding the shuttle bus to Wonder Lake. It's a twelve hour plus round trip(there are stops where you can stretch and use restrooms), from the park entrance, and the only way to travel inside the park,(other then taking a flight seeing tour). See the park service has decided to limit driving on the one road to shuttle busses with strict rules for the passengers. Most importantly, these are that nothing sticks out the windows but camera lenses and if anyone talks when the bus is close to the animal, the driver will start the bus and drive on!

Our group actually obeyed the rules and the results were the best wildlife viewing we have ever seen. We saw nine grizzly bears, numerous cariboo, five moose, a red fox, birds that were completely unafraid of people, dall sheep, oh and a lynx.
It was the first lynx we have ever seen and it jumped into the willows, until the driver turned off the engine. Then the lynx stepped back on the road and posed a bit before returning to the brush on the other side.

How unlike Yellowstone where the animals are under a barage of idiots who jump out of vehicles and literally surround the bears, some with cubs. Here the jams are bus jams of one or two and a total of about thirty a day. Of course there are other's but they are all park workers who know the strict rules.

We both felt like we had been transported into a subartic Garden of Eden. A place back in time and maybe one of the few places where the animals are seemingly unafraid of people. The only one missing on our tour, was a wolf, and we were told that the alpha female had been trapped, outside the park. The State of Alaska last year reopened the area adjacent to trapping, so perhaps she was one of the pelts we  have seen almost everywhere we go.

If you ever go to Alaska, and travel to Denali National Park, be sure to take a ride on the shuttle bus. Of course you will hope to see the Mountain, but even if you don't the wildlife viewing and other scenery will make the trip worth every penny! Clear skies

ps Thanks to Ned, our bus driver for the excellent naration and driving along the scary narrow roads. These make the Top of the World highway seem like, well a highway. Did I say there were no guardrails? This made passing other busses a joy especially on the numerous hairpins. It reminded me of the movie, The Long Long Trailer.