Today we got up at the crack of dawn to go on our Wonder Lake Bus trip that we had booked. The road into Denali is 93 miles long and Wonder Lake is almost to the end. [Mile 85] Individual private vehicles cannot drive the Denali road past Savage River at Mile 15 (without special permits like for photographers, etc). So the park service provides a couple of different shuttle buses that a person can buy tickets to ride. The bus we rode was called the green bus and for $49 each we could take the 11 hour ride to Wonder Lake and back. There are no eating facilities anywhere along the route. Water is available to fill a canteen at Eilsen. Vault toilets are various places along the way and there are flush toilets at Eilsen. Be prepared! We took a back pack filled with water, sandwiches and other snacks. We were dressed warmly also.
We boarded the bus at the Wilderness Access Center at 8 and soon were on our way past Park Headquarters, the Dog Kennels and Savage River.
There’s a moose in those bushes!
Fireweed. 6 weeks till winter
according to legend.
Bighorn sheep.
Ptarmagan bird. 
Polychrome.
The green bus behind us.
Not much fall colors left.
Teklanika River.
Caribou moving west. 
First views of Mt. McKinley (Denali).
The winding road.
View from Eilsen Visitor Center. 
One of my friends just got married here 3 weeks ago, only the second wedding in Denali in history.
That’s the wedding spot right there! 
The view was awesome!
Our first bear in Denali!
Wonder Lake. 
The bears love these blueberries!
Or these.
Wonder Lake overlook.
Wonder Lake rest stop. 
More bears.
We arrived back at the Riley Creek campground in the evening, tired but exhilarated from all we had seen. The best for me is that I get to go back for a second visit next month as I won a Denali Road Lottery ticket for September 19th!
Remember, there are no hookups in Denali. No elec, no sewer, no water. So with our handy-dandy T@B we had options: Use the battery and propane sparingly for minimal amount of lights and use the Aldi furnace with propane. We did fine even though it was quite cold and our battery and propane held out just fine.
Tomorrow we leave Denali and head back to Anchorage for my son to catch his flight back to his home in FL.