What a way to celebrate July 4

After a lunch time Bar-B-Q and potluck we loaded up for the bus tour through Denali NP. Like most of the National Parks these days the only access is by foot or by bus, either in the form of a shuttle, or the 8-10 hour see it all ride. We had a good guide who stopped at every animal, or perceived animal sighting, and in the mean time was full of good guide stories. He even told John's favorite, how do you tell the difference between a Crow and a Raven? For those who don't know, ask John.

For several hours we bounced along the ever deteriorating road seeing moose cows, both flavor caribou, herds of Dahl sheep and more Snow Shoe rabbits than is probably healthy, other than they provide a good food source for many. Somewhere around hour six the large male Grizzly show up ambling across the tundra grazing on wild flowers. I have several photos of bear behind, as he was not the most cooperative. Shortly after the bear we rounded the corner, about two miles past where we were supposed to have turned around, to see the clouds part and Denali exposed for a matter of about 10 minutes. The attached photo Carl shot with our Cannon Power Shot SD600 set to 3x through the Nikon 10x42 glasses. We were a bout 45 miles from the mountain at that point. The trip out of the park brought sightings of more caribou, Dahl sheep and a Grizzly sow with cub. So we most likely saw Papa, Mama and Baby bear.

All in all a good way to have spent the holiday. Hopefully today we will get more good photos of Denali as we head out in a few hours for an air charter with some other couples from the group.