Denali National Park

Today was the day we'd been looking forward to. A day in Denali National Park. It started off the right way with a moose and her newborn walking along the riverbank right next to where we were staying. We were very excited and couldn't wait to get on the bus and look for more wildlife in the national park.

Staying two nights in Denali National Park gave us a full day plus a half day before we headed north to Fairbanks.
You aren't allowed to take your private vehicle into the park unless you are there camping for three nights or more (it reduces traffic in the park). The only other way to explore the park is one one of the many tour buses that run out of the Denali village. We took the Kantishna Roadhouse trip which takes a full 12 hours and goes further into the park than any others.
The weather looked nice and clear which was a good omen. We didn't see much in the way of animals for the first part of the trip, but we did see what only 30% of visitors to the park actually get to see... Mt McKinley (above & below). It was so clear! It's a white giant that towers above the surrounding mountains of the Alaska Range. It's deceptive, but Mt McKinley is about 50kms beyond the camera lens verses maybe 10kms to the darker range of hills in the foreground.

Finally! Some animals! There was a fox den up on a hill some distance away from the road. There were four kits and one of the adults. The kits were playing up big time, chasing each other and tumbling around. These foxes look like the road kill you see back in Australia (feral European foxes), but they're a slightly different animal and no where near as common. In fact they're protected.

Eventually the animal watching got interesting. It seemed at every turn there was something different. As we were driving along one of the rocky escarpments, this hoary marmot came out of his hidy hole almost on cue. These guys normally live above the tree line in the mountains and are the largest of the ground squirrel family. Apparently he likes having his photo taken.

Not long after our run in with the Marmot, we came across a Horned Owl's nest. I've spent a lot of time around Calgary looking for owls without much success. To see one in it's nest with two chicks was really something.

This is a pretty typical view along the road into Denali National Park with the Alaska Range as a backdrop and the tundra valley in the foreground.

Denali National Park was originally created to protect the Dall Sheep population. They're a whiter scrawnier version of the Big Horn Sheep that live in Canada. We didn't see any males with the big horns, but saw many ewes with very young lambs.

Finally! We spotted a Grizzly way down in the valley. It hardly counted because it was so far away, but it was still the bear that we'd come to see.

The bear sightings did get better. Not long after we'd seen the first one, this one suddenly appeared on the road. Unfortunately the other 30 people on the bus all stood up and made it nearly impossible to see. Kerri managed to snap this one by hanging half her body out the window. Wildlife spotting isn't much fun in big groups of people, but you don't really have a choice in Denali. The interesting thing about Denali Grizzlies is that they are much smaller than their coastal relatives. This is because they eat very little meat and they have a much shorter time from to eat and get fat for the long winter. The lack of protein is also responsible for their paler coats.

This was a better opportunity to get close to the animals. This red fox was actually using the bus as mobile cover so that he could hunt ground squirrels. Cunning those foxes. He was quite the photogenic little fellow as well. You can see the difference in coat colour to the mainly orange of the den family shown previously.

Among all the park mammals there was also an abundance of bird life. This male ptarmigan was quite unlike most of the skittish ones we'd seen during the day and seemed quite happy to sit there and have his photo taken.

Although the park wasn't over run by Caribou, there were a few about. Unfortunately they were quite far off, so having a good look at them wasn't an option. At least we saw them.

At the end of the road into Denali national park is the Kantishna Road House. It's not the road house in the way you would think (petrol station with dining room) but more of a supplies out post. We were fed lunch and then treated to a dog sled demonstration. 

Pulling a sled just doesn't work in summer, so they run the dogs in front of an ATV. The dogs get so excited when they know they're going for a run. They have so much energy! Kerri was thinking very seriously about sneaking one back with us in the bus.

The drive back to Denali Village wasn't as exciting as the morning had been it was 3pm by the time we left the roadhouse and I think fatigue from the not especially comfortable bus had the better of many. The clouds started to creep in and Mt McKinley's peak had been swallowed (above). The interesting thing about the photo above is that the giant ramp is in fact a glacier. THe dirt & rock has been gouged from the mountain valley is came from.

