Ok, I am just going to say it now, so you can bail on this post if you want to: This was our least favorite day of the trip. What should have been one of the highlights was just a downer.

It was cold and wet during our “Welcome to Denali Walking Presentation” (although our guide was excellent), and our “Denali National Park Bus Tour” was uncomfortably cramped on the old school bus they used for the tours. In addition to our jackets and daypack, we were given a boxed lunch at the lodge to take with us, and the tour included a box of snacks. It was challenging trying to juggle all of that plus my camera with absolutely no room to move during the nearly six-hour Tundra Wilderness Tour. Twisting to take pictures out the bus window resulted in boxes falling off my lap.

If it had been a nice day with inspiring views, none of this would have bothered me at all. But not only was it a gloomy day, the wildlife I was hoping to photograph was so far away the guide used a video camera so we could view the animals on a TV screen in the bus. Having just watched the incredible videography on The Americas (NBC) the day before we left for our trip, seeing wildlife at a long distance didn’t compare.

We saw some caribou and moose at a distance, but the highlight was seeing (if not being able to adequately photograph) a grizzly bear, just one of 300-350 estimated to live in Denali National Park, which spans over six million acres and is roughly the size of Vermont. We were very fortunate, so I was grateful for the opportunity. This shot has been cropped as far as I could go without totally obliterating the image, but it’s admittedly bad:

I forgot to mention in my last post that on our way back from dinner, our group saw a moose with two babies not far from the side of the road—much closer than in the National Park. Very cool!

After the bus tour, I was in desperate need of some exercise and enjoyed a walk around the grounds of the lodge and beyond. The lodge is situated on the bank of the Nenana River, a glacial river along the eastern boundary of Denali National Park. I shot photos of the river and grounds (of course!), but why show you gray and depressing pictures of the river now when I have pretty ones in the posts to come? Here, then, are a few shots from the lodge grounds and adjacent property:

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

Next up: SEATTLE & ALASKA #6: DOUBLE DOG DAY!