I woke up in the middle of the night with the sound of rain on the RV (again). This was our day for a guaranteed trip all the way to Wonder Lake on the Denali Park Road. By 4:00 a.m. I just could not convince my body that it was still time to sleep so I got up, took a shower and prepared for the day ahead. We had to be at the bus pick-up by 6:30 a.m. Bill got up around 5:30 and we decided to forego breakfast and perhaps snack on the way to Wonder Lake.
We made our way to the pick-up spot where the only other two people there were from Reed City, Michigan; not far from Mt. Pleasant/Shepherd at all. We visited with them a short time before our shuttle arrived and then we filled the four remaining seats.
The day was yet again gray and gloomy but you never know if the weather will change and besides, what are you going to do? Our driver was a very friendly, knowledgeable fellow named Tim Linebaugh, originally from Lansing, Michigan. He talked nearly the whole time about the different vegetation, animals in the park, and just points of interest as he drove along. It’s about a 5 hour bus trip to Wonder Lake and shortly into our trip we passed Cathedral Mountain where Dall sheep were soon spotted out the driver’s side window. (We had been tipped to sit on the driver’s side but those seats were all taken by the time we embarked.) I couldn’t see a thing so after the bus started again I sat and sulked over the gray sky, the wrong side of the bus, the starving children in Biafra. Well, you get it; I was feeling a bit whiney. And then, high above at the top of a mountain and silhouetted against the sky, I spotted 5 more Dall sheep. Tim stopped the bus and we all enjoyed watching them before moving along.
Farther down the road was Polychrome Pass (meaning “many colors”). It is a beautiful place and the road drops precipitously on one side. I think we were all happy not to have passed any early morning busses heading the opposite direction. We stopped here for a while and hiked about the place, capturing views on the other side of the valley as best as a camera can do. Back on the bus and down the road we went. 
During the course of this trip there were a handful of grizzly bears sighted but none anywhere near as close as we’d seen in Katmai. I announced that I wanted to see a caribou and viola! Two young caribou appeared in the middle of the road; their road – they wanted us to understand; and took their time meandering up into the hillside. Golden eagles were plentiful here as well.
We watched the skies throughout the morning and took note of every blue patch in hopes that one of them would lead us to a spectacular view of Denali, “The Great One”. Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley) rises 20,320 feet above sea level and is North America’s highest peak. Even so, most visitors to the park do not get a view of the giant as it makes its own weather that causes it to be very elusive and often shrouded by clouds. Traveling the Denali Park Road for the first time, we had no idea when or if we might catch a glimpse of this wonder. As the trip wound on our bus driver made some comment about that big white thing ahead. 
There it was! We were actually lucky enough to see the wondrous mountain out. I gave a hoot of celebration and soon Tim stopped the bus so that we might get at least one photo of the mountain before it went back into hiding.
It was a great ride on to the Eielson Visitor Center located nearly 30 miles from our campground (but several good hours). Because of several additional bear sightings, by the time we got to the “Denali Viewpoint” there, the mountain was again “unavailable”. 
I still felt very lucky to have seen it at all because I know that the odds were not in our favor and today’s forecast had called for more rain. The visitor center was completely rebuilt over the last several years and was only opened this year. 
Its construction is very unobtrusive as it is built into the hillside with a great view of Denali as well as Mt. Eielson. We had nearly 40 minutes here to fool around and did just a short little hike down the trail. It was really beautiful and one could see how if The Mountain were “out” it would be even more so.
We left the Eielson and a short jaunt down the road were entertained by a mother bear and two cubs that frolicked around on the driver’s side of the bus and then proceeded to walk down their road until traffic from the opposite and “unknowing” direction chased them up the hillside. 
Frankly after that, I didn’t much care how many more bear, or caribou, or whales, or anything we saw. I was hoping that when we got closer to Wonder Lake, Denali would pay us another visit. She did not disappoint.
As we neared Wonder Lake, I had asked Tim to drop us off at the “Y” in the road. I had read on TripAdvisor (a most helpful trip planning website) that there was a pond located close to the road in which the mountain is reflected; IF it is out and IF there’s not too much of a breeze. The mosquitoes were pretty thick here so we both bathed generously in Deet (yes, we poisoned ourselves for the experience) before setting off up the road. We hiked up the road at least a half mile or more before we found the pond. Only one other couple had exited with us; a man and his teenage child whose gender we did not determine, though I was betting female. 
