Denali Park/Wonder Lake

Day 11 June 26

Today we had planned to take the bus 85 miles into Denali NP to Wonder Lake. You can only drive about 15 miles into the park, and to go any further, you must take a bus. They leave at various times of the day, and you can get on and off whenever you like. You have to take any food, water, warm clothing, etc with you as there is no place to buy anything once you get on the bus.

We woke up at 5am to catch our 6am bus, and it was raining and cold. We dressed warmly, and made it to our bus stop. It cleared gradually during the day. We decided to stay on the bus until we got to Wonder lake, then do any hiking on the way back. We saw Dall Sheep, carbiou, and someone said they saw a bear from the bus. I never did see the bear. When we got to Wonder lake, the driver warned us about the mosquitoes, saying "This is where we breed them". He was right! Up to this point, we had very few problems with mosquitoes. These bugs were huge, and ferocious! There is a campground (with real bathrooms!) at Wonder lake, set up for backpackers, but I don't know how anyone enjoyed camping there with all those mosquitoes.

On the way back, we stopped and hiked in the tundra for a while. Denali is unusual in that there are very few marked trails. You simply walk wherever you want. We are used to hiking in the Smoky Mountains, where they are very strict about staying on the trails, so this was hard for us to get used to. The tundra wildflowers were blooming. Tundra plants are very tiny. Most are 6-12 inches tall, and some are many years old. The growing season is so short, and winters so harsh, that that's all most plants can manage. Once I got used to the idea of not having to stay on a trail, it was actually kind of fun.

As we were walking around, I kept watching 3 brownish "things" in the distance. There were far enough away, that I thought they might be carbiou at first. Then we realized they were a mama grizzly bear, and 2 rather large cubs! We were still pretty far away,(no way could I get a picture) so I wasn't worried about our safety. We watched them for quite a while, then walked down to the road and caught the next bus back toward the campground.