Denali Park Tours questions

[CRB#33]

What's the difference between the shuttle bus and the bus tours?

 

I see the shuttle takes you to Toklat, Eielson and Wonder Lake with different prices the further you go. I see they don't offer food

 

Then there are the bus tours like the History tour and the Tundra Wilderness Tour that offers food, but is considerably more expensive.

 

Do these two tours take you to basically the same places?

 

Which is better?

 

I've also seen that there is a Kantishna Wilderness Tour when looking through my Milepost. Has anyone ever done that?

 

Thanks!

[Budget Queen]

Big differences- first off the "meal" is a barely eatable box lunch. :) The Natural History tour is useless, going to mile 16- the Park service has a free shuttle and ranger activities to the same area. The tundra wilderness goes to mile 53, which is close to Toklat. Eielson 66, wonder lake 85, Kantishna 90- but most of the property there is privately owned and better is to overnight at one of the lodges there. I have never been on a shuttle bus that did not have an informative driver who stopped for wildlife when spotted. It clearly is the best bargain around for wildlife. My min. distance in is Eielson.

[mpk]

Budget Queen, your advice is right on the money.

 

I did the Eielson shuttle. We bought a couple of box lunches at the hotel lobby to share for light snacking. (Two was plenty- there was no fighting for mediocre, stale sandwiches. Heck, one would have been enough!). We saw a hammy brown bear beside our bus that kept crossing and otherwise hanging around the bus, caribou, Dall sheep (far off in the distance), a blonde bear, and gyrfalcon.

 

As BQ infers, it seems like the wildlife didn't start showing themselves till after Toklat River. Maybe it is too crowded up until that point.

[CRB#33]

*whoops* meant to start a new thread

[ocean.queen]

I believe it all depends on the day and the luck of the draw. We just returned and we took the shuttle bus to Eielson. We saw all of our wildlife before Toklat. The day before our friends took the short Wildlife Tour Bus included with their Princess cruisetour and saw more wildlife than us. Do what your time will allow but definitely take the shuttle bus!! All of the "Tour" busses were full to the max (our shuttle was only about 1/3 full), much more expensive, and our friends complained that the guide talked incessintly. Our driver, Dawn, was wonderful...informative, talked only when necesary & stopped for all wildlife. Take a good pair of binoculars!!!!