June 18, 2015


Our second, and last day in the Park. What to do?

After looking at our options we have decided to take it easy this morning, sleep in, and catch a later bus to take us deeper in to the park. We had hoped to hike today as well, but as these hikes are a full day's adventure, we would not then be able to fit in seeing the other scenery and perhaps wildlife in the Park. Perhaps if we were twenty years younger....

Other reasons to take the later bus: the early buses are full; the early buses return during the mid day and are hot; returning during the mid day limits the animals you see as they are bedded down in the cool shade during the hot part of the day. So, we planned to take a later bus, which means driving out during the mid day, but returning in the evening and from what we hear, seeing many more wildlife. Also the sun will not be a strong and thus be better lighting for any photos we take along the way.

Question is, was this a good plan? Did it work?

It worked! We really enjoyed the lazy morning at camp, visiting with some of the other campers, and catching up on this blog (though we can't post them till we have internet tomorrow). We are on vacation and have been pretty busy going, seeing, and doing, so it was nice to just be.

We caught the bus around 2:00 and rode it out to the Eielson Visitor Center, which is 66 miles in to the park. Along the way and at the various rest stops, we enjoyed the scenery and the others on the bus. We did catch sight of some sheep and a young or female caribou, but none close enough for photos.

We finally arrived at the Eielson Visitor Center stop around five, which gave us a little time to walk around and enjoy stretching our legs. There are a nice visitor center inside, and some hiking options, ranging from easy to more difficult, around the area. We had originally planned to come out early and hike one of the peaks out here, but ended up taking the morning off. 

6:30 rolled around and found us on the bus for the journey back. The sun does not set at this time, but does go down enough to soften the light, and brighten the colors of the mountains around us. We will post some pictures, but they just don't do the live experience justice. It was definitely worth waiting until later for the trip! Also, there were only a handful or us on the bus, so when we did see game, you could get to a good spot to watch and take photos from. We did have a neat opportunity to watch a momma bear and her 2 cubs browse an area, though the mom was behind a bush from where I was, so I'll post pictures of the cubs. We also had a great opportunity to watch a caribou that was quite close to the road. 

Back at camp around 8:50, a quick walk to stretch our legs then off to bed for an early start in the morning.