Denali National Park, AK

Denali National Park

Mt McKinley, Denali, AK

September 12-14,2012

Following 2 chock full days in Talkeetna we jumped on yet another train. This train was dissimilar from the Talkeetna train.  This was a two-story train with the entire top level being glass enclosed.

Once more, we were presented with predetermined seating. Each night before either reaching a port of call or a scheduled stop on this tour, we were given a package with instructions for the following days activities.  They are tremendously methodical and every last detail was accounted for. They left nothing behind and each excursion ran effortlessly.

We took our places and were greeted by our very own tour guide. His name was Keith. We also were introduced to our own bartender and two servers. They were all very amusing and kept us going the entire trip.

inside the main lodge

Observing the scenery was done from the top level and lunch was served on the bottom level of the train car. The dining room was tasteful. It had white linen table cloths, sterling silver cutlery and the meals were served on fine china.  The menu was limited but phenomenal.  Reindeer chili was amongst the favorite, although I could not get myself to eat Rudolph so I went with seafood chowder – again! I was not disappointed.

Fire Grass

Keith, our tour guide, was great.  He was educational and very comical. The ride was just over 4 ½ hours. 121 miles. The scenery was incredible. The pictures will not depict the real appeal, particularly since I had to take them on my iPhone due to submerging my camera in the washing machine. I hope you have appreciation for them anyway.

Once we arrived in Denali we checked in our lodge. It was top rate. First class. Gorgeous.  Vast. Extensively spread out. Our room faced the largest mountain in the US and it was still exposing itself.

We meandered the grounds and scoped out the eateries for dinner that night. The food was just extraordinary. The weather was a chilly 53 degrees. That might not sound too cold to a lot of individuals but for us, who live in South Florida, it’s pretty damn cold. It plunged in the low 30’s throughout the night.

I drank an abundance of hot tea this past week along with bowls upon bowls of chowder. Winter meals are something I seldom get to eat so I consumed it all, every chance I could.

pure awesomeness!

The following day we were scheduled to take an excursion into the park - Denali National Park. It is called The Natural History Tour. We gathered on the bus early and headed out into the oblivion.  The middle of nowhere. The untouched wilderness.

  

The bus driver was a terrific guide all throughout the mountains. He pointed out animals and birds and scenery that the average person, like me, would have not picked up on. The tour itself introduces you to the parks wonders with a stop at the visitor center, savage cabin and Primrose Ridge, but having a guide was helpful.

While viewing is the highlight of mostly all of Alaska, wildlife in Denali National Park is also well known. It offers excellent opportunities to see Alaska’s ‘Big Four’. The ‘Big Four’ is made up of; Grizzly, Moose, Caribou, and Dall sheep. There are Grey Wolves also in the park, but seldom seen.

After about one hour into the park we got off the bus and walked around to this area called Stony Hill Overlook. There, waiting for us, was an authentic Athabaskan Indian.  Her adopted name was Julie in English and Neechiigw in Athabaskan. She told us of her history, cultures and native ways.

Julie

She educated us of how her Great Grandmother taught her mother, her mother taught her, how she her own daughter and now her daughter is teaching her grand daughter, of their age-old customs.

Salvage Cabin

They are very proud people. They utilize the earth for every type of medicinal purpose necessary – to this day.  They eat off the earth and very rarely buy supplies. They still live in huts and hunt their own meat.

typical dog house

Julie was informative and seemed to enjoy telling her stories. She told us that they hunt otters, wolves, birds, moose, and caribou.  She said they did not hunt bear because they would just show up. There was no need to hunt bear when they are in your own front yard, (and she said they taste terrible).

The tour of the park was beautiful. As the lighting of the sun moved from the time change of the day, the mountains were incredible. We arrived back at the lodge somewhere around 3pm.

sporting my 'coon cap'

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around town. It was nearing the end of season for most of the hotels and restaurants and things were becoming scarce. The stores were depleting inventory and not replenishing because they were closing in less than a week. It took us 3 stores to find a small travel size of toothpaste. The up side to this was, everything was on sale.

Beautiful winter jackets with Alaska embroidered on the lapel were marked down to $29.00. Everything in AK is extremely overpriced, except the seasonal stuff. 

the BEST crab chowder! EVER!

We had dinner at one of the 5 restaurants within the lodge called Base Camp Bar & Grill. It is located on the edge of an overhang and faces Mt Denali. The view is spectacular, and the crab legs - intense.

