We got up at 4:45 am to eat breakfast at 5 am, catch a shuttle to the McKinley Chalet Resort where we caught our all-day bus tour into Denali National Park. We returned around 7:30 pm, a very long day but the best day of the trip!

Karen by our day tour bus

one of the first things we saw were 2 young male moose

2 young male moose (enlarged)

nearby was a moose cow

braided river

red ground squirrel at one of our rest stops

redfox along the side of the road

Dall sheep, they were always very far away

the clouds started clearing when we got to the Polychrome Mountains

Karen and Ginger at the Polychrome Mountain rest stop

clearing skys

2 caribou in the distance

another view enlarged

Karen with caribou antlers at the Eielson Visitor Center

ptarmagin (the state bird of Alaska) on the side of the road

the peak of Denali with clouds clearing (using telephoto lens)
70% of visitors never see Denali because it is shrouded in clouds most of the time, we saw it on 2 different days!

loon

beaver den

Kantishna, the end of the road 90 miles into Denali National Park

lunch stop in Kantishna

river by lunch stop

After lunch, we went for a walk around Kantishna and saw this little cabin

view of Denali at Wonder Lake on our return

another stunning view of Denali at Wonder Lake

snow blowing off Denali (telephoto lens)

clouds returning

our first grizzly bear!

another grizzly bear (enlarged)

2 grizzlys in the distance, mother and older cub?

caribou crossing a stream

yet another wild caribou!

this caribou was right next to the road and wearing a tracking collar

bull moose near the park exit, the end of a fantastic day!

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