At long last, I found myself at the Camp Denali buses. I got there early and picked a prime seat on Dipper. However, due to an arrangement problem that developed as we were departing with the North Face bus, I agreed to give up my seat and move to Little Bird. That proved to be a blessing in disguise, due to the people I met on the second bus.

Getting organized took some time, and people scurried everywhere. Hard-core photographers seemed to be all over the place, but it turned out there were not as many of them as I first thought. These friendly Dutch girls relaxing in a sunbeam were popular subjects.

Taiga, a Russian word meaning the land of little sticks, is a type of forest that exists in the middle elevations just above the park entrance, and in the park's river valleys. With the autumn colors just hitting their peak, the season was a fascinating time to visit Denali. Instead of the uniform sea of green seen in summertime, the taiga's willows, alders, fireweed, Spruce trees, and other vegetation stood out in stark relief.

On the way in, we spotted a couple of Caribou grazing in the tundra. Their antlers were well developed in anticipation of rutting season. Caribou are the only members of the deer family where both genders grow antlers, so I couldn't tell if these two were males who would soon be bashing their heads together or not.

One result of Denali's glacier landscaping is that you can find enormous boulders just sitting about anywhere.

A Red Fox paid our bus a quick visit.

He gave us a few skittish glances, then trotted down the side of the road.

This Grizzly bear was napping on the Teklanika River Bar, just south of the Teklanika rest stop.

As we watched, he woke up, walked around, then moved off to hunt for more berries.

In 1996, I was able to see some Dall sheep up close and personal in Marmot Valley. That opportunity did not arise this trip. The closest I got was this. Without the aid of a telephoto lens, the sheep appeared as little white dots far above tree line.

A short drive down the road, we spotted another Grizzly, on the slopes of Igloo Mountain.

This bear had found a more abundant source of berries.

One thing that changed between 1996 and 2002 was the location of the lunch break. Previously, lunch was served on a spur off the road near Igloo Creek. Now, they set up a picnic along the East Fork of the Toklat River. It was a magnificent location with an expansive view.

The quality of the food had not changed at all. We ate like kings.

The ride in on Little Bird was special in a number of ways. First, the guy sitting across from me recognized me from my earlier stay. His name was Chuck, and he's a good friend of Ken Jenkins. This was Chuck's 4th visit to Camp Denali. Also with us was Morton "Woody" Wood, one of the original 1951 founders of Camp Denali and a member of the climbing team that first traversed Mt. McKinley. He had been invited back to help celebrate the camp's 50th anniversary. Our driver was Simon, one of the camp hosts. Simon gave an excellent, well-informed narrative on the way in. I could sense his discomfort at reciting history to the man who made much of that history, but even Woody later said he learned a lot by listening to Simon.

The view from the Polychrome rest stop was as an impressive as I remembered.

The cliffs along the park road here are high and steep. They can provide some anxious moments to the passengers on the left side of the bus on the way in.

Many of the kettle ponds along the road had active beaver lodges, and I watched beavers at work several times during my stay.