Up early for the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Before leaving, headed across the street to get some sandwiches from Subway for lunch, since I’d heard what they give you as a box lunch on the tour (Some bread, reindeer sausage, cheese, a granola bar, and a bottle of water). We managed to snag seats at the front of the bus, which was nice because we could see out the front window.
Our first sighting of the morning was a female moose near the side of the road munching on the bushes there. Was a little tough to make out because she was somewhat behind some small trees too. Then we saw some Dall Sheep, although those were largely just white dots way up the sides of the mountains. Also saw some caribou, which were also a fair distance from the road.
Then, while we were in an area that was pretty well known for bears, we saw what the group at first thought were a couple of moose up the hill, somewhat hidden by a ridge. Our guide thought it was an odd place for moose, and sure enough, after looking a little longer, it was actually a couple of grizzly bears, which we could largely only see the backs of. Unfortunately, with where they were, there just wasn’t a way we were going to be able to see them, so somewhat disappointed, we journeyed on for a bit. A little further down the road though, and we did much better. A mother bear and her two cubs were on the hillside, in a
far better location to watch them. We were able to watch these for a while, although they never really came close, but they were near enough to get a good view of.
Then we saw a golden eagle, perched out on the side of the hill in one spot. Also a ways away, so not real easy to get a great view of. Then, at a place we stopped, had a fox run by some of the people fairly close. We didn’t happen to see it until it was further away, but still could see it well. Shortly after getting back on the bus, another fox ran across the front of the bus. This one was colored differently, with a lot of brown in the fur.
Finally, as we’re starting to get a chance to see the mountain Denali, it’s looking promising that it might actually be visible (which isn’t necessarily that common in the summer). So we dash up to the viewpoint that’s best (which also happens to be our turnaround point) and sure enough, Denali is almost completely cloud free, and made for a great photo chance.
Didn’t really see much wildlife on the way back out, other than a couple of foxes (one of which might have been the same one we saw when we’d stopped earlier). All in all, a decent tour, and most of that wildlife would not have been seen without upgrading from the Natural History Tour that Princess sells as the standard tour on this land package. The TWT is long, but definitely a better choice.