We had one more day in Denali and utilized our time remaining by exploring every nook and cranny we could find. We bundled up for the cold weather and headed out on the town. We had fun going from store to pub and eating along our way while hanging out with the locals.

view from the lodge deck

ET was here, lol

We headed back to our room early because we knew the next day would be another day of travel. We were set to go to Fairbanks and were excited to move on.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to click on the pictures to enlarge.

Talkeetna, AK

 Talkeetna, AK

The 7-day cruise part of our trip was over. We disembarked in Whittier at 6:00 am. We packed last night on the ship and placed our luggage outside the door of our cabin for our steward to be transferred on shore.  The sun was just coming up and was a new day beginning, with new adventures for us in Alaska!

 

They directed us like cattle through the port and guided us towards a train. The train would take us to Talkeetna.

Talkeetna translates into the ‘meeting of the rivers” in the local Athabaskan language. Talkeetna is located at the confluence of three rivers. They are called Susitna, Chulitna, and the Talkeetna.

Mount McKinley

The journey was a little over four hours and exceptionally scenic.  Our pre coordinated seating was with another couple. All the seats were arranged on this train resembling a booth in a diner.  Each ‘booth’ held four passengers facing each other with a table in-between. The only thing amiss with this predetermination was the additional couple arrived on board before we did and it left us sitting backwards.  Something I cannot do without becoming motion sick. We assumed the other couple had the same thoughts and that is why they choose the seats that they did. After inquiring about seat changes we were invited into the Club Car. It was the greatest move.

McKinley from the beach

The Club Car has a snack bar and offers drinks. The conductor remains mainly in the Club Car the total trip, excluding when requested by additional workers for something in their respective cars. Every car offers food service but the Club Car is more of a personal service. Whereas the regular cars encompass approximately 60 people, the Club Car only seats 25.

It is open seating and has a glass roof. We were exceedingly pleased we were positioned there. For the first hour and ½ we, along with the server and the conductor, were the only people in the Club Car.

We drove through Wasilla, and Anchorage, where we stopped for a bit to either drop off or pick up new passengers. The utmost thing about being with the conductor was simply that he would educate us along the ride. He would tell us of the natives and scenery as it were appearing before us.

 

It was interesting, and very personal.  In Anchorage we changed conductors and the second man was even nicer than the first. After departing Anchorage, passengers from other cars started to stir and enter into our car. Once they realized this was the car to be in, they stayed for the duration of the tour. The time passed by enormously fast.

Once in Talkeetna we had an alternative to either spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon in town, or get on a bus and be taken to our resort. We choose to explore the town.

Every year during the month of July, for 2 days they celebrate the ‘Moose Droppings Festival’. It is exactly what it sounds like. A local pilot flies over a target that is made by the locals and whom ever’s moose poop hits closest to the bulls eye wins. What is moose poop worth? Nothing, but honorary mention that you have the best moose poop in town!

Stubbs the Mayor

We were introduced to Stubbs. Stubbs is the official, unofficial mayor of Talkeetna. Stubbs is a cat. The story goes that way back when (15 years ago), someone hand wrote Stubbs’s name on the ballet for mayor being not so happy with the human candidates. It caught on quickly and soon everyone was voting for him. Stubbs has been the mayor ever since. Perhaps we should do the same for our Presidential Election!!!

Main Street is all of one football field long and very, very aged. It is unquestionably well preserved. It is all in its original state. The hotel, the Fairview Inn was built in 1923 and still rents rooms. In the lobby of the hotel is a bar. Initially it was the only bar for hundreds of miles and would attract hunters all winter long.

Across the street from the hotel is the one and only general store. It is called Nagley’s Store. It was owned and run by Horace Nagley. It has been dismantled and reconstructed 2 separate times in order to move the building to where the business would be most profitable. It was laid permanently where it now stands in 1945.

At the top of the main street on the North end is the river. It is glacier fed and runs at about 15 knots all year long. It is ice cold and there is no way you could swim it at the pace it was moving. When we initially reached the beach part of the river and glanced to our right we were stunned.

Where Baca and Tessa rest

There was Mount Denali, in full view! We were told numerous times by several different people that the mountain only shows itself an average of 120 days a year. Because of its height, 20,320 feet, it generates cloud covering constantly. We were lucky! It was beautiful and clear. It also was very chilly.

view from our room Mt. McKinley

Friends of ours, Roy and Kim, had deposited ashes of their two dogs, Baca, and Tessa along this river next to a huge log that we sat on for a picture. We sent them the picture and told them that their beloved babies said hi. I think they were pleased.

