We had breakfast and an early lunch in Anchorage, and then boarded a bus to the train station to get on a five-hour ride to Denali National Park in a domed car.
The views were amazing, and the narration covered not only the mountains and rivers that we were passing, but also a lot of history and tales of the homesteaders and other interesting people that have built cabins out in the back-country along the route.
We had our first bear sighting upon arriving at the Lodge (although we heard that the security team chased an actual grizzly off the site in the early morning hours of our second day here. Our room also came with a plaque letting us know that the sun won’t be down for long while we are here. We missed the Summer Solstice by a day, so we only got 20 hours and 23 minutes of daylight. (The sun was setting a little after midnight and rising again before 4:00am).
After unpacking we took a walk along the river that runs behind the lodges.
The next day was devoted to the Tundra Wilderness Tour, a five-hour ride into Denali National Park travelling to the point where the road is closed due to a multi-year bridge and culvert repair.
It was overcast and drizzly most of the day (the first poor weather day on the whole trip). Lots of beautiful scenery, but not much wildlife spotting. Here are the photos of our major sightings, a Willow Grouse (taken by our driver) and a raven nesting on a bridge abutment. Our tour guide gave us a strong lecture at the outset about not having expectations for wildlife spotting and enjoying the opportunity to see the completely wild portion of the park so were careful to remain cheerful! He was really good guide and the trip was very interesting even in the rain.
The only access beyond mile 15 of the park road is on the Tundra Wilderness Tour buses. 2 million of the park’s 6 million acres are wilderness; an intact ecosystem that cannot be disturbed or interfered with in any way. That includes fire management. Wildfires are part of the ecosystem, occurring every 30-40 years. We saw areas that had burned and the fire weed that is the first plant to grow.
On Wednesday we met our guide, Andy, after breakfast. The four of us were joined by one other woman for a small group nature hike along some trails in the National Park. Andy knew a LOT of the flora and fauna in the area. We got a great appreciation for the growth patterns in the forest, which you could see in areas which had experienced fires in different eras. We saw a number of birds, including a nesting goshawk. We got a great view of the goshawk through the telescope that Andy carried on the hike. No significant mammal sightings, but a lot of scat and places where moose had snipped off plants or scraped tree bark.
After a reviving coffee after the hike we headed to the Park’s Sled Dog presentation. Three times a day they take four busloads of visitors to the area where they house and train the working park dogsled teams.
In summer, the teams train by pulling wheeled carts. Come winter, they become one of the main means of transportation and freight hauling. For backcountry trail projects, it’s far easier and gentler on the land to haul materials in over the snow by sled dog team than to bring them by vehicle during the construction season.
We ended the day with a dinner and show, “The Music of Denali”, at the Gold Nugget Saloon on the Lodge property. During dinner the members of the wait-staff sang some typical mountain songs, like Working 9 to 5 and I Could Have Danced All Night. 🙂 After dinner they performed a musical “history” of the first group to summit Denali. A few audience members were chosen to play roles in the tale – the best performance was by Archie who announced at the end of his skit that he was 98 years old.
Some Alaska fun facts that we’ve picked up along the way:
- 82 percent of Alaskan communities are disconnected from the road system. They have a short local road network but beyond that you need an airplane or a bost.
- 1 in 70 Alaskans are licensed pilots. The rest fly anyway.
- There are no ticks in Alaska
- The mosquitos do not carry any diseases
- Instead of parking meters in Anchorage they have plugs. Cars are all equipped with engine heaters and when it’s 40 below you need to plug it in while you go grocery shopping in town!
- There is no zoning beyond basic safety. You buy your piece of land and you can build whatever you want on it.
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