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The East Fork Shuttle…

Originally posted on Facebook Aug 27, 2023.

Ok… So if you saw my Night Perch… (previous post)

You will know I didn’t have a ticket for the East Fork shuttle….

I wanted to beat heavy rain (predicted for later in the day),

I wanted to catch animals in the morning routine,

and maybe see bears (visitors who were in the Park for a couple days spread rumors the East Fork Shuttle had seen bears)

So I got up at 5:00. Arrived at the Visitor Center before it opened. But Free shuttles were waiting…

So I caught the free shuttle to the Bus Terminal…. On the way we picked up a lady… who worked at the Bus Terminal… So I started to get some tips on how things worked…

I got to the terminal… got in line for the tickets… The couple ahead of me were taking forever…

The lady from the bus stopped on her way behind the counter to fill me in and explain the schedule board…

The yellow meant only 3 spaces were open…
The Green meant tickets were available
The Red meant the Bus was Full

The 7 O:Clock was boarding as I stood there…

But I was in plenty of time for the 7:30… and if I had missed that… I’d have to wait a long time to catch the next available East Fork Shuttle…

I had my Park Senior pass from the day before… so getting the ticket was easy…

I had my East Fork 7:30 AM ticket…. The day was off to a good start…

A Night Perch…

This is a blog I posted on Facebook August 27, 2023 when I started taking wildlife pictures in Denali National Park.

Sometimes I just do stuff…

On this excursion I just did stuff… There was lots of rain predicted… there was a chance I might avoid some of the rain at critical times and places… but I didn’t know… So I prepped for several contingencies… Left home in major rain… Checked out the Park… Evening went well… Weather app said morning might have slight rain…. I didn’t make reservations because I didn’t want to be stuck in a rainy situation with changing weather… when I got back at about 9 pm from my personal drive to Savage River… and scoped out the next day… I was late… but I decided to make it a two day trip…

The Savage River trip worked ok on the free shuttle, but mostly moose…

In line at the Visitor Center I learned the East Fork shuttle had seen nine bears the day before… I had come to see wildlife…

I asked how to get the East Fork shuttle and was told you had to pay for a ticket… I didn’t have a ticket…

So let’s do a second day… Now it was time to find a place… several places were full, another place was full… I kept driving south checking places as I went… it’s was getting late… Got to 16 miles south of the park… Ringing a doorbell on a place that looked like it was closing brought the word that they were full but that the pizza place with the bar next door had cabins. And I could ask at the pizza place because they owned the cabins too.

So I drove next door across the creek… to the Perch… It’s about 10:30 at night by this time.

The Pizza place is closing but the Bar is going great guns…. The bartender come over and asks what I want… I tell her I’m look for a room…

She turns around and taps one of the patrons at the bar on the shoulder…

He’s the owner…

He comes over… flips open his folding phone… yes he has a room… Since it’s late he will discount the price…

It was cabin 13… I’ve never fingered out of 13 is supposed to be and unlucky number or a lucky number… I’ve heard it both ways…

So I had a Perch!

But for those of you who may be accustomed to hotels in the lower 48 I thought I’d highlight some of the features of Alaskan hospitality… (hey, I had a place to sleep)

First off notice the high quality door stop…

And a loft!!! How many rooms have you had that had a loft!! And with a ladder!!! See those are features you can miss out on without even realizing you’ve missed out…

You also don’t have to worry about wasting time watching TV, or browsing the internet… or texting… (there is no service… phone or Wi-Fi) —- It’s Alaska… What were you expecting?!?!

The bathroom did not occupy excessive space…

I’ve stayed in several places with this level of service around the state… Some had a shared bathroom…

It was basic… the bed was comfortable… the place was clean…

It was a pretty good overnight perch…

I got up at 5:30 anyway, to make the early shuttle out to East Fork… Managed to catch the 7:30 Shuttle… but that’s another story…