At 7:15am departed on school bus with comfy bucket seats for 85-mile trip into Denali to Wonder Lake in hopes of seeing Mt McKinley.
Had an excellent bus driver who shared lots of information. It was pretty
cloudy & there was snow at Eielson Visitors Center at mile 66. Enjoyed children experiencing snow for first time & the makings of snowmen, but only bits of Mt McKinley visible at that point. Mt McKinley's peak is 20,320' high, tallest in North America, but only 10% of visitors actually get to see the whole mountain as the mountain makes its own weather.
By the time we made it to Wonder Lake & then back to the Eielson Visitor Center it began warming & clearing up & Mt McKinley magically appeared...YEAH! It was awesome & I was honored to become a member of the 10% Club.
To date, 1048 climbers had registered being on the mountain, 503 had completed the climb, & 391 were currently on the mountain. It could take over 3 weeks to successfully complete the climb.Did see moose, caribou, Dall sheep, snowshoe hare, Golden eagle, gyrfalcon, Arctic ground squirrels, Bald eagle, Grizzly bears & cubs during the 170-mile round trip. Was a great day!
