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

We had a really bad night's sleep! A guy in a nearby tent snored loudly all night, and the blow-up mattress was a disaster. The tent had a gentle slope along our bodies which shouldn't have been a problem. However, J doesn't like sleeping with her head lower than her feet, so we slept with our heads up which meant that we kept slipping downhill towards our feet during the night. If I sleep with my feet higher than my head, then I don't slip around as much and my legs don't get tired from trying to support myself through the night. The biggest problem was an unexpected slope to the side, so we kept sliding down to the lower corner of the mattress throughout the night and then we had to climb back up to the upper corner. J didn't sleep at all until the morning, and she shivered all night.

I awoke around 5:15 before the 5:30 alarm and looked through the small window in the tent. There was a solid cloud layer so we went back to sleep.

I awoke again around 6:45 and I could hear people oohing and aahing outside. I quickly got dressed and got out of the tent. The mountain (that's Mt. McKinley) was out. I told J who wasn't fully awake yet that the mountain was out and I was probably going to get on the 8:00 Camper Bus to Kantishna. I went to my favorite place to photograph Mt. McKinley from the campground, which was very close to our tent. Clouds moved in and split the view of the mountain, then finally obscured the whole mountain. There was a good chance that it would clear again, so I quickly boiled some water for instant coffee and J's tea and instant oatmeal. J had gotten up and was taking some pictures herself, but she wasn't going to join me on the 8:00 bus. In fact, she was going to pack up her things and head back to the RV. :( She froze last night and saw the mountain this morning, and she had had enough camping at Wonder Lake.

I got on the 8:00 Camper Bus to Kantishna. The drivers for that bus and the 6:30 Camper Bus stay overnight at Wonder Lake in order to provide an early departure. The 8:00 Camper Bus is convenient because after leaving Wonder Lake, it head up to Kantishna which is north of Wonder Lake, then comes back down the same road on the way to the park entrance. So, it's really nice to get a lift to the north end of Wonder Lake, which is about a 5 mi (8km) walk from the campground, where you can get dropped off to spend about 40 minutes before getting back on the bus on its way back.

I hopped off the bus at the north end of Wonder Lake which, on a good day, provides a nice reflection of Mt. McKinley to the south. Unfortunately, there was a solid cloud layer obscuring all of Mt. McKinley. The general shape of the landscape and the reflection was still interesting so I photographed that. Then I photographed a pair of tundra swans on Wonder Lake. I hopped back on the bus around 9:05.

I got off the bus shortly after going by Reflection Pond because Mt. McKinley was starting to clear. Reflection Pond is about half a mile (800m) north of the Y where the road splits to go to Wonder Lake Campground and is right by the road. It provides one of the best places to photograph Mt. McKinley reflected in a pond or lake, and is a cliché image. When I got back to Reflection Pond, I saw a group of ten or so photographers on a photography tour lining the shore of the pond — I told you it was a popular image. :) I went down to where they were and squeezed my tripod in amongst them so I could get a decent foreground. The mountain cleared some more, but three long-tailed ducks were swimming around in the pond making waves and ruining a good reflection. The clouds around the mountain kept changing, and some lenticular clouds started to form, too. The photography tour folks started to pack up and I was able to move around more freely, but the mountain never cleared up any better, so I also left and started hiking back towards the campground.

The mountain was completely covered by 11:45, shortly before I reached the bus stop at Wonder Lake Campground. J was at the bus stop when I arrived, and she was going to get on the 12:30 bus to go back to the RV. Cool — I was planning to get on that bus too to head to Polychrome. That's the first bus that arrives from the park entrance. J very kindly gave me two of her 8GB CF cards just in case I'd need them. She wouldn't need them because she'd be able to download images at the end of the day back at the RV. We both got on the bus and departed around 12:35.
We stopped at the Eielson Visitor Center at 1:20 and I reloaded my water bottle. We left at 1:50.

I got off the bus at Polychrome Overlook at 2:57 and said good bye to J. The fox wasn't visible from the road, so I walked up to the top of the hill to look for it. Another passenger from the bus had also gotten off to look for the fox, and he spotted it first. The fox walked through the low brush looking for Arctic ground squirrels, and gave me a few good looks (left). Then the fox trotted down the hill away from the road and into higher brush and out of sight. :(

I started to hike west along the road around 3:35 to see what I could see before hopping on a bus back towards Wonder Lake. I hopped on a Camper Bus around 4:35.

As we were heading up the hill after the Toklat rest area around 5:00, there were about a dozen snowshoe hares along the road. There was solid cloud cover by 5:10.

We stopped to watch two grizzly bears close to the road. Unfortunately, the driver didn't stop at a good location for photography and I had to deal with a horizon line in the frame with a very boring sky. There was a bus in front of us heading the other way that had stopped at a much better location. The two bears were busy eating the berries and generally kept their heads down, but one bear lifted its head and gave me a good look (left). :)

We stopped at the Eielson Visitor Center at 5:45 and left around 6:20.

The horizon to the north and west was clear, so I was hopeful that there would be some good light later in the evening. We went by, and/or stopped to view, a cow moose, a bull moose, a young bull moose, and a really big bull moose.

We got to Wonder Lake Campground at 7:10, and I changed into fresh dry clothes to help me keep warm during dinner. The tent felt palatial with only my stuff in it. The Merrell mocs felt so good to put on after wearing the boots all day.

Had dinner of Mountain House Chicken Polynesian, one of my favorite flavors. R&B were having dinner at the next picnic table, and we struck up a conversation. They are from Boulder and recently stepped out of the rat race to travel around this summer. We quickly hit it off because of our shared experiences.

The mountain started to clear around 9:00. I photographed some moderate Alpenglow on the hills and lower mountains, but Mt. McKinley never lit up. :( I packed up my gear and ran into R at the food locker. She called J "the girl who was with me," and I got a real kick out her describing J as a "girl" instead of a "woman." :)