Around 9:50 am, we headed back to our lodge after picking the bus tickets; there is a park visitors fee that is charged as well but since we had paid for this as part of the glacier flight landing, we were able to show that receipt and avoid paying again – that visitors pass is valid for 5 or 7 days; so you can time your activities appropriately. Today was bright and sunny as we returned on the same highway with Rakesh and Raghav.
Bears
Before returning to the bus depot, we stopped near the Denali convenience store to pick up some water and food. I also picked up the bear spray can. It was about 11:20 am when we reached the bus depot. Folks used the restroom while we waited for the gate to open. I saw a notice that said “Be prepared for bear encounters”.
Denali is home to both black bears and grizzly bears. Black bears have a flat back, a longer nose, and more prominent ears, while grizzly bears have a prominent hump and a dish-shaped face. Some tips mentioned – bears may perceive us as a threat if we startle them; watch out for bear tracks and poop; give space for bears with a minimum distance of 300 yards which is the length of 3 football fields; if the bear is unaware of you, then take detour and walk away quietly; back away slowly if the bear is aware of you while speaking in a low calm voice while waving your arms above your head; bears that stand on their hind legs are not threatening but just observing and trying to identify you; if a bear approaches or charges at you, don’t run since they can outrun us and don’t drop your pack; bears may charge and then stop some 10 feet away from you or veer off (called a bluff charge); but dropping the pack may interest the bear in approaching you for food; wave arms above your head to appear large and talk to the bear; wait till the bear moves away, and then back off slowly. If a grizzly makes contact with you, play dead – curl into a ball, leave your pack on your back; in the case of a black bear making contact, fight back, it said.
Reminded me of the phrase our colleague told us before the trip – “If it’s brown lie down; if it’s black fight back.” In fact everything on this board was a recap of what he had told us.
Bear spray
A staff member was standing outside the bus, checking tickets before letting folks into the long green Denali Park bus. He said that those with tickets for other time slots can also get in, but only if there is availability after the folks for the current timeslot have boarded.
“No bear spray in the open. Keep it inside your bag.”
My bear spray was still inside the packaging and not even opened yet!
Someone asked, “Is bear spray just a pepper spray?”
The staff replied, “I had the chance to walk into bear spray while someone was testing it, and I can tell you that it’s not just pepper. And it wasn’t good either. There’s some chemical along with pepper.”
The driver provided commentary as he started the bus.
“There are window seats empty at the back. Folks can spread out and occupy them.”
The bus windows were such that you could open the top part of the window.
“As we go along, you may spot animals. If anyone spots one, then just shout out so that I’ll stop the bus, and everyone can get to see it.”
This isn’t the narrated tour ride, but even here, there was a little narration along the way, which was sort of nice, especially if you are a first-time visitor. There were some Denali stories that the driver recollected, including some that were a reminder to beware of the territory we were in – this isn’t a zoo with animals in cages.
“There was a person who stopped his vehicle to get photos of a moose. And he went really close to get a snap. The moose charged at him and knocked him out.”
Yeah, even moose can be dangerous.
And then we had our first halt. A single caribou on the river – this was the same place that we were at last night, the last point for private vehicles.
Rajesh said, “It’s like a deer.”
A slightly bigger version of the Indian deer that many of us would have seen in India; these are better adapted to live through the harsh winter.
There’s a checkpoint at mile 14 where a park ranger got in and sang a jingle – a different way to deliver a message on coexisting with nature and not feeding wildlife. The driver said that they also take count of the visitors entering.
In Denali, you will hear about something called the “Pretty rocks landslide”. The Denali park road (the only road running through the park) is about 90 miles long. However, due to the landslide, access is now only available up to mile 43. The landslide has been active for decades, but was so far manageable with road maintenance work that kept happening to ensure the buses could still ply on it. But in 2021 or so, it was noticed that the road in the landslide section was moving more than half an inch every hour! And that’s when they closed off the road.
Each time the bus stopped, everyone would look around to see what it was.
“There.”
“Where?”
“Over there, just near the trees.”
It was a small bird that had crossed the road along with a bunch of baby birds.
Later, someone shouted to stop. It was a moose – moose are much larger than caribou; they are significantly muscular. But just then there was another green bus coming from the opposite direction – they were even more closer to the moose, and they also stopped since they had spotted it as well. It did hinder our view, and we had to move on.
There was a family of four sitting near us – the parents were elderly, but the woman, I suppose, was a professional photographer. She took some great shots in the short moments that we had, and I would look at her camera’s viewfinder to figure out which direction I should look in to get the view.
We did carry some snacks and so munched on biscuits and chips throughout the ride.
“If you want to get off anywhere on the way for a hike, just let me know,” the driver announced.
And while hiking, they stressed the importance of leaving no trail, so no food or garbage should be left along the way.
Denali National Park is some 9000 square miles huge – that’s a lot of territory for wildlife, and so you may not be lucky to see a lot since there’s only a tiny part of the park that the road goes up to.
After an hour into the ride, we had our first restroom break at the Teklanika rest stop – it was a nice breakout area. And Teklanika is a river that flows near this place. What seemed like a bright and sunny day had suddenly turned into a rainy one within an hour! My rain jacket came in handy; not many were prepared for this sudden change in weather and had to run between shelters to get to the restrooms.
The unofficial state bird, the driver would joke, in Alaska is the mosquito! The next and final stop was at mile 43.