Day 9
Up at 5AM and the wind and rain are pummelling the cruise ship. We finished up our packing and went up to the Horizon Court for our last breakfast on the cruise ship, then grabbed our carry on bags and went down to the Bordeaux Dining Room awaiting disembarkation. The train arrived a little late, so we grabbed a coffee and tea and settled down. Once the train arrived, we were shuffled out by car name. We were in the front car, seat 12. There was a small section of the dock that was covered by tarps and in that section the rain and wind were coming down so hard that the outside of my backpack got soaked. It was probably the only time during the whole trip that we truly needed rain coats. In the train car, things were much more comfortable. There was enough room for me to shove my backpack under the seat, but Doreen's carry on back was placed in a compartment below.
Once we got through the tunnel, the wind and rain slowed. By the time we got to Anchorage, the rain had stopped. The tour guide described a number of areas of importance as we traveled up to Denali, making the 8 hours pass quicker. The windows were quite clear as long as it wasn't raining, but trying to get by the reflections was difficult unless you put your camera right up to the window. There was an observation area right outside the seating section that was constantly full. There were 4 moose on the right and then another 3 moose on the left. I had to remember to put my camera in burst mode because the moose were passing by at 10 to 20mph. Halfway through the trip we went downstairs for lunch. We had to wait about 5 or 10 minutes to grab a table, but things progressed smoothly. I had reindeer stew in a bread bowl. Delicious. One thing we found out is that Doreen did not like sitting backwards while the train was moving, even with the patch on. In the upstairs seating area, all the seats face forward. The dining room is set up as tables. After 5 minutes, I had to switch seats with Doreen. Luckily, it did not bother me to sit backwards.
The Princess tour helper got on at Anchorage and handed out hotel keys and the excursion packages. Then she sat down with each group and explained the meal options, reviewed their excursions, arranged any new excursions and answered any additional questions. She was very well versed on the Princess options but knew very little about excursions not set up within Princess. For instance, the couple in front of us and I had set up our Denali shuttle bus through the park web site. When we asked about these, she had no knowledge of them. She claimed that we were the first ones to her knowledge that were doing this.
Anyway, we got into Denali at about 6PM. A bus wisked us to our hotel rooms. Our luggage was already their to greet us. We had an hour and a half before our excursion so we walked around the compound. The Princess Denali is a large hotel complex. There are at least a dozen buildings with rooms. Then there are 3 restaurant buildings and another couple of buildings with shops. The lodge in front is two stories with a coffee shop and gift shop. Across the street from the lodge is a row of gift shops, eateries and excursion offices. The eateries included the Salmon Bake restaurant and a 24 hour Subway. And a Harley Davidson shop!
Our excursion started at 8PM. It was a covered wagon ride and backcountry dinner presented by Black Diamond. Black Diamond also runs a 9 hole golf course and an ATV excursion and our bus was filled with all 3 excursions. We were transported to the Black Diamond center where our covered wagon was awaiting with two horses. There was room for 12 people in the wagon, and there were only 10 in our group, making it nice and cozy. Blankets were provided during the ride to make things even cozier. We took a nice bumpy ride to a cabin about a mile or two into the backwoods. A guide provided commentary. The cabin was a modular home without electricity :) We were provided with a meal of salmon, ribs, chicken and pork with potato salad, cole slaw, and a nice apple cobbler for dessert. The meal was cooked on a gas-fired oven outside. On the way back we were entertained by a beautiful rainbow. It was especially beautiful because it was at 10:15PM! Other than the farm smells that you need to put up with, the experience was an enjoyable way to end the day.
Day 10
Up at 6AM. Good thing they have dark curtains because it didn't get too dark last night. We decided to hit the King Salmon Restaurant for breakfast rather than the buffet area. After 7 days of the buffet for breakfast on the cruise ship, it was nice to have my eggs over easy. It really didn't take long. We were out of there by 7AM. I ran across the street to Subway to pick up lunch for my trip into Denali National Park, then waited for the 8AM Princess shuttle to the Denali Access Center. Doreen waited for her bus to the Husky Homestead.