We were rewarded with a beautiful if not magical sight. We had come in on a bus full of people and only 4 of us ventured into this spot and there she was, Mt. Denali, fully reflected in Reflection Pond. We lingered here a long time taking it all in. There was a group of Japanese elders hiking by from the opposite direction, one of whom offered to take our picture. Man, we felt richly blessed. 
The incredible thing about Denali; and what is so hard to describe; is that all of the mountains we’ve been “oo-ing and ah-ing” thus far are like the foothills of Denali. I’m really not exaggerating. The mountains near Homer, or Seward, or Valdez, that had the beautiful snowy patches on them are roughly 1/3 the height of Denali. They are what are in front of Denali and when she goes into hiding they are still quite impressive. But imagine something even more immense rising up another two-thirds as high as these. It was really hard to comprehend seeing this giant mammoth completely covered in snow right in front of us. It almost looked like an optical illusion. (Surely I can’t really be seeing this.) 
When we left Reflection Pond, I decided I needed to seriously peel off some layers of clothing. When we had left the RV it was quite brisk and chilly. Now the temperatures felt as though they were in the low 70s. I stepped off the trail to remove my long underwear and was immediately struck by the sponginess of the tundra. Suggestion: if you are even in Alaska, don’t just look at the tundra, walk in it. The sensation is akin to walking on a trampoline; springy.
From Wonder Lake we headed to the McKinley Bar Trail. 
It was a good hike down the other half of the “T” before we came upon the trail head. We hiked a short distance up where we decided to sit down and enjoy our lunch. Within that short period of time, Denali had gone into hiding and we would not see her again this day. We hiked down the McKinley Bar Trail for about 45 easy minutes until the mosquitoes became so thick (and humongous) that we would either have to don our mosquito nets, or turn back. Since this trail is known for being a great trail from which to view Denali, and she had already gone into hiding, we decided to head back.
We had a relatively easy hike back to the road and sooner than expected were picked up by a bus heading back to the entrance of the park. Our driver, Cindy Muller, told us she was a “secret weapon”; and unscheduled “sweeper” bus to pick up wayward hikers. We were riders 4 and 5 on her bus. When we were nearly to the Eielson Visitor Center we spotted our first bull caribou quite near the road. He had a nice rack on his head and it looked like he was tired of carrying it around. His head was down on the ground, not eating, and apparently resting. He stood there for the longest time as though he were a Disney animatronic that had run out of juice. He did eventually shift a tiny bit so that we were assured he was alive, but never did lift up that handsome head.
We were soon grateful to have made Cindy’s acquaintance early on in her sweep. We nearly filled the bus at Stoney Hill and by Eielson Visitor Center we were completely full except for two seats. It looked like a storm was coming in on one side of the road while the sun was shining on the other. We passed dozens of day-hikers promised a trip out on an available bus; that we could not squeeze into ours; or so we thought. By the time we got to Fish Creek, we moved babies into laps so we could take on more. Cindy expressed her frustration that more busses weren’t already en route to folks on the road. The sunny weather had caused people to linger in the park longer and now there was a serious jam with bad weather moving in. Our last group of stragglers was picked up within miles of our campground and was seated on the floor. Cindy was a good woman with a soft spot. Bill and I disembarked at Teklanika with a tremendous appreciation of what a remarkable day we had had.
We returned to our RV and immediately moved it to a “less traveled” location. Our primo spot last night was traversed by anyone heading down to the river. Although I would be appalled to just march through someone’s campsite between their vehicle and their picnic table; others apparently have no such inhibitions. 
Bill built us a small fire (our first) in the fire pit just outside campsite 10 with which we are currently quite pleased. I sat looking into the fire for a few minutes thinking about this day; about all the really incredible days we’d had thus far in Alaska; and I wept. The feelings of appreciation, gratitude, and humility were just overwhelming to me. As I write, the tears well up in my eyes again. I know that I am fortunate beyond belief and beyond my wildest imaginings; and I wonder by what stroke of luck or faith I became so blessed.
