Visitors board the Hearst Castle bus at the Visitor Center as they begin their journey for the five mile trip to the top of the hill. The view out of the window shows the natural beauty that attracted William Randolph Hearst to this spectacular location.

Much of the wildlife seen while traveling the bus route is considered indigenous to California, including the coyote, bobcat, cotton-tailed rabbit, white-tailed deer, quail, turkey vulture, mountain lion, red-tailed hawk, kestrel hawk, burrowing owl, and other native species. Some exotic species, many of which are descendants of the animals once in Hearst's zoo, may roam close enough to the road to be seen from the bus. These include: zebra, Roosevelt elk, aoudads, tahr goats, sambar deer, and wild pigs.

Wooden animal shelters constructed in the late 1920s to protect the animals still stand near the bus route, though today they are used primarily by cattle on the Hearst Ranch. The empty animal pens, once the home of polar bears and lions, built in 1934 can be seen during the return trip to the Visitor Center.