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What an experience!!! The only way into Denali is by bus - a 4 hour, 8 hour or 11 hour ride. We decided on the 8 hour ride to Eielson Visitor Center. The weather was partly cloudy and we left the visitor center at high 60's and by the time we were at Eielson the temperature had dropped to the low 50's. I am so glad that I layered (3 layers) and wished I had one more layer. They tell you to make sure you take a rain jacket, hat & gloves, bug repellent, and snacks. I sure wish I would have had a fleece jacket. The scenery is spectacular. The roads are very much like our mountain roads. When you think of Alaska you think of very high mountains and high elevation. Well, tree line here is 3000' and the highest point on the road into Eielson was 3983'. Yes-- the mountains around Denali are very high and Mt. McKinley is over 20,000'. Another amazing thing is that the creeks swell to over 6 feet during the ice melt and are now just a mear 12" or less, but you can see the entire large creek bed. We were disappointed that McKinley was cloud covered, but our guide said that it only shows itself maybe once every two weeks. We saw quite a few grizzly bears (thank goodness Paw Paw has a telephoto lens), Dall sheep, snowshoe hares, marmots, caribou (one came right up the middle of the road towards the bus) and itsy bitsy ground squirels. We also saw a ptarmigan and here clutch of little ones crossing the road. We are intending on hitting some of the hiking trails today, but I am going to have to visit the bookstore again (what a place, especially if you love books). The visitor center is amazing and has some of the resident artists works displayed. The beaded mukluks were amazing. Chatterbox, there was a moose puzzle that was broken down into puzzle form. Each piece of the puzzle was magnitized and showed what that part of the moose was used for. What a teaching tool.
What an experience!!! The only way into Denali is by bus - a 4 hour, 8 hour or 11 hour ride. We decided on the 8 hour ride to Eielson Visitor Center. The weather was partly cloudy and we left the visitor center at high 60's and by the time we were at Eielson the temperature had dropped to the low 50's. I am so glad that I layered (3 layers) and wished I had one more layer. They tell you to make sure you take a rain jacket, hat & gloves, bug repellent, and snacks. I sure wish I would have had a fleece jacket. The scenery is spectacular. The roads are very much like our mountain roads. When you think of Alaska you think of very high mountains and high elevation. Well, tree line here is 3000' and the highest point on the road into Eielson was 3983'. Yes-- the mountains around Denali are very high and Mt. McKinley is over 20,000'. Another amazing thing is that the creeks swell to over 6 feet during the ice melt and are now just a mear 12" or less, but you can see the entire large creek bed. We were disappointed that McKinley was cloud covered, but our guide said that it only shows itself maybe once every two weeks. We saw quite a few grizzly bears (thank goodness Paw Paw has a telephoto lens), Dall sheep, snowshoe hares, marmots, caribou (one came right up the middle of the road towards the bus) and itsy bitsy ground squirels. We also saw a ptarmigan and here clutch of little ones crossing the road. We are intending on hitting some of the hiking trails today, but I am going to have to visit the bookstore again (what a place, especially if you love books). The visitor center is amazing and has some of the resident artists works displayed. The beaded mukluks were amazing. Chatterbox, there was a moose puzzle that was broken down into puzzle form. Each piece of the puzzle was magnitized and showed what that part of the moose was used for. What a teaching tool. 
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