Eventually we headed back to town and stopped in a more recently constructed family style restaurant. We had indigenous cuisine and of course, seafood chowder. It was delectable.

great restaurant

Somewhere around 3pm we started the walk back to the bus station and headed to our resort. After checking in, we toured the grounds. Mount McKinley/Mount Denali was still visible from the resort. We settled in and had dinner at one of the restaurants in the lodge called 20,320, (the height of the mighty mountain).

If you recall the TV show Northern Lights, you might be interested to know it was based (loosely) on the residents of Talkeetna and several episodes were actually filmed there.

peak information

The day was complete. We were up at 5:00am (not by choice), and settled in for the night around 10pm. tomorrow we will explore some more. Thanks for reading. BTW, yes, it’s very cold!

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

September 9, 2012

Glacier Bay National Park, AK

Incredible!  Untamed! Untouched!  Phenomenal! Does not even come close to describing this massive waterway that is called Glacier Bay!!!

I know the pictures will do no righteousness for the ice itself, but take my word for it…. it is truly, truly amazingly hard to believe it is not a painted canvas wall that the Captain has placed around the entire ship in order to take your breath away.

pulling into the bay

Glaciers are developed when snow, layers itself on top of a previous layer. The snow packs itself. Eventually (decades) the layers of compressed snow slowly become ice.  

The glaciers can move over 5 feet a day. Gravity gradually causes the glacier to slowly slither down the mountains toward the sea.  As the glacier meets the sea, huge shards of the ice break away from the main glacier and crash into the sea to become icebergs.  This process is called “calving”.

iceburg

 This is a massive image and sound. Calving occurs frequently in the summer months, and a few times an hour from tidewater changes. The tides changes some days in excess of 30 feet.

We were privileged to witness this event. The collapse was thunderous.  It happened virtually in unhurried motion. The splash went approximately 100 feet in the air.

Mendenhall Glacier

The hues were an iridescent azure and jade. It was as if someone beamed a light all through the inside of the ice. Purely extraordinary!  When light hits highly compacted ice, long wavelength colors (reds) are absorbed, while short wavelength colors (blues) reflect back through the ice to your eyes. It was solely natural with no instigating, no human touch, no man made explosives, merely nature at its finest!

Just as the ice fell

Nothing can compare to the sense of scale and magnificence of the massive ice wall, and the incredible sound when it calves.

The captain had announced to us that the weather was clear enough to enter the bay to its furthest northern point. He said he was not able to do this on his last 3 passes. We were extremely fortunate.

Glacier just before calving 

Once at the turnaround point the captain idled the ship and Kathy Slamp, the naturalist, came across the PA. She informed us of how every peak was named and why.  Again, she was extremely boring and monotone, but I did get some good and accurate facts out of her commentary.    

(click on the arrow for an awesome video of a calving - not my video but really cool anyway)

The vessel was first stopped with the Starboard side facing north. After one hour had passed, it was turned completely around so the Port side was facing north. This permitted every person on the ship to have maximum view of the entire bay. It was dazzling how the captain turned on a dime, with little to no motion. He made a complete circle with 965 feet of the liner.  It was very impressive.

The water was still; the sounds were silent except for the occasional calving and the ooohhhs and ahhhss from the passengers.

It was as if being on another planet – all-alone in the universe. It was something I will never, ever forget. It is vastly remote. There was an undeclared period of silence amongst the passengers. It was surreal.

Once leaving the bay we headed towards College Fjord.  We were in Glacier Bay from 6:00am to 3:00pm and College Fjord from 5:30pm to 8:30 pm.

While in College Fjord we saw more whales. Momma and baby Orcas, along with humpbacks. Humpback whales are the whales you often see on calendars and postcards. They are the whales that have the cool looking tails. Every tail is unique. They look the same from a distance but every single humpback whale has its own marking/notch. Their tails are somewhat like a fingerprint to humans.

We also saw a lot of seals playing in the icy waters. . They seemed to be entertaining us for their own amusement. There were at least 20 of them all doing the backstroke and all looking towards the ship. They were adorable.

Once again, after dinner we participated in the on ship entertainment. Tonight was vodka tasting in the Explorers Lounge. It was interesting to learn the different processing techniques and distilling of vodkas from around the world. And yes, they gave out 4 different types of samples…why do you think I went? LOL.

It was a full day of sightseeing and not leaving the ship. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. We sailed again during the night hours and by 1:00am we were in port at Whittier.

This port ended our 7-day cruise and started our 7 day land tour. Thanks so much for reading and enjoy the pictures because on this last day of cruising I decided to catch up with the laundry and actually washed my camera. The rest of the trip is pictures taken on my cell phone. J