Saturday the 29th: Denali National Park, Alaska
Woke up to more typical weather, rain and fog. Temperatures in the fifties and sixties too. This wasn't at all discouraging though as today we'll be getting on a shuttle bus to see the park (note I did not say tour bus; the park makes it clear that it's up to the driver to decide whether to give any interpretation). Lucky for us, the driver put on the headset and spoke for most of the eight hour trip (the longest trip you can take is eleven hours...thought we'd wait on that).

Visibility was reduced due to the rain and fog and according to the bus driver, made spotting wildlife easier. However, we would definitely not be seeing Denali today. About two hours into the park, the bus pulled up to a grizzly and her three cubs not even fifty feet away. Unbelievable. It was hard to get your mind to acknowledge the fact that a huge mother grizzly was right in front of you. The few pictures below don't even begin to visually describe the situation.

We then went on to see the rest of the "big four," including moose, caribou and dall sheep. And, not pictured due to a lack of a zoom lense, wolves. Seeing the wolves was incredible. It was a male and female with six cubs. It's a strict rule that you have to be absolutely silent when the bus stops to view wildlife (so the animals won't associate the buses with people). As a result, we were able to hear the wolves howling!

Below is the bus. It stopped every hour or so...this was the time we would get off the bus and squeegee the mud caked windows and use the restrooms. Wipping down the inside of the windows was done about every fifteen minutes or so with a revolving paper towel roll handed down from the bus driver...the windows were constantly fogging up. Hat and gloves were essential and our feet were freezing but it was well worth it.

Even though it was a wet and cold day, the views were incredible.

The grizzlies: