![\"Denali\"](\"https:\/\/huangyizhou.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/202008\/27\/DSC_4495.jpg\")
<\/a><\/br>Denali<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Denali was probably the most craved national park for my friend, so he had been anticipating this day. And weather was certainly on his side, after days of gloomy and drizzly weather, we woke up to a shining sun with only patches of clouds this morning.<\/p>\n
Most of the access into Denali National Park was through its 91-mile park road, the first 15-mile to Savage River was paved. With very limited exceptions, that\u2019s as far as private vehicles can go. The park operated numerous tour and transit buses reaching deeper into the park, the latter being much cheaper than the former. (Some online comments mentioned there wasn\u2019t that much a huge difference between the two, as far as sightseeing goes. Transit buses may have to stick more to a schedule, and may not linger as long when animals pop around the road, while tour buses feature more narrative, but I believe the difference is minimal.)<\/p>\n
Bus Tour of Denali National Park<\/h3>\n
For the year 2020, due to COVID, the park\u2019s bus schedules got greatly slashed. The farthest transit buses went was Eielson Visitor Center at mile 66 for an 8-hour tour (tour buses didn\u2019t even reach that far)<\/span>, and during our visit in late August, there were only three daily buses (in addition to schedules serving overnight campers)<\/span>, departing at 8\/9\/10am respectively. When we were booking our tickets, the 9am bus was fully booked, so we opted for the 10am departure. <\/br>Denali Bus Depot<\/br><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Parking Lot for Denali Bus Depot<\/br>Bathing in morning light and rather empty for the season.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Since Denali National Park was known to abound in wildlife, I switched to 70-200mm lens at the parking lot. A wise decision, only that I longed for 150-600mm even more after the day.<\/p>\n <\/br>Transit Bus<\/br>Photo taken at Polychrome Overlook.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Our bus driver for the day was an old gentleman, who kindly gave us an overview of our day ahead, a Denali Park when mosquitos had left but snow hadn\u2019t arrived, with changing colors and soothing breeze. Due to COVID, the buses were limited at half capacity, and with a few empty rows here and there, we were not half-full yet.<\/p>\n The top half of bus windows slide down, giving photo-lovers a better view outside. It did take me some time to figure out the locking mechanism though. Probably due to lack of funding, the bus felt pretty aged and timeworn, especially its interior. The seats and luggage racks were covered in dust, probably from the park\u2019s gravel roads. Cleanliness-wise, it\u2019s completely the opposite from our Kenai Fjords tour boat experience three days ago. (That’s certainly reflected in price.)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n A series of rivers originated from glaciers in the Alaskan Range the flew towards the North. Savage River was the first of those during our bus tour. It\u2019s also where stunning sceneries began to emerge.<\/p>\n <\/br>Rolling Clouds over Distant Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n Despite the abundance of mountain peaks to the south, only a few of them had names. I guessed people had been busy exploring and naming more magnificent peaks farther into the park.<\/p>\n An hour into our bus tour, we arrived at the first rest stop of the day, Teklanika River Overlook.<\/p>\n <\/br>Teklanika River<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Mountain<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Trees on Teklanika River Flood Plain<\/br>Harsher conditions on the flood plain meant leaves changed colors earlier in season.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Bridge over Teklanika River<\/br>Another of those rivers that we had to cross.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n 10 minutes later, we were on the move and crossed Teklanika River.<\/p>\n <\/br>Mountain<\/br>A group of goats on the slope.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p><\/div>\n <\/br> <\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Mount Pendleton<\/p><\/div>\n Not long after crossing East Fork of Toklat River, we were at Polychrome Pass, named for the vibrant colors of soil, created by volcanic activities. The pass was overlooking a valley, offering a front-row view various mountains to the South.<\/p>\n <\/br>Flood Plain from Mount Pendleton<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br> <\/br>Mountain Ranges from Polychrome Pass<\/p><\/div>\n After that, we took a 20-minute break at Polychrome Overlook, with a short trail for those to explore.<\/p>\n <\/br>Mountain Ranges from Polychrome Overlook<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Moose in Field<\/br><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n At 12:40pm, we arrived at Toklat Rest Stop for another 20-minute break. This was another well-equipped rest stop, featuring a giant tent for exhibitions (that\u2019s unfortunately closed due to COVID). <\/p>\n <\/br> <\/br>Toklat River<\/br>Heavy vehicles dredging the river in the distance.