We decided to take the 11-hour shuttle bus ride through Denali National Park to Wonder Lake. We woke up early to board the 07:15 shuttle. While the shuttle was technically not a tour bus, the driver told us about the park during the drive. He also stopped the bus whenever something interesting came into view (e.g. Mt. McKinley, animals) to let passengers take photos. The park service says that only about 30% of visitors to the park get to see Mt. McKinley as it is often obscured by clouds. Luckily, we were in that 30% and got a mostly unobstructed view in the morning and only a small amount of cloud cover later in the day. During the drive, we saw a great deal of wildlife, including some caribou, lots of ground squirrels, a golden eagle, two red foxes, a mama grizzly and two cubs, and a lone grizzly bear. Wonder Lake wasn’t that wonderful (lots of mosquitos) and, in retrospect, I’d say that Eielson Visitor Center was the last worthwhile stop.

After our shuttle ride, we headed to Healy to pick up dinner. Our first choice, 49th State Brewery, was full, so we headed to Rose’s Cafe, which serves some really delicious breakfast food and sandwiches. Tonight, we’re staying in an Iceworm room, which seems much nicer and quieter than Yanert, but lacks WiFi.