Alaska: Day 2 - Train to Denali National Park

Our tour officially started with a 5:30 AM wakeup call to get our luggage out into the hallway.  Thankfully, Anchorage’s time zone is an hour behind Vancouver’s, so it was not quite as dreadful as it sounds,  By 7:00 AM, we were joined by a large group of fellow travellers assembled in the lobby, waiting to board busses down to the train station for an eight our ride to Denali Natiional Park.

A small engine on display just outside the train station. Thankfully, that's NOT the train we took!-->

We were accompanied by Linda, our tour guide on the train, who helped keep us awake by talking about places we passed through, like Wasilla, Sarah Palin's home town.  It’s hard to imagine this woman, whose photo we found plastered on posters and 2011 calendars (printed by her husband’s company)and found in tourist gift shops  across Alaska, started out by winning the race in 1996 to become mayor of this town of 26,000 people.  She won by 200 votes.   But, our guide told us, Wasilla has a reputation for people with egos that are larger than life. “People here say that you can see everything in Alaska here – glaciers, sledding, hiking.... so why should anyone really want to visit anywhere else?”.  To prove her point, she said, “just spell Wasilla backwards... you’ll se what I mean”.

Of course, if you visit there, you might want to avoid the Mug Shot Saloon, unless you are really brave.   “That’s where“, our guide explained “on Thursdays, you get mugged, Fridays you get shot, and Saturdays  is “ladies night”.









Along the way, we learned about Iditarod, a remarkable dog sled relay held every year in Alaska.  Created to honor dog sledders relaying across from Anchorage in south central Alaska to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of twelve to sixteen dogs and their musher must cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. Each team on their relay stretch travels approximately 53 miles to the next point.

The race commemorates the delivery of serum via dog sled in 1925 to help fight a diptheria epidemic. At that time, each dog team working in a relay with 20 mail carriers, travelled day and night in what became a national event.  One dog, “Togo”, the lead dog that has now entered the annals of Alaska folklore, traveled 300 miles.  In memory of this event, the race now has 20 checkpoints, requiring checkins with organizers and veterinarians.  Like the Tour de France (and in an event that can easily rank on that scale for endurance), there have been many notable heros since the race began in 1973. Susan Butcher, a pretty tough gal, became a four-time Iditarod champion, and the first to win four out of five successive years.  Once, she took her dogs to the top of Mount McKinley. The current champion is Lance Mackey, also a four-time champion is trying to make Alaskan history this year by winning five years in a row. 

There's lots of wildlife here. We passed by Sandhill cranes, an Osprey nest on a telephone pole with a mother tending its young, and later, Houston,  the sight of one forest fire in 1996 that became one of the largest in Alaska.  

The trees we saw up here were short, due to ‘discontinuous’ permafrost that prevents tree roots from extending very far, stunting growth.  These trees are called “Taiga” forest trees, due to their proximity in the "Taiga" region, also known as the boreal forest, characterized by coniferous forests. So, our guide said, in Alask we can truthfully say we saw “Taiga Woods”.

As the train moved through Alaska's rugged countryside, we took turns going downstairs to breakfast and later lunch in the coach dining room, meeting several couples who shared meals with us.  Carl and Beatrice, who live in Miami, had come from Cuba at the time Castro came to power in the early 1960's.  Like many other immigrants, they had thought, on arriving in Maimi, that they would be back home within six months.  Fifty miles away and fifty years later, they still feel how close Cuba is, but have never returned.  Florida is now their home, together with their children and grandchildren.

Our train finally pulled into the train station where busses waited to transport us to a rustic but comfortable resort on the edge of Denali National Forest.  

We checked in, then immediately set about renting bikes so that we could start exploring Denali. It was so good to stretch our legs!  

Our initial goal was simply to ride up one of the roads leading into the park.  We arrived at the park Visitor’s campus to find the place deserted.  It had closed at 6:30 PM, minutes after we had entered the park.  All was not lost, however.  A park ranger pointed us towards a free shuttle bus with bike racks that was leaving, with minutes to spare, for Savage Creek, about 15 miles into the park.  We piled our bikes on the rack and set off on an adventure.

As we traveled along, the driver pointed out sights along the way... a moose in the bush below... a caribou in the distance... the wild life is plentiful up here, and the countryside – truly spectacular. 

We arrived at Savage creek, where Brian, a young park ranger, met us at a check-in station.  Savage Creek is the last place where private vehicles are allowed to drive. Beyond this, only licensed drivers and bus operators are allowed to proceed. 

Savage Creek -->

The park, in fact, limits the total number of vehicles to just over 10,000 per year, which, in practical terms due to weather, covers a three month period from June to August.  Most of these vehicles are tour buses where tourists are carefully managed. Picture taking can only take place from inside the bus, and, while the bus stops frequently, passengers are only allowed

Our driver took us up the hill from Save Creek, where Hilary and I disembarked and rode downhill through the wide valley,back to  Visitor’s Campus.  


Along the way, we came across a van parked beside the road, where a small group were clustered around a high powered telescope.  “Come take a look!”, one of them called over to us.  We peered through the telescope to see a beautiful bull moose, the setting sun glancing off his massive antlers, in the field below the highway.   It was an extraordinary site. Here was a massive animal living securely in his home, unaware or at least unconcerned he was being watched from a distance. 


What a great start to our visit in Denali.  Riding home on our bikes, feeling the fresh cold air, we felt in touch with the forest, the animals living here, and something of this vast Alaskan wilderness.