We saw lots of Dall Sheep on the way back and some even let us get close.

Just as we were exiting the park, we saw a moose. We'd expected to see many throughout the day but had come up empty handed. This one was right next to the bus. It had been a long but rewarding day.

The Denali Star

After our somewhat wet sojourn to coastal Alaska, we returned to Anchorage for the night. We had a nice meal at Humpy's again and took an early night in lieu of an early start the next day.
Or next leg of the journey involved a 465 kilometre trip on Alaska Railroad's Denali Star(above). The journey would take us took us north of Anchorage along side Cook inlet, the Sustina River and through Broad pass (Alaska Range) on to Denali National Park. The train continues on to Fairbanks, but we (as most do) stopped in Denali for a couple of days.

After such a rewarding experience on the Rocky Mountaineer when we chose to go Gold leaf, we decided to take the equivalent option for this day tour. The Alaskan bi-level coaches have the open viewing deck on the top level instead of the bottom as for the Rocky Mountaineer (for the better).

Not long after clearing the outskirts of Anchorage (including an Air force base full of F15 Eagle jets) we encountered this sight, a train load of tanks and armored personnel carriers. Apparently, the military were mobilizing a battalion to Iraq. I've seen some military presence in the States (particularly in San Diego) but I hadn't expected to see any in the "remote wilderness" of Alaska. When you think of it, it makes sense. Those pesky commies are only just across the ditch to the west.

The further north we traveled, the prettier the scenery. On our right the Chugach Mountains (above), seemed to go on for ever. The mountains in Alaska are completely different to the Canadian Rockies. The Rockies were formed by tectonic plate collisions with sedimentary rock (sand stone). The mountains in Alaska are formed by volcanic activity and makes them look quite different.

The train stopped briefly at Talkeetna allowing us to stretch our legs and take in the scenery including our first glimpse of North America's tallest peak. Unfortunately it was just a glimpse because the trees were blocking the bottom half of the mountain and the clouds shrouding the top. It wouldn't be too long before we'd get a better look.

To the left of the train the Cook inlet gave way to the Sustina river (above) near the Talkeetna stop. The Sustina River runs from the northern part of the Alaska Range (Broad Pass) some 400kms south into Cook Inlet near Anchorage.

Beyond the Sustina river, the Alaska Range kept getting closer and more imposing. The range runs from just north of Anchorage (about 25 kms across Cook Inlet), 450 kms north east to Denali National Park, and beyond a little further.
About half way to Denali at Talkeetha, we finally caught our first good look look at the highest point in North America, Mt McKinley. At 6,193m (20,320 ft) it's pretty impressive considering we were pretty much at sea level. We should get much closer to this white giant during our coming incursion into the national park tomorrow.

North of Talkeetna, the Sustina River became steadily narrower, but valley it rand through became steeper and deeper making for some more interesting scenery.

Here's a side note about the crazy cruise boat tourists.
As I mentioned before, the big cruise ships disgorge there passengers and herd them onto day cruise boats and railway cars. Above are the silver/blue rail cars. They are actually owned by the cruise operators (Princess & Holland America). Alaska Railroad charge the cruise operators a bunch of money to haul their cars behind the Denali Star. Word has it that it is much cheaper to go it alone after the cruise and book direct with Alaskan Railroad. It seems to be a far more relaxed experience as well. As I mentioned above, we were in the double deck car so we could enjoy the view. It turns out that we needn't have bothered because the cattle class have dome cars that actually give you a better view because the seat backs are lower. (you don't have to keep standing up all the time). The Gold Star service wasn't nearly as good as the equivalent Canadian version. It was way cheaper than the R.M. and we didn't miss the service that much.

After a steep climb through the forest the train crossed over Hurricane Gulch (above & below).

