July 4, 2011. We spent Independence Day in Denali National Park. We booked a 6/8-hour bus tour deep into the park. It turned into a 9-hour ride when our (school)bus broke down and had to be replaced. But that gave us more picture-taking time. It was rainy so we had more time for the clouds to lift as well.
I'm going to start with the animals we saw. Our instructions were to quietly lower windows and keep the oohs and aahhs to a minimum until we had moved on. The animals do not feel threatened by the buses, just people! Our tour guide was excellent at spotting animals or just knowing that "that brown rock wasn't there earlier". If anyone said they saw something he would brake immediately. These are caribou. We saw a great many of them in the park.
This little device was installed in the tour buses. The driver has a high-power camera that he can zoom in on whatever we are looking at. The animals were usually quite a distance away. He liked to stop just as much if not more than we did.
These are Dall's Sheep. It's because of them that the park was created in the first place.
This cute little fox came walking past the bus. The driver also saw snowshoe hares but since they are low-man on the eating pole they don't hang around too long. There were also Willow Ptarmigan - Alaska's state bird but I was too far back in the bus to get a picture.
This rest stop had a forest service facility. You could buy stuff as well as get in out of the wet/cold. This is where we waited for our new bus after the first one broke down. We were on our way back at that time. Caribou antlers on the bench.
Sheep's horns (and others) inside.
Wolf skin. Some people the day before us had seen them in the park. Others that came after us said they saw Lynx. 
Grizzly Bear skin.
More Dall's sheep.
This guy looked like he was asleep. He didn't move the whole time we watched.
At one point a grizzly bear was spotted on the hillside. If you look just above him you will notice the antlers of a caribou.
The two walked around but this is as close as we saw them get. Our guide told us that caribou and bear don't worry too much about each other. They both know the caribou can outrun the bear and he usually won't waste his energy trying. Keep in mind this looked like a brown spot on the hill to the naked eye. Love my camera!
More caribou. These were a little closer.
This was our turnaround spot. The road goes 90 miles into the park. We only went about 65. This is what we saw...
...this is what you're supposed to see!
Now let's get to the scenery.
Sorry about the rain on the windows. Actually it's mostly mud. The buses stopped at a few rest areas and the drivers would get out and wash the windows. Later in the day was drier thank goodness.
Did I mention the road we were driving? At one point the driver reassured us that "there is definitely a bottom to this upcoming hill". It was like watching that show of truck drivers in India. Look out around the corner and hope you don't have to pass!
This is called polychrome valley. Sure was windy on that hill!
The vastness of the park is astounding. The treeline is 2500 ft so there are very few trees this far into the park. It's tundra.
These are called "braided rivers". The water doesn't get wider it just changes channels and creates new streambeds.
Headed out of the main park area now. The trees are back but they aren't thick forests.
Hope you enjoyed our little tour. The guide asked us what was the rarest thing we saw. Answer: this is the only truly wild park in the system. Animals are not managed in any way. They are not fed, culled or disturbed for any reason. There is only the one road. It's the only park patrolled by dogsled in winter. The stations are a day's drive by sled apart!
This was our lodge for two nights. There was a trail behind it that went along the river. We hated to leave this place. We'd love to come back.
Quietest 4th of July we've ever spent - no fireworks or even big celebration of any kind.
There is a campground nearby. You can take a "Camper's Bus" into the park and get out to walk around if you like and then wave down another such bus to take you on or back. No personal vehicles are allowed past the 15 mile mark ranger station.
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