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Not long after that, we reached Stony Overlook, named for the Stony Mountain to its North. However, this overlook was popular for its unobstructed views of distant mountains, including Denali. During our visit, parts of Denali was covered in clouds, but its peak was soaring above those, so our driver wisely stopped there for a 7-minute photo-op despite not being on the transit bus stop list. (Later when we reached Eielson Visitor Center the peak was behind clouds.)<\/p>\n <\/br> <\/br>Top of Denali<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s 1:55pm by the time we reached Eielson Visitor Center. <\/p>\n <\/br>Denali behind Clouds<\/p><\/div>\n My friend and I opted to hike (a portion of) Gorge Creek Trail, before returning to visitor center for lunch.<\/p>\n <\/br>Hill<\/br><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Sunset Peak behind Clouds<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Trail from Eielson Visitor Center<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p><\/div>\n If one prefers, the trail goes all the way to the river bar of Gorge Creek, or beyond. But my friend\u2019s not in shape for hiking and we had to be back at Visitor Center before our bus left, so we only hiked for half a mile, till we reached the lair of this squirrel.<\/p>\n <\/br>Squirrel<\/p><\/div>\n Both he and I could agree that the views on top of this rock were pretty. So while my friend and I were standing atop that rock for photos, he would retreat to a tiny hole in the rocks. <\/br>Hole<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br>Scott Peak<\/p><\/div>\n After taking a few photos and saying goodbye to such cute squirrel, who lent us his roof, we headed back. Along the way, I spotted more squirrels. <\/p>\n Probably because they were cute and people at visitor center liked to feed them, squirrels abounded in the area.<\/p>\n After that, we went on the return trip. The sunny morning weather had turned into overcast, giving softer lights that were perfect for shooting snow-crested mountains.<\/p>\n <\/br> Towards the end of the day, it even started to drizzle. It\u2019s like, we experienced as much of Denali as possible in a day.<\/p>\n <\/br>Sanctuary River<\/p><\/div>\n The various wildlife that one could spot is certainly a highlight of the trip. And I have to say, among the national park that I\u2019d visited, Denali was the best for wildlife-viewing.<\/p>\n As our driver told us, usually the deeper into the park, the more likely we were able to see big mammals. One of the first sightings for the day was this moose at Polychrome Overlook.<\/p>\n
\nAs a sidenote, transit bus tickets usually allow its holder to hop on and off buses at will. This enabled one to explore hiking trails deep in the park. This year, with limited bus services the park required everyone to stay with their original bus, with an hour-break at Eielson Visitor Center for those to explore the surroundings.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Fields<\/br><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Savage River<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Field<\/br>An awesome autumn scene.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Distant Mount Pendleton<\/br>Captured in the morning (top) and afternoon (bottom).<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Distant Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Field<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Teklanika River<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Outstanding<\/br>Some patches of trees changed color before the rest.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Mountain<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Distant Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Distant Mountains<\/br><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Field<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Distant Glacier<\/br><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Range of Mountains<\/br>West of Mount Pendleton, mostly nameless ones.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>East Fork of Toklat River<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Field<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Polychrome Pass<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Mountain<\/br>The ones above Polychrome Glaciers, west of Mount Pendleton.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Valley<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Road into Denali<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Mountain<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Toklat River<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Distant Mountain beyond Toklat River<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Toklat River<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Field<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Denali<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Plants<\/br>Mesmerizing crimson red.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Trail<\/br><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAnd whenever we stepped away for the briefest moments, he would return and reclaim his sovereignty over such rock.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Mountain Range<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Squirrel<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Distant Mountain<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a><\/br>Field<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br><\/a> <\/a><\/br><\/a> <\/a><\/br>Fields<\/p><\/div>\nAnimals<\/h3>\n