Wonder Lake R/T from Denali bus depot(WAC)

[EMS8]

I need some help from those of you that have done this trip before.  How many hours round trip is it typically, to travel from the Denali bus depot(WAC) to Wonder Lake and back?  This is the transit bus trip.

[AKStafford]

According to  https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm : Trip duration: 11 hours, round-trip

[EMS8]

AK,

Do you think that 11 hours is pretty close to accurate?

[Northern Aurora]

I think 11 hours is fairly accurate, and it actually make take longer.

 

I live a two (or so) hour drive north of the entrance to Denali, so we get into the park frequently.  While Wonder Lake can be lovely under certain lighting conditions, we rarely go past Eielson Visitor's Center.  You might consider making shuttle reservations to EVC, and then if you decide to continue on to Wonder Lake speak to the bus dispatcher at EVC about continuing.  I believe that I have read that you can purchase the fare for the additional journey from the EVC dispatcher -- someone please correct me if I am wrong or misinformed.

 

 

[mapleleaves]

I've taken the shuttle to Eielson several times and it stays very close to the published 8 hrs.  On a couple of trips we were 'delayed' by numerous wildlife sightings so we shortened the lunch break at Eielson by 10 minutes. 

 

I've bought tickets to WL a few times, hoping for good weather, but it wasn't, so I hopped off at Eielson.

 

My reasoning is .... if I WANT to go to WL, I have the ticket in hand, as opposed to trying to find a seat to WL on a sunny day when a dozen others might have the same idea. 

 

[EMS8]

Thanks for the information.  I appreciate it.