The morning of our first full day in the park dawned… Overcast and rainy. We had a reservation on a shuttle bus out to the end of the park road (90 miles from the entrance and 60 miles from our campground), and we figured we might as well spend a rainy day riding a bus and looking for wildlife. We saw some Dall sheep and a couple of grizzlies during our bus ride, but other than that the scenery was limited. We stopped at the excellent (and LEED Platinum certified) Eielson Visitor Center at about mile 60 for lunch and learned about early climbing expeditions to the peak.

A Dall sheep looks out into the rain from his perch atop a cliff.

Just to prove we rode the bus as far as possible

We also found out that the mountain hadn’t been visible for the past week, and that the forecast for the next day wasn’t much different from today. The round trip bus ride took almost 9 hours along the winding dirt road, with stops for bathroom breaks and wildlife viewing. On the way back most of the passengers were asleep and the windows were covered with grime, so we couldn’t have seen anything anyway. We dreamed of sunny Baja beaches…

Quinn was a trooper on the long ride, with the help of videos on the Kindle Fire and a game of word association with a very patient mom.

When we woke up the next morning we were startled when we unzipped the windows of our pop-top. What is that up there? Who turned the clouds blue? What hath the gods wrought? And later, a strange burning orb appears in the sky! It must be the end times! Repent!

Blue skies!!

With renewed hope, we roused Quinn from slumber, tossed a bowl of cereal at him, made a quick pot of coffee and threw some food for lunch in our packs. Not wanting to tempt fate, we also packed warm clothes and rain gear, and headed out to the bus stop.

We were fortunate to get on the first bus that came by (we only had reservations for the first day – subsequent use of the buses is on a space available basis). Not wanting to do the whole 9 hour trip again, we rode out to Eielson Visitor Center and did a nice hike up to a ridge line for some spectacular views of Denali and the surrounding landscape. Quinn didn’t much like the cold wind at the top, but he insisted on completing the hike.

We did a 2 hour, ranger led hike about 900 feet up a ridge behind the visitor center.

Later in the visitor center, he started playing with a couple of kids about his age and excitedly dragged them over to a window where he pointed at the mountain we had just climbed and told them about his hike!

The bus trip and the hike afforded some spectacular views of Denali as well as the abundant wildlife in the park. Here are a few photos. And here are a few more.

One of 4 grizzlies we spotted from the bus

Quinn meets a friend on the bus ride back to camp. Sofie is 5, from the Czech Republic, and speaks 3 languages fluently!

More fall colors on the way out of the park