Weather:

Morning: Mostly Cloudy and Cold but Warmer than usual
Afternoon: Cloudy and Rain
Evening: Rain and chilly

  Journal Entry:

Was woken up from sleep several times by a huge thunderstorm. One bolt struck in the valley and the thunderclap echoed down the valley bouncing from one mountain to the other. I heard it go for about twenty seconds. The rain had stopped by morning. Woke up at the crack of dawn. It had really snowed up on the mountaintops.  It looks like there was a lot. We quickly packed up camp and left. We had a big day in front of us (bus tour to Wonder Lake) so we had to get going as fast as we could. Hiking was easier going back down the Toklat because our packs were starting to get lighter (we had eaten a lot of heavy food). So, we made some good time. 

When we got to "I Scream Gulch" we thought a bear was up in front of us so we got out of the gulch and headed up one of the steep sides. This was a mistake because it was totally Willow Hammocks. After a long struggle we made it to the top. We were tired but looking back over the area we had just traveled and seeing the fall colors that had really come into bloom picked us up a bit.  It was also great from this high point to be able to look back down over all that we had been hiking around the last few days. 

We waited for the Bus for about a half and hour before we were picked up. This was a good rest time. The bus driver was a little woman called Virgi. It was a lively and fun bus and very reflective of Alaska where people really look out for and help one another when they are in need. We met a guy from San Marcos, Texas who was out hiking all alone. He was running out of food and thinking about having to leave early so we gave him several extra meals that we had. On the other hand, we needed some more "waterproof" matches and another couple gave us a whole new box of matches. 

We had to first drive to Eielson Visitor Center (mile 66). Although we had already been this way it was still just as beautiful. Unfortunately, it was cloudy so we had very little chance of seeing Mt. Denali. After a short rest we were on our way again into uncharted territory. The land gave way from rugged mountains to rolling tundra plains (mainly wet tundra), beaver ponds, Black Spruce forests (Black Forest), and the huge Muldrow Glacier. Once again, we were struck by the diversity of the park. On the way we spotted a Beaver Dam with a huge Beaver swimming in the water to gather more sticks for his house. We also saw some caribou very close up. After about 2 more hours we made it Wonder Lake (mile 85).

We were glad to see this part of the park but disappointed that Mt. Denali was not out. This would have been the best view of Mt. Denali since we were so close to it. Instead we just had a big blank spot covered by clouds that you knew Mt. Denali was hiding behind. 

On the way back, we had Virgi drop us off shortly past Eielson Visitor Center at Stony Creek (mile 64). She left us with a warning that right where she was dropping us off they had seen a bear the day before. Gulp!?! We followed a creek bed towards a canyon that we wanted to sleep in with lots of "Hey Bear" yells as we moved. It was pretty good walking but the Hammock trees got thicker as we got closer to the canyon. The rain that had started shortly after we got off the bus really started coming down and we were soaked. All of the ground in this area slanted down from Stony Dome Mountain towards Stony Creek and the Tundra was really bumpy so we had a hard time finding a good spot for our tent. We finally found a spot that seemed to be the best of all the bad spots and set up our tent. By the time we set up the tent the rain had stopped and we had a huge dinner of Mac and Cheese and tons of hot chocolate. It was the first hot food we had in a day and a half and it tasted so good and it warmed us up. We were constantly on the lookout for the bear since it was poor visibility with all the willow trees. When we finished our dinner it started to rain again so we scrapped our plans to explore and crawled into the tent. I fell asleep with in seconds while Christina read and wrote in the journal before calling it a night.