The drive into the heart of Denali

This post is written by Norm:

We stayed at Savage River Campground at mile 13 and went as far as the Wonder Lake, Mile 85

We had booked this bus trip into Denali Park last year, obviously taking the risk that the weather would be good.  But better to have a shot at it than to arrive and have it sold out.  Turns out – we were right.  People inquiring about availability were told to book a day or two out.

 You can only drive about 29 of the 89 miles into the park to get to the various campgrounds, of which only 13 or so miles are paved.  Anything further requires passage on a bus. You are allowed to get off any time you want to hike ( if you knew where to go without a trail ).

The roads were a little wider than one bus width, with no guardrails. Some people's stomachs could not tolerate being on the cliff side of the bus.  Norm and I had our noses pressed to the glass.  Absolute incredibly beauty - as far as the eye could see!

 The last stop into the park is almost 90 miles from the entrance.  We had booked a trip to the Eielson Visitor Center which is at mile 66 on the Parks Road.  This was going to be roughly 8 hours of round trip driving in a school bus on a pretty rough dirt road.

View of Denali peeking in and out of the clouds from the Eielson Visitor Center. The tallest mountain in North America with its peak at 20,310 feet

A very comfortable school bus

We arrived at the bus stop ahead of our 7:30 departure time and were rewarded with a pickup on the 7:15 bus.  The bus was not very crowded and the seats were surprisingly quite comfortable.

  The bus driver shared various insights about the park’s history and was vigilant in spotting wildlife along the way.  Any time she or a passenger spotted something moving she abruptly brought the bus to a halt so everyone could share the sighting.  Problem was that most of these “sightings” were so far away you needed binoculars or one of those 2’ long camera lenses to see them closely.  Our phone cameras just weren’t doing it justice.  Anyway, we spotted herds of caribou and Dall sheep and a couple of grizzlies.

 The scenery was gorgeous with green meadows on both sides of the road leading up to low ridged mountains with a backdrop of higher snow capped mountains.

The landscape was so varied as you traveled around each bend in the road

We stopped about every ½ hour for a potty break and a chance to get out and stretch our legs, taking in the great Alaskan wilderness around us.  We arrived at our destination and realized it had an awesome vista through a very large picture window to the mighty Denali.  Problem – clouds.  Lots of clouds, but at least you could see it through them.  That’s OK though because we had already been blessed with many earlier unobstructed views of Denali the previous few days.






 We toured the visitors’ center and decided to travel further down the road to Wonder Lake where there was a 2 ½ mile scenic hiking trail.  We were told to just jump on board if space was available and pay when we returned to the visitors’ center.

We got off about ½ mile before the next stop so we could get right on to the trail.  As soon as we got out the bus driver mumbled something about lots of mosquitoes.  Then they hit us.  Lots and lots of them!  A few people were coming off the trail and they assured us that if we moved quickly enough, the buzzing pests would be less of a nuisance.




There were no significant elevation changes here but the first mile was a densely packed path of fist sized rocks that hindered our forward progress.  Then we came upon some narrow boardwalks that gave us passage over streams and bogs.  No animal sightings, but nice to be with nature.

 The trail abruptly ended at a river where we stopped for a break before the 2 ½ mile trek back.  On the way back, Alison lost her footing over that stretch of rocks and went down.  Sore for a few days but no major damage done.

A crystal clear stream on the McKinley Bar trail near Wonder Lake 

As we approached the end, the clouds thickened, then the rains came.  We quickly donned our rain gear and within a few minutes had reached the road.  The couple we are travelling with had gotten ahead of us and they saw a bus coming by so they rushed to the road to flag it down.  Unfortunately, the bus drove right on by.  It didn’t take too long for the next bus to come by and rescue us.

 On the ride back the rain stopped and we were treated to an up close encounter (we were on the bus) with a grizzly that happened to be meandering down the road.  The driver stayed about 50 yards back and kept alternating to the right and then the left so that everyone on board could get those oh so important grizzly butt shots with their cameras. The bus driver insisted that everyone stay absolutely quiet. She explained, in a whisper, that it is vitally important that the wildlife there in Denali not become accustomed to human voice or noises. If they do, they will no longer run when they hear us. Not good.

Mr. bear lumbered unfazed down the road 

After about a mile the bear strolled into the woods and we returned to camp, totally satisfied with our sighting of the day.