07/04/09What a great way to spend the 4th of July; in a beautiful national park! We have to say a HUGE thank-you to Monty Carpenter, our shuttle bus driver for the day. There are tours you can take with narrative at $149.00/day that don’t go as far into the park as we did.
For $31.50 we took the shuttle and were lucky enough to have Monty as our driver. No tour could have been more informative. Monty knows it all…the history, the flora and fauna, the habits of the wildlife, everything. He was terrific!
For $31.50 we took the shuttle and were lucky enough to have Monty as our driver. No tour could have been more informative. Monty knows it all…the history, the flora and fauna, the habits of the wildlife, everything. He was terrific! 
We saw several grizzly mom’s with their cubs, some dall sheep from a very far distance, the ptarmigan (Alaska’s state bird), a wolf and a few caribou. 
We learned the difference between caribou and reindeer. Reindeer are inside of a fence! As we traveled we began to detect a slight smell of smoke.
By the time we got to the Eielson Visitor Center the haze from forest fires in the area was evident obstructing our view of the great mountain. Monty tells us that only about 30% of park visitors ever get to see the entire mountain (Mt. McKinley) as it also creates its own weather. We missed it by a day. The previous day had been crystal clear, and there were a lot more animals out and about tooThese are some of the Grizzly Bear photos. It is hard to believe that they are 85% vegetarians and get that plump.
... and Gorillas are 97-98% vegetarians (and raw eaters as well), imagine that! Us humans can learn something.....
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