The Denali Transit bus
The most flexible way to visit Denali park past mile 15 is via the green transit buses.
Let’s backtrack, there is one road in Denali, a 92 mile road. People are allowed to drive their vehicles up to mile 15 (let’s forget about the September lottery) and if you want to see more (and there IS A LOT MORE TO SEE), you get a reservation on the green transit buses (or the private buses that offer stuff that I don’t like, so I am not mentioning those here).
There are two options: (1) all the way to mile 92 to Wonder Lake or (2) 66 miles to the Eielson Visitor Center.
You can reserve tickets to the bus online or calling the bus contractor (all of this you can find at the DenaliNP website). In “normal” years, tickets are left unsold for people that may show up at the Bus Depot a couple of days early.
What do you get/ What do are expected to do/Tips:
Arrive early to the Bus Depot (plenty of parking available) since a line will form. Don’t wait for the announcement to make a line, get out and find the Eielson Bus sign and start a line.
Closer to the front of the bus is always good since you will hear the bus driver better.
The bus drivers are NOT required to narrate anything, but many of them do and a great job of it.
Put bear spray INSIDE a backpack, don’t leave it out.
If you see wildlife, yell “STOP”. The driver will stop. Now, this happens on the way in; on the way back the bus driver will probably only stop for bears or any animals that you have not see on the way in. They have a schedule to keep.
When the bus is stopped (this is VERY IMPORTANT), do not make any noise and don’t hang your arms off the windows. That is for the safety of the wildlife and the bus driver is required to abort the stop and drive away if people break this rule (I have seen this happen).
The bus makes a few stops: (1) Teklanika River rest stop, (2) Polychrome Pass (not an official stop, but all of them do it), (3) Toklat River rest stop, (4) Eielson Visitor Center, (5) the final stop at mile 92 at Wonder Lake (if you take that bus).
On all stops, make note of the bus number, because all of them look the same. The bus driver does not count people, when it is time to leave they will leave !!!
You can get off the bus at any time you want, hike, and then wait for the next bus on the way back. But only the green transit buses, not the private ones. If you get off, take a bus schedule with you so you know when the next bus is coming by. In normal years, it takes 30 minutes for a bus to show up, but then again it could be full and you will have to wait for the next one. If you have a large group you will probably have to split up.
The Eielson bus takes about 8 hours for the round trip, the Wonder Lake bus takes 11 hours.
Get the earliest bus since the critters tend to be more active early in the day.