Not far down the track, the Alaska Range started to become more prominent (on both sides) and the trees became more stunted and sparse. Eventually the trees pretty much disappeared all together. This kind of landscape (complete with submerged permafrost) is called Tundra. I was taken aback that the tundra was this far south. I figured you would only see it closer to the Arctic Circle. I guess we were close and were also fairly high up by that point.
Notice the mountains are black (unlike the grey in Canada) and have narrow grooves that run down to the base full of snow. They almost look like volcanoes (they once were) but with white lava. As usual the photos don't do it justice, but Broad Pass is a part of Alaska that shouldn't be missed. Remember that the main part of the Alaska Range was behind me when I took these photos.

After scanning the countryside for most of the day, Broad Pass was where we finally saw moose. It was a mother and her new calf walking along the shore of this lake (below).

As we neared the end of our journey for the day, the wet weather started to move in. The only other point of interest was Panorama Mountain (above) that is just to the south of our base for the next two nights, McKinley Park, located on the edge of Denali National Park.

Prince WIlliam Sound

After our stay in Seward, it was time to head north again, backtracking toward Anchorage. About two thirds of the way back we took a divert to Whittier as we had a wildlife & glacier cruise booked.

The problem with getting to Whittier is there's a single lane tunnel, and by single I mean one way. What this means is that it's West bound for 30 mins then East bound for 30 mins (in simple terms). To make things worse, the tunnel also has a railway track. It's a bit of a logistics nightmare considering the volume of road/rail freight and tourist traffic through this 4 km tunnel. They seem to have it pretty well under control though. For train nuts, there's a rail motor on one end of the train (below) and a conventional deisel loco on the other. The trains are fairly regular and have a big hand in moving the hoards of cruise ship passengers to Anchorage where they are redistributed to either the airport or elsewhere in Alaska.

After negotiating the tunnel we popped out at Whittier. It's a tinny little town with a big marina & a small container port. The rain was torrential & had been since about half way from Seward. We were already sick of the incessant drizzle & showers, only for it to get heavier & more consistent. Alaska was really starting to get us down.

Despite the weather, we boarded the cruise boat with 150 other tourists and tried to think positive. The cruise took us to another kittywake rookery (above) and then near a salmon farm. The salmon farm is a non-profit organization and its main purpose is to boost the wild salmon populations. The also do scientific research. The salmon had started to run that day and we saw some of them jumping. The predators knew too. The bald eagles were hanging around waiting for easy pickings.

There were also a few otters in the inlet. This guy (above) was just kicking back, cracking shellfish on his belly. It's hard to believe Sea Otters were only recently an endangered species considering how many we saw. And they're so damn cute!

The boat cruise took us close to a few glaciers, but none bigger than Cox Glacier (above). If you look closely you can see one of the larger cruise boats in front Cox Glacier (it's the small dark shape next to the dark island in the centre of shot). It really puts the glacier's shear size into perspective. Unfortunately, the weather made it impossible to take nice photos.

 Our cruise took us up to Surprise Glacier. It was much smaller than Cox Glacier, but by no means less spectacular. The weather wasn't exactly helpful, as you can see by the gear Kerri's wearing, but it backed off enough for us to get a good look. Surprise Glacier is usually pretty active in that chunks of it carve off and fall into the water. Unfortunately it wasn't so co-operative for us. A tiny little chunk fell off, but it wasn't especially spectacular.
Glaciers always have a blue tint to them and this one is a classic example (see below). Apparently the ice is so dense that most light is absorbed in the glacier and it's only the high energy blue part of the spectrum is able to escape again. Hence the blue glaciers. End of science lesson....

The water near the glacier was littered with little (and some bigger) ice bergs.

After a fairly uninspiring cruise for the most part (except for the glacier) the boat was heading back to Whittier when we saw this sight. There were four Bald Eagles fighting over a carcass on a little ice burg. The captain pulled up and let us watch for a bit. It was a rare treat and kind of made up for the poor weather and lack of wildlife (particularly absence of whales).

We didn't hang around in Whittier after the cruise. The rain had started to really hammer down and there's not much to do. So we headed back through the tunnel (after having to wait for the next train to go through), and made our way back to Anchorage for a nice warm shower.