Denali, Alaska

Monday, 20 Aug 2018 – This morning we attached our newly printed Princess luggage tags and sat out our luggage at 6:25 AM; then we went to the dining room for breakfast at about 7:30 AM, sitting on the opposite side of the restaurant from usual.  Our server was Kari, who was enrolled at a local college.  After breakfast, we squeezed our remaining belongings into our two small suitcases and went outdoors at 10:00 AM to board our bus to Denali.  Our driver (Robyn) was a slim, young lady – who looked much too young and slight to be driving such a big bus!  She assured us that although she was small in stature, she was very capable.  About half way to Denali, we stopped at a gift shop to use restrooms; however, many of us also purchased some of their very nice souvenirs.

          At about 1:00 PM we arrived at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge.  As we arrived, we happened to see our friends, Val and Ed.  They were just leaving for their afternoon excursion.  We discussed possibly meeting at the Lodge’s theater for dinner and a show.

The lodge was split into several separate two-level buildings, more reminiscent of small condos than a lodge.  Each building was numbered with a letter; our room was in building “P,” and was located a little distance from the road.  

After dropping off our luggage, we went to the Lynx Creek Pizza Restaurant located on the Lodge grounds for calzones (which were very good).  There were several other restaurants and shops located across the road – even some kind of marijuana shop (apparently marijuana is legal in Alaska).  Sally soon lay down for a nap to make up for sleeping very little the previous night.  During that time, Jesse went out looking for a replacement jacket for Sally.  Being the “shopper” in the family, he checked out every shop in area!  After all that, he ended up buying one on sale at the lodge which Sally had tried on earlier.  The jacket is black with white trim, has “ALASKA” on the front in small white lettering, and is reversible.

          Tonight we went to the Music of Denali Dinner Theater with Val and ED, which is on the Denali lodge premises.  The food was bountiful, served family style: lots of salmon, browned potatoes, succotash, apple crisp with whipped topping, and iced tea.  The “Music of Denali Dinner Show” was a musical comedy, with 3 guys and 3 gals, very nicely performed.  Cost was $69.95 per person.  We had a great time!

          This time our room included a tub in the bathroom instead of a handicapped shower; we enjoyed hot baths before bed.

Tuesday, 21 Aug 2018 – Val and Ed left again this morning in a bus bound for Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, so again we went about on our own.  We walked through the rain across the road to the Black Bear Coffee House for brunch.  Although this seemed to be mostly a take-out place, there were some tables available.  We ate tacos with cheese, potatoes, and bacon, plus pancakes with berry sauce and syrup.  Not bad, actually!

          This afternoon, we were scheduled for a 4-hour Denali Natural History Tour.  At 1:30 PM, our driver/naturalist guide Aaron, picked up our group in front of the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge.  He was originally from “north of Peoria,” Illinois, which is true for Sally, too.  (Sally asked him for details; Aaron is from Bradford, which is 36 miles from Sally’s birthplace.)  His enthusiasm and love for Alaska shone through all of his comments.  Denali National Park and Preserve is centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America.  The park and preserve encompass 6,045 acres, which is larger than the state of New Hampshire.  More than one-third of the park was established as Denali Wilderness.

Private cars are not allowed in the park past a certain point.  Visitors wishing to tour the park must board a “blue bus,” or “green bus” if they are interested in hiking.  The hikers may get on and off the “green bus” at various locations.  Snow machines are illegal, and sled dogs are used to patrol the area.  The area we were visiting was taiga, which is forest located in far northern regions, consisting mainly of firs, pines, and spruces and some deciduous trees, such as birches and aspen.  (The land between areas of trees is the tundra.)

Aaron told us that this was the first day of fall, which lasts for about 7 days; it could snow any day now (but probably will not quite yet).  He could see chlorophyll draining away from vegetation.  Very importantly, the fireweed bloom casts the date for winter: the saying is that once the fireweed blooms to the top and goes to seed, winter will arrive 6 weeks later.  Therefore, winter was imminent.  Although the growing season here is only 12 weeks, the long days of sunlight make up for its being so short. 

