You were Soooooooo lucky if you were able to view the top of Denali peak on your first day there. In two trips to mainland Alaska, we were only able to see the top of Denali once. Hope you got a pic!
I'm with your folks -- I'd be balking about that, too.
Glad you brought something high in DEET. You'll need it -- the mosquitoes are the national bird of Alaska. :-)
Donna (lived in AK for a couple of years, a long time ago)
Day 2
We didn't do any driving ourselves today. That was because our event for the day was the "Kantishna Wilderness Trails" tour, which meant we hopped on a bus from our lodge at 6:10am AKDT and rode the entire 92-mile road into Denali National Park (a feat you can only do by bus, and only if you choose the right tour option; many other buses turn around sooner). Our Danish guide happened to live out in the boonies of Alaska for many years, so she was well-versed and detailed everything there was to tell about the area during our excursion.
The trip duration lasted 14 hours. And let me tell you, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. We've been far more fortunate than the 90% of visitors who have to deal with some sort of clouds interfering with their views of the Alaska Range. We could not have picked a better day for this. Not only did we get pictures of dozens of different angles of Mt. McKinley and Denali's geologic features, we also saw just about every major species of wildlife that reside in the park (a number of caribou, some bears, a moose, a fox, and the highlight of 15 dall sheep crossing our path and climbing their way up a steep cliff virtually right next to the bus. Incredible stuff.
At the end of the 92-mile road was Kantishna Lodge, where we were treated to lunch, as well as a presentation on dog-sledding and the annual Iditarod race they run from Anchorage to Nome. We even got to see some of the sled dogs do their thing and pet them for a few minutes. The mosquitos here of course were really annoying. I finally managed to get a bite or two, despite my repellant.
After returning to our lodge around 8:30pm AKDT, we headed back up to Nenana Canyon one more time for dinner and a little souvenir shopping. We're now past the most intense part of our trip. Hopefully it will be a little easier and lighter now.
Sunset time here was at 12:15am. When we're in Fairbanks, the sun sets at 12:45am. Really going to aim for a picture of the midnight sun up there if there's a flat horizon and lack of clouds willing to provide me with such an opportunity.
short nights -- are you taking naps?
Sounds like a memorable trip. Nice you've had such great weather for photos
Mark
Wow...you certainly were fortunate not to have any clouds in the sky! Sounds like a wonderful bus trip -- was it in a school-type bus?
We've done two tours by bus in Denali. The first time, we opted for the long tour out to the visitor center that's about 50 miles out or so???? Saw lots of wildlife on that trip, including a white fox. Second trip, we took the shorter tour, and saw only a few bears and 'bou. I think we saw ptarmigan on the first trip out, too. If we ever go up there again, I'd like to go out to Kantishna. Thanks for such a detailed report, and can't wait to see the pictures!
Donna
No time for napping, at least not yet. We all snuck in a few Zs on the tour bus (as did most other people during long stretches of repetitive scenery or lack of wildlife sightings; the entire 14 hours can't always be 100% filled with excitement :)Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
We had a commuter-type bus, with around 25 rows of two individual seats on each side of the aisle with overhead rails for storage. I saw the green school-type buses, they just don't look as comfy. I'm glad we had what we had.
Day 3
No getting up at the crack of dawn today. We took the time to re-organize luggage and moseyed out of our cabin by 9:15am. Our first stop was something we missed the day before, the main Denali Visitor Center that borders the eastern entrance to the park. We spent a solid hour taking a gander at the exhibits, watching the 20-minute theater presentation, and browsing the bookstore.
We assumed there would be enough time to get up to Fairbanks. But wait! We can't have such a thing, say the construction gods. There was major highway work for a 10-mile stretch of Parks (Hwy 3), so we lose a good 30 minutes waiting and crawling along the torn-up road. *sigh* You all know from past road trips how much I adore this.
