[You may view a Denali National Park brochure with map in PDF format here.]

We awoke at 4:55 by alarm because our atomic clock reset itself two hours ahead. J had replaced the batteries in it last night, and it had reset itself to adjust the time automatically. Ever since we've had that clock, it ends up with the wrong time when it automatically sets the time, so we have had it operating in a dumb mode where we tell it what time it is. Unfortunately, when J put new batteries in it, it lost the setting to act dumb and and keep the correct time so it reverted to acting smart and started showing the incorrect time. :) Fortunately, the clock woke us up early and not late. Before we figured out what had happened, I had gotten out of bed and had started my morning routine. J realized that it was still rather dark, and asked me to check the time on a different clock. Sure enough, it was way early, so I went back to bed and was able to get back to sleep.

J got out of bed around 6:25 and I got out of bed around 6:40 to finish getting ready. There was solid overcast. Had my normal breakfast. I started to schlep things to the bus stop around 7:40 to be ready for the camper bus to Wonder Lake. Camper buses are just like the regular shuttle buses (they're school buses), but they have the last four or so rows of seats removed to make space for people's camping gear. A&B from the Dall sheep yesterday were waiting for a bus too. Patrick Endres, a nature photographer from Fairbanks, arrived with his camping gear and a bicycle. (Visit his website, Alaska Photographics.) I talked with him about his Kiboko photo backpack, a model that I had been looking at online a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Patrick wasn't able to board the camper bus because bicycles are supposed to be loaded at Riley Creek, not further into the park, and there wasn't room for it. We left at 8:47.

We stopped to photograph willow ptarmigan right by the road from the bus. One female was very cooperative and perched on a low branch thus exposing her feathered feet.

J was really enjoying the ride and the opportunity to do some good photography from the bus. :) Denali National Park is one of my favorite places in the world, and I was especially happy to be sharing the experience this time with someone special.
When we arrived at Polychrome Overlook at 9:57, there was a red fox running along the road. We quickly set up to go photograph it outside, and it conveniently went off the road into a nice natural area. :) We got back on the bus and drove maybe 100 yds before stopping so that the driver could go back to the overlook to pick up Patrick and his gear who were just arriving on another bus. We had unloaded several campers and backpackers after leaving Teklanika Campground, and there was room for Patrick's bicycle and other gear now. Before the bus backed up, the driver let us get off and resume photographing the red fox that had moved into an even better location. I scrambled down the side of the hill to get on the fox's level, and was able to capture some really nice images (left).

We stopped around 10:30 to watch two wolves maybe 200 yds (180m) from the road. They were too far away to photograph, but it was fun to watch them for a while. It started to rain lightly around 10:50. It started to snow around 11:25 on our way up Stony Pass.

We stopped at the Eielson Visitor Center at 11:36. The official sunrise is 6:21, and sunset is 9:33 — the days are getting shorter. We left at 12:12.

The ceiling was really low as we headed west. We stopped to watch a phalarope in a pond.

We reached Wonder Lake Campground around 1:30 and claimed Site 16 which is near the shelter closest to the bus stop and also near the bathroom. Camping at Wonder Lake is like luxury camping. There are two shelters with six picnic tables under a roof and a large walk-in food storage area between the two sets of three picnic tables. The bathroom has (cold) running water and flush toilets. The big draw is the view. All of the tent sites and both shelters have a fantastic view of Mt. McKinley, assuming that the mountain is in the clear.

We got the tent set up by 1:50 and light rain started at 1:53 — got the tent up just in time! :) Then we started getting the "beds" set up. J had thought she brought a twin blow-up Coleman mattress to put alongside my extra-thick REI "Thermarest" sleeping pad, so I quickly unrolled my sleeping pad to let it inflate on its own before helping J blow up her mattress. Apparently, I prevented her from taking the battery-operated pump in the RV, so we'd have to blow it up with lung power. As soon as she unfolded the mattress, she discovered that it was a double mattress. I started to roll up my sleeping pad, but J suggested that I leave it out. We took turns blowing up the mattress, then took a short rest on it to recover from all the work that it took to inflate it.

We went over to the shelter and hung out at one of the picnic tables out of the rain and chatted with two women from Anchorage for a while. The shelters are a great place to meet people. Yes, you heard me, it's a great place to socialize. Those of you who know me probably think it's odd for this introvert to socialize, but I enjoy chatting with the folks who camp at Wonder Lake. It's like we're all part of some big clique because most people who camp at Wonder Lake are repeat campers.

The rain had stopped, so we left around 3:30 and walked over to the south end of Wonder Lake which is maybe a 1/4 of a mile walk north of the campground.

We returned to the shelter around 4:02. Shortly thereafter a red squirrel climbed to the top of a spruce tree nearby, and started plucking off the spruce cones. We quickly set up our cameras and captured the little guy at work. We waited around for a while, and J started to get cold. It was 46°F (8°C).

We had dinner of Mountain House Sweet & Sour Pork with Rice — J's favorite.

We went to the tent around 6:30, and J was freezing. She climbed into her sleeping bag, and I did some reading. Around 8:50, I went to the shelter to get J some hand warmers to try to warm her up, then I walked to Wonder Lake and back to warm myself up a bit after sitting and reading. I got J more hand warmers when I returned. Some nice color started to illuminate the hills to the south around 9:30.