June 30, 2015 at 10:56AM by advodna_dave

A couple weeks ago, I googled "Denali with kids" and found a lot of responses to the effect that it was not a good park for kids and one even claiming that they go out of their way to make it hard to bring kids there. I can only assume that last comment was referring to the fact that you are required to bring your own car seat on the shuttle busses for kids who need one and that the majority of the park is only accessible via a long bus ride. In fact, there are some fun things to do near the entrance (sled dog kennels, visitor center, science and learning center, short hikes) and the park will loan you a Kids Discovery Backpack filled with binoculars, animal and plant guides, an animal track casting kit, colored pencils and pastel crayons, a couple kids story books and an activity guide. And of course, supportive personnel happy to swear in new Junior Rangers (badge #6 for Wynne!). That being said, we agreed with a few posts that bringing a smaller baby on a long bus ride could interfere with the enjoyment of others (and probably wouldn't be too much fun for us either), so we decided to take turns with just one of us taking Wynne on the bus while the other stayed home and "supervised" Mae's naps. Over two days, Wynne rode the bus for a total of 12 hours (!), admittedly mostly watching her iPad, but also seeing grizzly bears, moose and caribou. That seemed like it probably deserved a little green something from the gift shop. #denalibus #denalinationalpark #toklat #juniorranger #childhoodunplugged #wellpluggedbutwhiledrivingthrough6millionacresofwilderness