This is taiga forest, which is prime moose habitat.  Moose were now eating 40 pounds of food per day, and are the biggest in Alaska of anywhere in the world.  The moose rutting season was just beginning. A wild bear is fast, with the ability to cover 50 yards in 3 seconds!  However, Aaron told us that a female deer with a calf can be more dangerous than a grizzly bear.  Wolves roam the park and have had a positive effect on its environment, for example by culling out cold, sick, and injured sheep, making the sheep population stronger overall.

At one point, we got off the bus to visit Savage Cabin, the original cook’s cabin in the Park’s first tourist camp, and still a ranger patrol cabin used by the Park Service.  We walked through a wooded area to get to the cabin.  There, a ranger gave us a presentation detailing her duties.  From her description, a ranger’s life is not easy, and a ranger must obviously love nature and dogs, since their sled dogs are their main companions during the long winters.  After taking photos and saying our goodbyes to the ranger, we went for a long walk through wooded areas back to our bus.  The pathway was paved, with many poster displays along the route. 

As the bus continued to climb upward, the temperature was dropping by 4 degrees every 1,000 feet.  We saw a caribou from a distance.  By the way, the “caribou” in North America is a “reindeer” in Europe – they are the same species.  The Alaskan female caribou grows antlers, as does the male; the male sheds his rack after rutting but the female keeps hers all winter.  Antlers grow very fast because of the long daylight period.

Ravens are plentiful in Alaska and intelligent.  Aaron joked that the last 3 survivors on earth will be ravens, cayotes, and cockroaches!

At one point, we stopped to see/hear a presentation by an Athabascan Alaskan Native interpreter, sharing the story of Alaskan natives in Denali, and how they survived thousands of years in this harsh wilderness.  We left the bus and climbed a small incline to see her, though she spoke softly and Sally couldn’t hear her.  Although hunting and trapping are prohibited in the park, limited subsistence hunting and trapping is allowed for the few Athabaskans who consider this their home.

Because the day was overcast (and raining by the later part of our tour), we couldn’t see many mountains.  Sally had seen the weather forecast almost a week ahead of time, which indicated rain for this part of our Alaska visit and it proved to be accurate.  Aaron (and other guides as well) told us that the highest mountains create their own weather, so that it is often raining on them, anyway, making it impossible to see the peak. Not many people succeed in climbing Denali because of its near-Arctic conditions.  Denali has been described as “the coldest mountain in the world,” with record temperatures of -60̊ F, wind gusts of 100 miles per hour, and wind chills down to -100̊.  Only one day in three is storm-free.

 Aaron said that if we had come two weeks earlier, the weather here would have been sunnier, but clouds of mosquitoes would have been everywhere.  (Someone was said to have killed 18 mosquitoes at one time a few years ago when he slapped his hand on his arm.)  He informed us that there are 35 species of mosquitoes in Alaska!  Jesse saw only a couple of mosquitoes; Sally didn’t see any.

          The most important change taking place now in this wilderness is in global warming.  Alaska as a whole warmed by 3̊ F in the last 60 years; this is twice as fast as temperatures are rising in the lower 48 states.  Although glaciers cover 16 percent of the park, nearly all of them are now thinning and retreating.  [This makes Sally want to return to Alaska to see more!]

          By the time our bus turned around to head back to the park’s entrance, it was raining pretty hard.  Our last photos were of rain running down the bus windows!

          It was 5:30 PM when we returned to the Denali lodge.  After a while, we went again to the Lynx Creek Pizza.  This time, some pizza slices were available, which we ate in addition to salad.  After that, Jesse asked someone at the front desk of the lodge to make copies of our Princess luggage tags for our smaller suitcases (because any luggage taken on the train must fit under the seat).  Since we forgot to use today’s $5 coupon for the pizza, we used it to buy two huge chocolate chip cookies.