Part VI: The Conclusion

The bus continued to climb and snake its way along the loose gravel road hundreds of feet above the valley floor. Another bus was coming towards us on the narrow road. We held our breath. 

Inches away to our left, we saw our scared faces mirrored by the people on the other bus as we crawled past. Whew! Thankfully, the road widened and journeyed away from the ledges and into rolling hills. An empty riverbed sat at the foot of a tall hill with small shrubbery between us. Alongside the road there stood two dusty campers staring off into the grass and shrub.  

They began to signal our driver with hand-gestures that were well-known to park staff. We came to a stop and saw a pack of wolves trotting along together. The familiar shutter clicking began. Then, the lead wolf stopped cold, standing almost like an English pointer. A huge brown shape suddenly grew out of the shrub and towered above them. It was a large grizzly bear.  

We all gasped as we awaited the result of this showdown. It was unclear at first, but it soon became apparent that this was a territorial dispute. The wolves surrounded the bear and the ones behind began to inch closer and even bite at the bear’s large ankles. They were cautious, however, when the beast swung his giant head around and glared at them. He was a stubborn bear!  
 
He even had the courage to sit down and rest while the wolves paced about him, clearly agitated by his brevity. Finally, the wolves became more aggressive and he saw that he had out-worn his welcome. He got up and trudged away down the dry riverbed. Our driver, a veteran of the park, said that he had never seen a bear/wolf encounter in all of his time there. Sweet!  

We reached the end of our route and the center facing Mount McKinley. The view was obscured completely, but we rode back still satisfied with all of the wildlife we saw along the way. Being only a couple of hours away from Denali, I am confident that I will eventually see Mt. McKinley up-close and stripped of icy clouds. 

The End