Denali National Park. A 9 hour train inland, so the park has to be good right? It was. Full of landscapes my camera struggled to keep up with, the experience itself was interesting and relaxing. The day consisted of an almost 8 hour bus ride only 56 miles into the park (and back out the same way). I thought they must have stopped at every possible mile and forced us to hike up a mountain at that rate - but actually we were on the bus almost the whole time navigating the winding roads and, despite seeing a completely unmasked Denali, the bus driver did not slow or pull over for silly things like pictures. Still, the trip was good. Fortunately, towards the back of the bus someone noted a caribou running through a creek bed that was an amazing site to see. We were driving parallel to it and the caribou was alone and hauling ass*. Our bus driver struggled to keep up with the siting and floored it to get us to a vantage point with clearings so we could get a good view of the animal. Later we viewed far glimpses of Dall sheep (with the big ram horns) and bears. These were all dots, even zooming in with my camera lens, but it was wonderful to see animals thrive in such a beautiful setting.
*Stop reading if you are eating or at all queasy: In the Denali National Park Visitor Center we later learn mosquitoes lay their larvae on caribou; the larvae burrow into the skin and grow - to the great discomfort of the caribou. For this reason, when caribou are near water they run at fast speeds to avoid mosquitoes. I think we all agree this seems reasonable.
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