In the morning we drove from Talkeetna to Denali, about 2.5 hours. When we got into the park, we boarded a bus that took us to our lodge. The lodge was 90 miles inside the park, along a narrow gravel road. Needless to say, the bus ride took about 6 hours. But boy the scenery sure was worth it!
Here's a panorama I took at the Eilson visitor center, giving a good view of the Alaska range:
(bear with me on the panoramas...)
During the ride in, we saw a fox, some dall sheep waaaaaay up high in the mountains, and two grizzly bears on a hill side probably two miles away. We also saw several big herds of caribou:
and one big beaver:
(we'll see him again, many times)
Finally we got to our lodge:
It's not exactly roughing it, I know!
After dinner we signed up for a hike the next morning, then went to bed. Being further north, daylight is even longer in Denali. Sunset was at about 12:30 in the morning, and it never really got dark at all.