After disembarking from the Sapphire Princess in Whittier, we boarded the McKinley Explorer train to the Mt McKinley area. See pic below of the domed rail car we were in.
Mt McKinley is part of the Alaska Range and is the highest mountain in North America (20,320 ft high). It is called Denali in the local Indian language, which means "the high one" or "the great one".
Before arriving at our accommodation, we stopped in Talkeetna, a frontier town which began over 100 years ago as a supply station for miners and trappers. Historic buildings line the one main street and many locals still live in log cabins. See pic below of Gail and friends at the Talkeetna sign.
Talkeetna is still the nearest town to Denali and is the organising point for expeditions to climb the mountain. See pic below of the ranger station where climbers must register.
We stayed at the Mt McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. On the main deck of the lodge we watched an educational presentation about a resident bald eagle which was found injured and is now in a refuge. See pics below of the lodge and the bald eagle.
One day we did a 4 hour rafting trip down the Chulitna River. We had to wear layers of waterproof and warm clothing which seemed excessive but because of the extreme cold turned out to be needed. See pics below of us prepared and ready to start the trip with our guide Ginger.
We saw some wildlife eg a bald eagle and some bald eagle nests. Along the river banks we saw many instances of "beaver chew" (where beavers chew into the tree trunk, and the tree eventually falls). See pic below of beaver chew, and pic of rafts passing a camp site. The raft trip really gave us an experience of the Alaskan wilderness.
We took the McKinley Explorer train again to our next accommodation at the entrance to Denali National Park. This train consists of carriages owned by various companies, eg Holland America and Princess, as well as older standard carriages. See pic below of the train, and a view from the train.
We stayed at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. See pic below of the deck of the lodge overlooking the Nenana River, which has views of the Alaska Range. Also a pic of other parts of the lodge.
We did a "Husky Homestead" tour, which took us to the home of Iditarod champion Jeff King. This dog sled race runs for 1100 miles from Anchorage to Nome each year. We heard about husky training and life in rural Alaska. See pics below of Gail with husky puppy, Jeff and some huskies, and the clothing he wears in the race.
We did a 4 hour natural history tour in Denali National Park with very knowledgeable guide. The area was made a National Park to preserve the endangered Dall sheep. See pics below of the tundra landscape, and some of the wildlife we saw (a mother moose with two calves,and a porcupine). This sort of wildlife photography is challenging, eg the moose pic was taken through a glass bus window at maximum zoom, hence the lower quality of the pic.
Near the lodge is a row of shops which only operate in the summer. For the rest of the year they are boarded up. We ate at the Salmon Bake, which has been a local landmark since 1984 (see pic below). We tried halibut tacos, one of the local specialities.
We took a coach from Denali to Fairbanks, and on the way had a view of Mt McKinley - see pic below. It is unusual to see the mountain, as it is often hidden in cloud.
Fairbanks is Alaska's second largest city, but the downtown area we saw was unattractive. The city has the greatest temperature range of any city in the world (90 degrees F in summer, -70 degrees F in winter). It was fairly warm when we were there, despite being not far from the Arctic Circle.
We went straight to the riverboat landing for a cruise on the Chena River in a sternwheeler riverboat. Before boarding the boat, we went into the "Below 40 degrees sub zero experience". This involves standing for a few seconds in a room at this temperature. See pic of Gail in this room, and Don near the riverboat.
From the riverboat we saw small planes in the driveways along the river bank - see pic below. One in 60 Alaskans is a licensed pilot. We also saw a floatplane demonstrate takeoff and landing. These plans can land on wheels, floats or skis (when river is frozen solid). See pic below.
Many homes along the river bank were sizeable homes built in traditional log cabin style. Alaskans can build any sort of house they want. See house pic below.
The cruise stipped at the home of Iditarod winner Susan Butcher. We saw a demonstration of huskies enthusiastically pulling a small all-terrain vehicle around a track. This is summer training for the Iditarod race. See pic below.
The last stop on the riverboat cruise was an Athabascan Indian village, which we walked around. The Athabascan depended on the caribou. Before contact with Europeans, they made their tents of caribou hide. See pics of caribou and a traditional tent.
The Indians used the bark of birch trees to make canoes and baskets. See pic of baby basket with moss inside which was used instead of a nappy.
An Athabascan girl modelled a winter parka called a "sunshine ruff" (because of the way the furry hood encircled the face). See pic below.
Various animal hides used by the Athabascans were on display. See pic of Gail with grizzly bear hide.
Also at the village we saw an ingenious salmon harvesting machine - a water wheel which scooped salmon out of the river, and heard about the process of smoking salmon. See pics below of the machine, and salmon hanging outside on drying racks.
At Fairbanks we stayed at the River's Edge Resort, which consists of lovely little cottages along the river bank. See pic below.
An interesting aspect of travel in high latitudes is the long length of day in summer. Hence the phrase "land of the midnight sun". Plenty of time for sightseeing.
We left Fairbanks on an Alkaska Airlines flight to Vancouver via Seattle. From the plane we had good view of glaciers and snow-covered mountains - see pic below.
The next part will cover our drive to the Rocky Mountains.
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