Yesterday we took an 11-hour bus trip to Wonder Lake in the heart of Denali Park. While the scenery is always spectacular and I love seeing any animals up close, it’s the grizzly bears that make or break a trip for me. From that narrow perspective, yesterday was a winner, as we saw 12 individuals.
We left the Wilderness Access Center at 9:15 with 36 people on the bus, and found our first grizzlies at 11:10 as we started up the climb to Sable Pass (see a map of Denali). One of the cubs was quite funny, as he chased a magpie several times.
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Looking back at the road along Polychrome Mountain.
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The view from Polychrome Overlook.
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Just before the Toklat River crossing, we met this youngster, who had apparently been trying his hand at sheep hunting on the cliffs.
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The photo-panel at the lower part of this photo shows the view from the Eielson Visitor Center on a clear day – we weren’t so lucky.
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Another couple more views from the Eielson Visitor Center.
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A tiny corner of Wonder Lake, which we reached at 3:00pm. The light was very poor for broad photos of it.
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The blueberries were ripe, plentiful and delicious 
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Just north of the Muldrow Glacier.
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The McKinley River is the largest of many braided rivers in the park.
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The Toklat River, one of the rest stops that are made on the trip.
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At 6:35pm we finally got a view of Denali (Mt. McKinley), though by that time she was far away. It cleared completely about 15 minutes later.
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A close look at the Teklanika River from the final rest stop.
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Our final grizzly was in an area where bears are not usually seen.
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This young fellow was apparently not used to buses, as he stayed on the road for a long time. We named him “The Jogger”.
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Today, we’re off to Fairbanks for a one-night stay.
Great pictures Murray!