We were up bright and early Sunday morning to catch the 7:15 am shuttle to Wonder Lake. In hindsight, I think I would have picked a later shuttle, or kept this day unplanned to explore the park entrance area. We were tired from yesterday's drive, and could have used a little more sleep!
There was road work happening on the Parks Highway between Healy and the Park Entrance, and despite leaving extra early, we still cut it a little too close for comfort! But, thankfully, we did make it to our shuttle in time. We packed breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the day since we knew it was going to be a long ride. Our driver's name was Kevin, and he did a good job telling us about the park and wildlife. We all kept our eyes pealed for animals, and whenever someone spotted something, Kevin would slow down or stop so we could all get a look and take some photos. We did pretty good with the wildlife sightings. On the ride into the park, we saw moose, caribou, dall sheep, and bears in the distance.
The bus also made frequent rest stops. Some of the facilities were actually pretty nice.
Just be sure to lock yourself safely inside!
Unfortunately, Denali was not out today, so we decided to get off the shuttle at Eielson Visitor's Center. We ate our lunch there and did a short hike.
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| This is the view of Denail from Eielson. The lines on the window show where Denali would be if it were out! |
Afterwards, we hopped on another bus heading back to the Wilderness Access Center and spotted some more animals.
All in all, it was a long day, but well worth it. We got back to the WAC around 5:15, and headed over to Prospector's Pizza for dinner. It was a lovely, warm evening, so we ate outside. I highly recommend the "The Lower 48 it Ain’t" with reindeer sausage and elk! After dinner, we drove around Otto Lake area in Healy, before heading back to Aspen Haus for bed!
Day 4:
Based on the recommendations of the folks at TripAdvisor, I had planned on taking the 7:15 am shuttle to Wonder Lake again today, but neither of us really felt up for spending all day on the bus again, especially since Denali wasn't likely to be out. So, although this was a bit of a waste, I still liked having the shuttle booked for two days as "insurance," I know I would have been upset if we had only booked for one day, and the weather turned out to be lousy.
Instead of taking the shuttle, we slept in a bit, had leftover pizza for breakfast, packed up our belongings, and checked out of Aspen Haus (they didn't have any rooms available when I made the reservation, so we'd be spending tonight at a different location just south of the Park Entrance). We headed over to the Visitor Center at the Park Entrance ~9 am, checked out the exhibits there, then drove over to the sled dog kennels. A lot of people took the bus from the WAC, but Anne Marie from Aspen Haus told us there should be plenty of parking by the kennels, and she was right. We walked around for a bit, saying hello to all the dogs, then took a seat with the sled dog demo was about to begin. The park ranger gave an excellent talk about how the dogs are used and cared for, and introduced us to 6 of the dogs.
After the demo, we walked through the kennels again and talked with the ranger for a bit. Once most people had left on the shuttle, he asked us if we wanted to take part in a special activity. They needed help socializing the sled dog puppies! Of course, we said yes! We joined about 10 other people, and sat on the ground in a circle, knee to knee. The rangers put 3 or 4 puppies in the middle and encouraged us to pet them, touch their paws and faces, in order to get them used to human contact. This was an awesome, unexpected experience, and totally made us feel better about our decision to skip the shuttle to Wonder Lake today!
Once it was time to say good bye to the puppies, we decided to get back in the car, and drive along the park road as far as Savage River (after that point, the Park Road is open only to the park buses). At Savage River, we did a short hike on the Savage River Trail Loop, where we had a caribou sighting. The whole area was beautiful, and we were blessed with another lovely day weatherwise.We concluded our time in the park with a stop at the Murie Science Center.
After leaving the park in mid-afternoon, we drove to Carlo Creek Cabins, 12 miles south of the park entrance. Cute, rustic cabins. Did laundry, enjoyed a beer on the porch, took a short nap. Headed across the street to McKinley Creekside Cafe. So warm, that once again we were able to eat outside, where the owner's dog Duke kept us company.
Back to the cabin at 8, read for a bit, then crashed!
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