Dec 7, 2018
What Keeps Elton Parks, a Denali Bus Driver, Coming Back
to the Park for the Last 33 Years?
And how does he describe working in Denali?
You won’t want to miss this.
When I was about to board the bus, a nice Park Ranger out
front said to me, “Oh you’ve got Elton! He’s great. You’re going to
love this.”
I wasn’t skeptical for a minute, as right away the bus driver
introduced himself as Elton Parks, and gave the facts of the trip,
adding his humorous touch to even the instructions for the
ride.
Through the whole bus trip, Elton kept up the commentary,
telling us the history and geography of many of the 66 miles that
we drove.
On the 8 hour round trip, when I wasn’t interviewing the rest
of the passengers, I was sitting in the very front, peppering Elton
with questions.
Not only does he have a fascinating story about how he only
expecting to work in Denali for one summer, then coming back for
the last 33 years, but Elton also has a fascinating life and is
full of wonderful travel stories.
As he states in the interview, he's flown over 5 million miles
with over 190 airlines, and done over 300,000 miles of rail
travel.
Although I found the whole conversation interesting, this
interview really starts picking up pace around the 6 minute mark
when I asked Elton what brings him back the Park year after
year.
And if you want those links that he mentions at the end, he
did email them to me, so just let me know!
Let’s get started!