Mt. McKinley, better known as Mt. Denali, is the tallest mountain in the United States. There are viewpoints on the way to Denali from where you can enjoy beautiful views of Mount Denali. We did the Denali National Park bus tour – the Kantishna Tour. We do recommend the Tundra Wilderness tour though. Kantishna wasn’t worth the extra few hours. Our tour took the entire day.
We drove into Denali National Park to Braided River, as far as they let cars go, to enjoy additional views and wildlife. We got to see four of the Big Five: Grizzlies, moose, dall sheep, and caribou. No luck sighting any wolves. That’s for another time 🙂 We were lucky to see a mama and a baby bear grazing on a patch of berries right next to our bus on our way back from Kantishna. The baby stared right at us, while mama was busy grazing away. This was the first time we were seeing grizzly bears – and the sight of the mama and her cub will forever be etched in our memories. We had an amazing driver, who kept us entertained with stories about Denali, that only the locals know of! There were important lessons in there as well, such as why to not feed the wildlife (A few grizzlies had to be put down by the authorities because they were getting too familiar with the human habitat 🙁 ).
During our visit to Denali National Park, we stayed at McKinley Chalet, and absolutely loved it! A stream raged behind our room, adding to the wilderness of the area. McKinley Chalet had live music in the evening and really amazing food! Some glimpses here:
