The lobby of the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, one of the stops on my Park Connection ride from Anchorage to Denali National Park.

The Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge's back porch, with a fantastic view of Mt. McKinley and the Alaska Range.

Bear sculptures in front of the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.

Wolf sculptures at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.

The inside of my room at the Denali Bluffs Hotel just outside the Denali National Park entrance. This is where I stayed Sunday night before catching the Camp Denali bus into the park itself.

The view out my room's balcony.

The Mountaineer Grill at the Denali Bluffs Hotel. This place served good food, but it was expensive.

The commercial area just outside the national park entrance is a jumble of gift shops, restaurants, hotels, jet boat charters, and other businesses.

Just above the Denali Bluffs Hotel is the Denali Grande. I believe both are managed by the same operator.

I enjoyed my night in the Denali Bluffs Hotel, mainly because it was close enough to walk to the park's visitors center. There was also a small network of trails to explore around the hotel.

Looking up the mountain toward the Denali Grande.

On the Camp Denali bus, this was our first good view of Mt. McKinley from the park road.

I saw several Ptarmigan during my stay in the park. This is one of them.

A glacier river bar in Denali National Park.

A stream feeding into the East Fork River.

A cabin along the East Fork River, with another Camp Denali bus in the background.

Views from the park road approaching Polychrome Pass.

Polychrome Pass rest stop.

Earlier, this wolf pack killed a caribou relatively close to the road. That gave me my first opportunity to see live wolves in the park, since they stayed fairly close to the kill site for several days.

The closer we got to the end of the park road, the more Denali loomed over us.

A photo opportunity at Reflection Pond. By then, we were pretty tired of sitting on the bus and welcomed any chance to get outside.