Sunday June 27

This post and all the photos are the work of John!

Got to take the Kantishna Experience tour bus into the interior of the park today. It left from the Wilderness Access Center at 0730, with a light drizzle of rain. My hopes of seeing Mt McKinley were pretty high but in reality the chance to get a view of the mountain was not good. The guide for the trip was a really colorful gal, fisherman, dog sled musher, and had the gift of gab.

The first wildlife we spotted was the same 4 caribou bulls Linda and I had watched two days ago, they hadn’t moved very far.

The further we got into the park the more animals we saw. The dall sheep were all on the uphill side of the bus so I didn’t get any pictures of them that were very close. This one is the best and they were probably ½ mile away.

The road meandered thru the steep mountain pass and onto a huge valley, the arctic tundra. This is where the grizzly bears roam. The first ones we spotted were a mom and 2 yearling cubs.

The mom and one of the cubs were the typical blonde color and the other cub a dark brown. Must have been adopted, he lagged back while the other one was right next to mom most of the time.

The weather was still dreary and only saw the sun one time all day. Lots of rain, wish we could get some of it down in NM. The bus driver stopped any time someone spotted any wildlife. Some little kids on board would yell out when they saw a ground squirrel. They were having the time of their young lives.

We stopped at the new Eielson Visitor Center, the best spot to have a clear view of Mt McKinley. This is what the mountain would look like on a clear day

and this is what my view was today, a solid cloud bank….maybe see it next time.

The bus wound its way to Wonder Lake and Kantishna which is 92 miles into the park. It was a gold mining town and not turned into a tourist destination. There a park ranger met the bus and gave us the 50 cent history lesion. I was more interested in getting back on the comfortable bus and seeing more bears.

On the way back we spotted 2 pretty nice Bull Moose just munching on the willows. They were not bothered in the least of the bus and people hanging out the windows snapping pictures. Must have never been shot at before!

A few miles down the road we came up on the highlight of the trip for me. Saw a mom and 3 year old cub grizzly. They were darn near snow white! Probably would be white if they had a little better personal hygiene habits!

The bus got back to the Wilderness Access Center at 730, made for a long day but one I will remember for a long long time. I almost forgot how comfortable a school bus can be!