July 21--Denali Tours

During the train trip to Denali, Alan and Joyce had talked to the Princess representative about the possibility of exchanging the included Experiencing Denali tour for the Natural History Tour that would travel further into Denali. Later in the trip the representative offered a morning tour of Denali that another group had booked but decided not to complete. Alan and Joyce were interested and asked for details of how they should reimburse the other tourists. They were told the other people didn’t want to go because the tour began at 7 a.m. and weren’t being offered reimbursement so the tour was available at no cost if we wanted it. There were four tickets so Forst and Louise could also go. Forst and Louise declined, but Alan and Joyce were very eager for more time in the Denali National Park. A free tour was an added bonus!!

Alan and Joyce started the day with a breakfast buffet at the lodge. As we sat down with our food we were treated to a slide show and commentary with breathtaking views of Mt. McKinley many of them from the perspective of climbers. As we watched and listened, a man sat down beside us and talked to us about the pictures. We discovered the pictures we were seeing were his and he, Laurent Dick, had successfully climbed the mountain three times. He spent several minutes answering our questions and describing what it is like to climb the mountain. Laurent commented that the Denali National Park is larger than his whole home country of Switzerland! We learned that Mt. McKinley is the most challenging mountain in the world, because there is more mountain to climb. Base camp where climbers begin their ascent is located at only about 7,000 feet which is a lower altitude than where climbers start on Mt. Everest. We finished our breakfast and as we were paying we noticed the DVD we had been watching was for sale. We bought one and Laurent signed it for us.

We boarded the bus for our tour and drove a few miles to Denali National Park, 6 million acres of wilderness, approximately the size of Connecticut. We started the tour by watching a movie about the early days in the 1920’s when the national park was created. We saw pictures of the early visitors and facilities. After the movie we boarded the bus and drove into the park. We saw caribou grazing in a river bed and trumpeter swans on a pond during our bus ride. We stopped and walked a trail to a small cabin that is used in the winter by the rangers and dog sled teams as they patrol the park. The window shutters had long nails protruding from them to discourage bears from attempting to gain entrance to the cabin. During our walk our guides pointed out various native plants and flowers. Moose and snow hares eat willow and we saw abundance evidence of both on the willow in the area.

We again boarded the bus and drove about 17 miles into the park to a vast valley with the wide meandering Savage River bed and tall mountains on both sides of us. We walked into the valley a short distance and met an native Athabascan elder who spoke to us about the customs of her people and the importance of the land. She sang a native song for us. She welcomed pictures but asked that we not shoot video of her. It was sunny and windy.

It was at this viewing spot that we were able to see about a third of Mt. McKinley. The rest of the mountain was covered by clouds. It was great to see even a third of it as it rises high above the other mountains and is completely snow covered. We were reminded once again of the rare privelege to see the mountain at all; the vast majority of the visitors to the interior of Alaska never see it at all.

As we neared the Savage River on our way back we spotted two or three Dall sheep on a small hill above the river. Our guide was very surprised to see them there instead of on steep mountain sides. Grazing in the meadow they were very vulnerable to their primary predators, the wolves. Thankfully we didn’t see any wolves stalking them so we watched them several minutes and then proceeded on our way.

Alan and Joyce got back to the Princess Lodge about 45 minutes before the included Denali Natural History tour was to begin. We decided to walk across the street to Subway to get some lunch before the tour. While in line, Forst called Joyce to let her know they were getting ready to catch the shuttle to the main lodge building as that was where the tour would depart from. Joyce took their Subway order so she and Alan could take lunch back to them. While Joyce was talking to Forst, the woman behind us in line had noticed Alan’s Purdue shirt and being an IU fan had to comment. They began talking and discovered this woman and her husband were in Alaska from Zionsville on a mission trip to Girnwood, near Whittier. They had taken a couple days off to visit Denali. Alan used the opportunity to offer DANI projects for future mission trips!

Alan and Joyce took the Subway back to the main lodge building, met Forst and Louise and ate lunch in the spacious lobby area. Forst and Louise had taken a tour to a sled dog facility and were excited about all they had learned about the Iditarod and sled dogs.

After lunch, we all boarded the bus and went back into Denali. We didn’t go quite as many miles into the park on this tour. We had only driven a short distance when we spotted several moose grazing in the river bed. It looked to be a male, female and youth moose.

After watching the moose for a while, we continued on and stopped for a nature walk. Forst and Louise decided to stay on the bus with the driver and another couple. We walked for about an hour back to the Savage River bed. We saw many native plants, one poisonous plant that eating one leaf could kill a man in about an hour. We viewed bear and caribou scat (poop), bear tracks and lots of evidence on the plants of moose and snow hares eating the leaves and bark. Our guide had bear, moose, caribou and dall sheep hides for us to feel and Dall sheep horns and caribou antlers to hold as she talked to us about each animal. She had statistics about the relationships between the increases and decreases in population of the various animals in the park. We learned about the tracking of wolves and the collars put on the alpha male or female of the pack that allows the wolves to be tracked and studied. It was a beautiful day to be walking in an awe-inspiring place with an abundance of natural beauty in every direction one looked. The sky could not have been any bluer (sorry Seattle!) Alan and Joyce were very thankful they had the opportunity to spend most of the day in Denali.

After a short visit to the visitor center where we saw a short film with scenes of Denali National Park and its animals in each of the four seasons, it was time to board the bus to travel to the Mt. McKinley Lodge about two hours away. When we arrived at the Mt. McKinley Lodge there was a fine mist falling. We were given our room keys and found our luggage already in the room. Our rooms were in a building much closer to the main lodge, so it was a short walk to dinner. The Mt. McKinley lodge was quiet and secluded with the closest town being Talkeetna about an hour away.

We ate dinner at the 20320, which is the height of Mt. McKinley. Alan and Joyce again took advantage of the opportunity to eat fresh-caught wild Alaskan salmon.

After dinner, Forst and Louise returned to their room and Joyce and Alan explored the main lodge. There was wi-fi access in the lobby sitting areas so we took the lab top over to take advantage to it. There were also four computers for guest use with suggested 15 minute use times. Joyce took a turn and looked at email. Alan and Joyce considered a float trip on the Talkeetna and Susitna rivers. The weather forecast called for rain and they weren’t certain they wanted to float down a river in the rain. They checked the details at the tour desk and decided to sleep on it before booking the tour.