Last updated on May 2nd, 2021
We wake up to sunlight streaming in our window at 7:30. It is a stunningly gorgeous morning – cool and clear and sunny. Denali will be visible!
We discuss our options for the day as we dress and we are still discussing them as we arrive at the park. I’m wishing we had gotten up earlier so we could have tried to get tickets all the way out to the end of the road, but Lane says that 12 hours on a bus yesterday was more than enough. We agree to get tickets for Eielson Visitor’s Center.
At the ticket counter I discover there are two buses heading to Eielson. One of these is a “sweeper” which goes out mostly empty in order to help get everyone back out of the park as the day goes on. (An impressive amount of organization goes into ensuring that everyone who goes out into the park for the day is actually picked up and taken back out of the park at the end of the day.) Because it doesn’t really function as a tour bus, the sweeper only stops for animal sightings near the road, NOT for distant specks that might be caribou. Excellent – we saw plenty of those yesterday – and the more limited number of stops will get us up to Eielson earlier.
The bus is mostly empty, giving us each a window through which to view the scenery, however, our first stop is for road construction.
(Some things are ubiquitous.)
But soon we are also stopping for grizzlies on the road. . .
and for incredible views of Denali.
Everything looks different in this morning’s brilliant sunshine.
Even the caribou look different – they are so much bigger! (Ok, maybe they are just closer to the road today. Still, it is nice to be able to actually see one.)
This is going to be a great day!