Getting past all that, the GPS now told us we had 20 minutes to spare between arrival time and the departure of our next event. But wait! We can't have such a thing, say the gas gods. The fuel needle on the dash finally started hovering close to E, forcing us to stop in Nenana (where the gas price was outrageously high, of all places) and make like a stellar NASCAR pit team, filling up, washing the bug-splattered windows, and pulling a bathroom break in less than 5 minutes. (Success!)
We raced the rest of the way up, thankfully with no more delays, and arrived just in time to get our tickets for the Gold Dredge No. 8. Here you'll find a mini-train ride around the property, led by a narrator showing/explaining the different contraptions used to extract gold, including the massive Dredge No. 8 itself, at its final resting place in a shallow pond. This thing is massive (over 100 feet across), and was quite adept for mining the soil below the water in order to profit from the millions of ounces of gold billowing out of the ground.
The next part, everyone got their own poke of dirt to go along with a water trough and pan. We all tried our hand at finding gold, with eventual success. (Mom and I each ended up getting $12 worth of tiny gold pellets, while Dad netted $15) Of course, if you want to do something decorative with what you found, they sell you silver and gold laced container necklaces, which is how they make their funds back. (Clever operation, there.) They also had ginormous gift shops for the hundreds of tourists that infiltrated this place.
The final part took us back to the entrance, where part of the 800-mile Aleyska Oil Pipeline towered above our heads, and received a quick briefing about that. All in all, a pretty full plate for 3 hours.
Our suite hotel was 10 miles away, so we got our local souvenirs, found some grub, checked in and hunkered down for the evening. At least my folks did. Since this is the farthest north we come, I decided to be a nerd and drive out to photograph the midnight sun, right at the southern border of the International Airport. It's one of those things you just have to experience if you're into that kind of thing. Of course the low-horizon clouds prevented me from actually seeing it, and the mosquitos were so bad I had to take pics from inside the car. Oh well, you make the best of what you got!
Another early start tomorrow for the next event, and then back down Hwy 3 past Denali. These tour packages turned out to be pretty dense after all. It doesn't leave you with much time for anything extra, but I guess that's how it's designed to work. We'll keep cramming in the little side trips where we can.
You've been blessed if you've been able to see all this and not have any issues at this point. When you mentioned road construction, my heart was in my mouth -- there are two seasons in Alaska (and along the AK Hwy): winter, and construction. Those of us that live in SoCal usually see our construction crews out on weekends and after the evening rush hour throughout the year, avoiding summer if they can. But Alaska is a lot different!
DEET is still about the best mosquito repellant. Too bad it's so darned hard to find here in CA!
Donna
Day 4
We left our awesome suite hotel a little earlier than we would have liked, but the next event wasn't gonna wait around for us. We arrived at the Riverboat Discovery tour at 8:15am, where they take you out on a 4-story ferry over the Chena and Tanana Rivers for 3 hours, showcasing different side shows such as a bush pilot take-off/landing on the river, a dog-sled training kennel, and the native Athabascan Village walking tour. (I won't occupy your time with the details; you can find out all about it if you Google "Riverboat Discovery Fairbanks")
After returning, we had lunch, found more souvenirs, and tried out the "40° Below" room where you enter a chamber they have climate-controlled to be between -40°F and -50°F, a winter day you may experience in Fairbanks. You're only in there for about 30 seconds, long enough to get our picture taken, but if you hate cold (like me), it's one of things you never need to try again.
After that was over, we left Fairbanks. As much as we would have loved to return to Anchorage via a different route, we have another activity that requires us to backtrack down the same Parks (Hwy 3). At least it was a more leisurely pace this time, even stopping occasionally for the random scenery pic. I had to fight a little bit of sleepiness to make it to our destination 4 hours later in Denali State Park, at the McKinley Princess Lodge. This place is huge (460 rooms) with 3 restaurants and all the amenities you could ever ask for. Since it's up on the hill, you can also get a great view of McKinley if weather allows. We had dinner at the newest restaurant here called 20,320 Alaskan Grill (named after McKinley's height). Great food!
