A Cat in the Colors

The majestic Canadian Lynx. This encounter will forever be one of my favorites. It was taken in 2017, Denali's centennial birth year. To celebrate this occasion, I spent 100 Days within Denali National Park and Preserve between January and December. This was my first and only Lynx encounter that year out of those 100 days. My friend from New York City was visiting. I took her to Denali for her first-ever camping trip. She saw a wild bear, moose, helped pitch a tent, ate Mountain House, and hiked in the wilderness, all for the first time. On the last evening we were camping, we even got to watch the sunset on Denali from right outside our tent. That next morning, we packed up and caught a Camper Bus to head out of the park. This bus went from Wonder Lake (where we were camping) to Kantishna before heading back East. On our way back past the North view of Wonder Lake, the driver stopped the bus and pointed out the Lynx. It had entered the road behind us. I freaked out, had my camera, rushed to the other side of the bus, it was now walking alongside, I pinched the tabs to release the window. I had the lynx in my viewfinder and CLICK! ..........I had the settings still from the night before. I shot in all manual, and my shutter speed was super slow from photographing stars over Denali. The lynx was a blur and was gone from our view as quickly as it had come. Desperate, I searched, but the bus started to move again. We rounded a corner, "STOP!" I yelled, never giving up hope. There, on a hill, eye level with me on the bus, was that lynx. It stared through my lens, and I captured three images before it again disappeared.