The Husky Homestead is a training area for Iditarod dogs. When you get off the bus, you are immediately handed a puppy to get to know. Don't get excited because the dogs run in the thousands of dollars. The training of the dogs is then demonstrated and the dogs put on a show
When we had booked the cruisetour, Princess had signed us up for the 4 hour history tour. By following the forum on cruisecritic, it became obvious that that was not the trip to take. The history tour only takes you to the 15 mile point, which is as far as you can go with your own car. Princess also offered the Tundra Wilderness Tour that takes you up to the Toklat River rest stop (53 miles in). When I went onto the Princess web site, they only offered a 6AM TWT trip. I wanted to have breakfast with my wife, so I arranged the tour to the Eielson Visitor Center (66 miles in) through the National Parks web site for 9AM. The shuttle got me there at 8:15. I checked on the availability of the 8:30 shuttle bus and found it was full. So, I decided to sit in on the video that the history tour group was going to watch on the history of the Denali Park and the building of the road. Movie was over by 8:45.
I got in line and was 3rd in line. I sat on the left side of the bus. The bus had about 6 seats left. We saw very little in the way of wildlife until after the Savage River crossing. Scenery was terrific. Our first views of Mount McKinley were clear and awesome. We then saw a wolf, and then a bear and then a wolf feeding on a caribou. A bus coming back from Denali had sat and watched two wolves take down the caribou and passed the information on to our bus.
Viewing the animals and taking pictures on both sides of the bus was an interesting display of coordination. There were two very good spotters on our bus who had very powerful binoculars. They would holler Stop and then we would work with their descriptions to find the animal. The window of a school bus is in two parts and the top part opens by pulling down. The bottom part of the window was usually streaked so taking pictures through it was difficult. To take pictures, I would push up so I could reach the window latches, pull down the window, then take pictures and duck so people on the other side of the bus could take pictures. By the end of the day my thighs were sore from pushing up to open the window.
The bus then started climbing and we went up and up this very narrow road. I couldn't believe this was a two way road. At corners, the buses were going out to the very edge of the road. There were areas where it was a 300 foot drop! Anyway, we climbed to some terrific venues. We stopped at Polychrome Overlook to some unbelievable views. I took dozens of pictures and a video but none of them do justice to the 3D view I observed.
When we got to the Toklat River (mile 53) rest stop, the wind was extremely strong. I stepped off the bus and almost was blown off my feet. Hats were immediately lost if they weren't anchored. The rest stop has some telescopes that are powerful enough to spot dall sheep up on the mountain ridges. There were at least four visible. Immediately after Toklat River we spotted a moose and then another bear. The driver waited patiently while we all took dozens of pictures.
The distance was pushing the limits on my camera. I have a 12X zoom point and shoot camera and I found I had to use the digital zoom capabilities of the camera in addition to the 12X zoom capabilties in order to get a close up of the animals. The constant zoom and focussing adjustments caused me to go through batteries. Luckily I had started the day with four fully charged batteries, which was just enough to get through the day.
We got to mile 66, the Eielson Center and had a great view of Mount McKinley. Unfortunately, the mountain had generated some of its own weather and parts of it were obscured by clouds. Still, the view was wonderful.
We were given 40 minutes to investigate the Visitor Center and the trails. If we wished, we were told we could catch a later bus. I opted to investigate the Visitor Center, take a short walk down one trail and then head back to the bus to eat my lunch. This was about 1:00PM and I was starved. There was so much to see that I hadn't even thought of it.
Forty minutes later, we were headed back We spotted about a dozen dall sheep and stopped again at the Polychrome Outlook. We didn't see much else in the way of animals until we got back to the Toklat River. This is the area where we had seen a wolf feeding on a caribou. This time we saw a bear feeding on the same caribou. A ranger who was observing in the region told us that a female bear had scared away the wolves and started feeding on it. A male bear came along and fought with the female bear, eventually chasing it down the stream.
The bus rules are that if you want to stop and hike you can always get off and pick up another bus. A few got off to hike and we picked up a few people who had camped overnight. We passed some road construction. One hundred yards past the road construction, standing about 60 feet from the road were 3 caribou with huge racks. They were feeding with no regard for the noise down the road. This was the closest we had come to wildlife.
We got back to the access center about 4:50PM, just in time to catch the 5PM shuttle back to the hotel. I was glad we were the first stop because there was a load of people at the next stop visitor's center that wanted to get on. They could only take about half of them. Back to the hotel and a shower refreshed me for our 8:30 Dinner Theatre excursion at the Music of Denali theatre. Dinner consisted of ribs and salmon with garlic mashed potatoes, cole slaw and cake for dinner. The show included singing and dancing and interaction with the audience. Hoky, but lots of fun. Back to the hotel room by 11PM to pack and get some sleep. Good night Denali!
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