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“I’m so tired of roughing it,” huffs the women.

Her attire appears more suited for strolling around a Caribbean resort than exploring the Alaskan Wilderness in Denali National Park. She rushes away from the tan tour bus, hoping to beat her fellow passengers to the restrooms.

Though the restrooms are holes in the ground, topped with toilet seats, they are clean. Compared to some of the restrooms we’ve encountered during our travels, or some of the bathrooms in the older music venues in Philadelphia, Denali National Park’s restrooms are downright luxurious.

The common thing to do when visiting Denali National Park in Alaska, is to ride the tan tour bus on your first day, then take the green shuttle bus on your second day. The tan bus is the official tour bus of Denali. The green shuttle bus is considered transportation. You aren’t guaranteed a tour on the green bus. After reading several blog posts, comparing the tan vs. green bus, the biggest difference seemed to be the price. The green bus is less expensive, and it appears that most of the green bus drivers give at least a minimal tour. We take a gamble and book the green shuttle bus for both of our Denali National Park days, and we are not disappointed.

It’s our second day in Denali National Park. As with our first day, we are boarding our bus at an obscenely early hour.

Today our driver is named Bear. A driver named Bear in Denali National Park feels like traveler kismet.

Though my body is present, my brain is still resting on my Denali Dome Bed and Breakfast pillow. Bear on the other hand, is bright eyed and bushy tailed (do bear tails get bushy?).

As soon as the bus exits Denali’s Wilderness Access Center, Bear launches into full tour mode. Though all of the bus drivers we have while visiting Denali National Park are exceptional, Bear is extra special.

Mt. Denali is cloud covered today, and we don’t spot as much wildlife as we did the prior day, but we do get to witness a giant herd of caribou stampeding. It’s amazing.

On our way to Wonder Lake the previous day, the bus made a restroom/view stop at the Eielson Visitors’ Center. It felt like a neat spot that needed further exploration, so we make it today’s destination.

We start with the indoor exhibits, then step outside to bask in the breathtaking views.

There are hiking trails at the Eielson Visitors’ Center. The elevation is higher than my pulmonary hypertension altitude restriction, but not by much. I determine that I’ll be fine, as long as we take one of the easier trails.

The scenery that surrounds us looks too spectacular to be real. It’s the kind of place where you snap just one more picture even though you’ve already taken 50 of the same thing. You want to make absolutely certain you capture the beauty, even though you know no picture ever will.

We stop to admire the vegetation, flowers, and smaller wildlife.

The descent is easy, but the high altitude finally gets the best of me as we hike back up towards the center. I end up huffing and puffing, and having to stop a few times. Overall it’s minor. Nothing compared to the Zambia incident.

Since we skipped the Denali National Park’s Visitors’ Center on our first day, we board the green shuttle bus, driven by Dale, for our ride back.

Since you generally get a tour on the way into the park, on the ride out, Dale is more interested in the passengers riding the bus. He asks questions and engages in friendly conversation.

Suddenly the bus comes to a crawl. There are two bears casually strolling in the middle of the road.

We have no choice but to slowly creep behind them.

I imagine it went like,

“…and then I said, oh yeah, the pain is un-bear-able. Ha, ha, ha…”

“That joke is un-bear-ble. Hey, should we be concerned about that bus behind us?”

“Nah, it’s not like they can go anywhere. They’re stuck behind us until we get off the road. Plus, it’s kind fun, I bet they are totally freaking out with excitement. We’ll be all over the internet.”

“Yeah, but they’re only getting pictures of our butts. I don’t think I want my butt all over the internet.”

“Fine, here’s a good spot, let’s get off the road.”

Everyone on the bus is indeed freaking out with excitement. I take many bear butt pictures.

There is a little girl on the bus who is absolutely enthralled by Denali National Park’s nature and wildlife. As the bus bumps along, she works with laser focus on her Junior Ranger workbook. She is an intelligent, effervescent, child. I find watching her just as fascinating as watching the park’s wildlife.

Though she only has to complete a certain number of pages to get her Junior Ranger badge, she insists on completing the entire workbook. Her goal is achieved several stops before we reach The Wilderness Access Center.

At the Savage River checkpoint, Dale pulls the bus over and gets out. He returns with a Park Ranger who asks the girl for her workbook. The Park Ranger makes a big fuss over the book, displaying the girl’s artwork for the whole bus to see. Everyone oohs and ahhhs.

Praising the girl for a job well done, the moment arrives. The Junior Ranger oath is repeated, and the girl earns her official National Park Junior Ranger Badge.

The crowd on the bus explodes into claps and cheers. I say a silent little prayer that she will remember this moment when a bus full of strangers cheered for her, and she will always remain passionate about nature.

The end of our day is spent wandering around Denali National Park’s Visitors’ Center. If you don’t fancy hours spent on a bus, you can visit this part of the park via your own car.

My favorite part of the visitors’ center is the exhibit on early visitors to Denali. I love old-timey travelers, especially female travelers. Here I am in all of my fancy travel gear, and they’re hiking mountains in petticoats and jaunty hats.

If you are a frequent reader of this website, you will already know the answer to the next question. Is there anything we would have done differently when visiting Denali National Park? Yes. We wished we had more time. Though we enjoyed the green shuttle bus, the views and wildlife sightings are fantastic, the rides are time consuming, and we wished we had an extra day just to hike park trails. Many people we encountered, recommended the trails around the Savage River area.

More time aside, I think our visit to Denali National Park was perfect.

We got to see the rarely seen Mt. Denali. We visited the Reflection Pond, had multiple bear sightings, and safely encountered a variety of wildlife. There are lots of great places in Alaska to visit, but if you can only visit one, I definitely recommend Denali National Park.

Related posts:

Everglades National Park-Shark Valley Staying at Denali Dome Home-Bed and Breakfast Denali National Park-Wonder Lake and Reflection Pond Glacier Bay National Park-Alaska-Uncruise