Fri. Sept 8th –
We did not want to spend the entire day on a shuttle bus into the park, but we did want to get passed mile marker 15 so we opted for the trip to Toklat River. Our driver, Linda, was entertaining and knowledgeable. She commented on the area’s history, flora, and fauna. Along the way she and us passengers pointed out ptarmigans, the lower parts of The mountain, Dall Sheep, and at the top of Polychrome Pass, a mother grizzly with 3 cubs down in the river valley below the pass. A note on Polychrome Pass – the pass is high and the road is narrow!!, but the view is spectacular . At Toklat River we got out for a 30 minute leg stretch break. We saw 2 Dall sheep on a ridge across the river. There is also a very nice book store in a heated tent at this point.

After our break we headed back towards the front country. At this point we decided to get off the bus and do some off road hiking. If you are going to take the shuttle into the park, you’ve got to take the opportunity to get off and walk. Even if you don’t venture off the road, the chance to experience the vastness of the park is not to be missed. There is something about standing out in the middle of the park with no one else within view and no vehicles around that cannot be described – it has to be experienced.

We walked along a path tucked off the road in some brush and were lucky enough see 4 Snowshoe Hares, dozens of moose tracks – but no moose, and 2 wolf tracks. Then we walked out into the open tundra and eventually we flagged down a shuttle bus for the ride back to the Wilderness Access Center. That night we went to Glitter Gulch and had a great dinner at Denali Salmon Bake. They had a fantastic chowder and the Alaskan Ale went down smooth. Later we headed back into the park to spot moose at dusk. The sun was not setting until well after 9PM so we figured we’d be able to see wildlife. And see wildlife we did. We happened upon 2 moose – a collared cow and a young bull. The bull was right alongside the road and did not react to us taking pictures of him from the car.

jfmkem,
Put all your days together in one trip report. No one is going to search and find different parts on different posts - just to hard to track down.

Cut and paste to create ONE trip report.

I thought it would be easier on the reader if the report was broken up into day as individual posts.

I guess you could also click on my user ID , jfmkem, and be taken to all of my posts which would include the trip reports sequentially.

Well, you could, but I'm not sure many Fodorites will. But, if that's your preference.

Once people reply to them, they'll be sorted in order of the latest post. So, they won't be sequential just by clicking on your name. I agree that it would be easier to make on giant thread by combining all of them - you can break it up by posting each day as a separate reply to the thread.