To catch the bus out of the lodge, we had to be up early -- 5:15am! But there are advantages to being up that early. I think it's the best time to see the mountain. I took a bunch of pictures, and they turned out great!
These shots are taken from Wonder Lake
And these were taken from Reflection Pond
But as the day heats up, the clouds start to form and you lose sight of McKinley. Here it as only about an hour later, at about 7am
During the ride out of the park, we saw lots of animals. Here are two bears, a mother and 2-year-old cub, napping on the hillside.
Yes, they're the two spots in the middle. What can I say -- I didn't have a telephoto lens. The view was good with binoculars, though.
Later, along the side of the road we saw a caribou cow and calf running. About 50 yards behind them was a wolf!
And then we saw the Dall sheep again, this time right up on the side of the road.
We got to the park entrance around noon, and drove down to Talkeetna, where we did a little walking around and souvenier hunting. Then we drove the rest of the way to Anchorage, did a little more shopping before heading to the hostel and calling it a day.