Since almost everyone who goes to Denali sees the "small white dots" in the distance, which the bus driver says are sheep, I'm beginning to wonder if these are really sheep or just some plastic figures planted on the hillside by the Park Service.

Could be, Angler. I remember when we were sitting on our stopped bus watching these three bear playing within feet of us -- and seemingly putting on a choreographed show for us -- someone mentioned that they must be actors in bear suits. You could see that all had tracking devices attached to them, right at the back of the neck. When someone said, "look, you can see the zippers of their costumes" it was surprisingly possible. It got a huge laugh.

(If you guessed I'm the one who said it, you win.)

Wonderful photos, Michael. Where were the pics of the bears in the water and the small waterfalls taken?

Were we just very unlucky on our visit to the park, or is our experience with the poor wildlife viewing at this time of year common?

Angler, we spent a week in Denali (Denial?) in late June and saw a little wildlife but not much ... we've also been there a couple of times in late August and the first week in September and, except for one dry year with uncontrolled forest fires to the north covering the park with choking clouds of smoke, we saw a lot more.

I think later in the summer to early fall is best because the tundra changes color, the bears are out feeding heavily (twice we saw 18 grizzlies and another time 15 on rides thru the park in Sept), and the moose and caribou are shedding velvet in preparation for the rut.

Here are a few pics from trips to Denali around this time frame ... usually we would ride the shuttle and get off at the tops of passes (Sable, Poly, Highway, etc) and glass and hike looking for moose and caribou and sheep, and openly stalk them and photograph once close. Same with the landscapes (though the stalking was easier). The wolves and bears were photographed from a bus.

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/alaska/denali/

You had the right idea staying inside the park but in my humble opinion there are better lodges for wildlife viewing, namely Camp Denali and North Face Lodge (the other two are Denali Backcountry and Kantishna Roadhouse, where you stayed).

The reason Camp and North Face are better is because when the park expanded they were inside the borders so they got some special grandfather clause that lets them take limited numbers of day trips back into the park during your visit. Roadhouse and Backcountry Lodge are I think limited to returning to the Wonder Lake area but not past that except on transfer days, while CD and NF Lodge take several vans full of hikers and photographers as far back as Polychrome (45 miles) each day. The blonde grizz and the wolf were shot from one of their busses on such a trip, something you can't do from Kantishna or Backcountry Lodges. Here's the link to those lodges ... note you have views of Mt. McKinley from both of these, unlike Roadhouse and the Backcountry lodges, which are futher down the valley ... http://www.campdenali.com/

Also, if you go at this time then it lines up well to go to Katmai (Brooks Lodge) shortly after because the bears are back on the river feeding on the spawned out salmon. I like this time at Brooks better than the early July period because the bears are fatter and better furred and there are fewer people (though you don't see the bears at the lip of the falls catching jumping salmon). Also the bears are not as aggressive so I usually try to find a couple of people to wade the river with me to photograph (though no one has been willing to go a 2nd time for some reason), taking shots like these at close range and eye level ...

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/al...pegs/W2655.jpg
http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/al..._challenge.jpg

Anyway, sorry you were disappointed, we've had a lot of days with little going on in Denali too, and plenty of days of rain at Katmai, but when things go your way it's worth the hassles, I feel. Maybe try it again some year in late Aug or early Sept, staying at North Face or Camp Denali and including a trip to Brooks afterwards.

Bill

Wow, that's too bad that you had such a disappointing experience. We saw lots of wildlife--many in close proximity--when we took the Denali shuttle in July 2004 (moose, caribou, dall sheep, grizzlies, etc). I'm not sure what time of day you took your ride into the park, but for others who may be considering this, I'd strongly recommend the very first shuttle in the early morning (I believe ours left around 5:30 or 6:00am). In my experience, just after sunrise is nearly always the best time for wildlife viewing. As I mentioned, we saw lots of animals on our trip into the park, but many fewer on the ride back out (I think it was around 10:30 or 11:00am). At that time, we passed many buses coming the other direction. After one rest stop, our driver mentioned that these other guides had told him they weren't seeing much wildlife.

The scenery, of course, is nearly always spectacular, IMO.

Bill,

You are helpful over here too. I took note of your Denali recommendations. Do you have any comments on St. George in the Pribilofs?

Do you have any comments on St. George in the Pribilofs?

Hi Lynn,

We went to St. Paul ... I heard a few things about St. George, mainly that the cliffs are higher so they have more nesting birds (but further away for photography), the airstrip is higher so it's fogged in more often than St. Paul, and the tourist facilities are slim (I don't think there was a restaurant, for example, but this was a few years ago). We were thinking of maybe trying to hop over island-to-island next time we're on St. Paul but no firm plans yet ...

Bill

Bill, I am in the same position as you.