We're now at the halfway point… but there's plenty more to come.
Day 5
We're not used to having such fancy accommodations like these last few resorts, and thus spent a little more time at the main lodge after checking out. We could get used to this.
We finally departed around 8:30am AKDT and continued further south on Parks (Hwy 3) passing back through familiar territory... that is, until we reached milepost 98 and turned left on the road that took us to the rustic town of Talkeetna. Here we checked in for our flightseeing tour (using K2 Aviation) that embarked at 11:00am, but we had an hour to kill so we strolled across the tracks over to the main part of town, and had a hearty breakfast over at the Talkeetna Roadhouse. Most of our roadtrips usually have us sticking to chain restaurants (we're such creatures of habit) but I wanted to be "authentic" for once and try something different. This was definitely a hole-in-the-wall type diner, filled with interesting artifacts and people. We should try the local stuff more often.
Off we raced back to the K2 aviation center, and 30 minutes later we (and 7 other people) were guided by our pilot to a beauty of a bush plane, loaded up, taxied to the runway and took off for the Alaska Range. Mind you, this is the first time any 3 of us have been in an aircraft of this size. For the second time on this trip, Mom had a new apprehension to overcome and conquer (small planes). She's moving up in the world, don't you think?
Once we arrived at the Range, the awesomeness of the mountainsides began to show themselves. (And yes, we're still cloud-free, although some nearby forest fires made the surrounding valleys rather hazy.) We got as close as 2-3 miles from McKinley's peaks, and were shown many of the glaciers that take up residence down the mountain. We kept around 12k feet, which was enough to maneuver around the formations, cliffs, walls, drops, and show us everything in the crevices below. There were even some base camps that we could make out, occupied by climbing teams currently attempting to summit the peak.
But that was only the half of it. We came in and landed on one of the western glaciers, giving us a 360° view of the surrounding landscapes, including the summit of McKinley off to the east. Everyone did their pictures here in one form or another. I filled up my water bottle with glacier snow to drink later, just because I'm a nerd. After spending 20 minutes there, we took off again in between the fairly narrow passageways, following the glacier (we landed on) down to the valley below. You could see the changes in the glacier, from thick snow, to broken up ice formations, to avalanched rock and dirt, and then finally the river below. I've never witnessed such craziness. We finally landed 20 minutes later, and I'm going to go on the record and say this has been the best thing we've seen so far. Good job, K2! A round for everybody!!
After landing and saying our farewells to K2, we went back into old town Talkeetna to briefly take a look at their open air market, and also get some gas (running low again). Then onward south we marched, with Hwy 3 turning back into Hwy 1, followed by re-entry into Anchorage... and then PAST anchorage into new territory with the southern Seward Highway. Soon we could see the reaches of the ocean (Turnagain Arm) following us along with the mountain peaks and railroad tracks, similar to certain places of our own Pacific Coast Highway back home. Of course, PCH doesn't have the Kenai mountain range across the way, giving off beautiful reflections in the water. There were many scenic turnouts to give cameras all over the world a proper workout. Anyone travelling from Anchorage to Seward will appreciate this drive.
Not long after that, we turned off to Aleyska Highway, home to the town of Girdwood. Here we're staying at another fancy resort, the Alesyka Hotel. This place looks like a castle! The lobby and optional amenities are just as grandiose. I don't know how much it cost our agency to book this place, and I really don't want to know. For dinner, we decided to be local once again and try another hole-in-the-wall, the Silvertip Grill. It definitely fits the personality of this little town. Good food, live music, and only enough space to serve about 20 people. I guess that's how they like it around here!
Foaming at the mouth today. Tomorrow should be a little easier... and I may start squeezing in some of those ideas that other forum members had. We'll see what happens...
Last edited by Kinless; 06-17-2013 at 08:54 AM. Reason: Now that I'm re-reading this wide awake, I see some clarifications I needed to make.
Nice virtual tripping
Joey,
Fantastic report.
Nice Detail
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