Denali and Fairbanks

Checked in to our hotel overlooking the Nenana River valley & surrounding mountains. We had been warned about the high risk from the "Alaskan State Bird" which supposedly attack in their thousands at this time of year. Fortunately for us "the biggest mosquitoes ever" are not around this year.

Warning sign for Alaskan State Bird

An early start on the "Denali Backcountry Adventure" - a bus ride of 92 miles to the end of the only road in the huge Denali National Park (6 million acres). What an amazing harsh & remote place! Flat plains beside the glacial rivers surrounded by massive mountains including the highest in North America (Mt McKinley at 6,193 metres) & glaciers. Vast areas of tundra.

Backcountry Road

Typical Denali Park

Home to the grizzly, moose (a male can stand 7 foot at the shoulder & weigh more than a horse at 1,500 pounds), caribou, wolf and many more. We were fortunate enough to see 6 bears & multiple moose (including a huge bull) & caribou plus some Dall sheep.

Mummy Moose

Daddy Moose

We missed seeing the summit of Mt McKinley due to cloud cover - it only clears about 20% of the time. A truly amazing tour.

Denali Park

Caribou

Denali Park

Next morning we enjoyed salmon & cream cheese bagels at the quaint shops in Denali then headed out for a walk along some trails through the forest, along the river & by a beaver lake. The scenery is stunning with spruce & birch forests interspersed with meadows where the permafrost is too close to the surface for trees & always surrounded by mountains.

Horseshoe Lake Trail

Horseshoe Lake Trail

We then re-boarded the train for Fairbanks. The tracks passed spectacularly through the Nenana River Gorge before heading across forests, bogs & swamps to Fairbanks with mountains always in sight.

Nenana River Gorge

The following day we spent a morning on an old sternwheeler boat along the Chena River. We were provided with lots of history with an insight into the harsh winter conditions (just a few hours of daylight & temperatures down to minus 50). Some of the homes along the river banks were beautiful. We also visited the Chena Indian Village for more info on the original tribes of Alaska (the Athabascan's originating from Serbia & Eskimo's from Mongolia). We were shown how to prepare salmon for drying & saw a demo of mushing (sled dog racing).

Ceremonial Outfit

We then wandered the streets of Downtown Fairbanks where they were celebrating their summer arts festival including the rubber duck race. Thousands of rubber ducks dropped in the river & the person who has the number of the first duck to cross the downstream line wins $5,000.

Rubber Duckie Race

Anchorage to Seward & Kenai then to Denali

After the long day yesterday we decided on something a little slower today. First we headed to the Alaska Native Heritage Centre where we saw some local tribes demonstrating their traditional dances (Anne joined them on stage) & also checked out their displays on their traditional homes, tools, totems, food etc. A really well set up centre.

Next day we headed back to the train station for a magnificent journey to Seward followed by a cruise around the Kenai Fjords. The train journey was spectacular commencing by following the coast before rising through zig zag's & hair pin bends, over a pass via a steep sided gorge surrounded by rivers, waterfalls, glaciers, lakes & stunning views across the mountains.

Views from the Anchorage to Seward Train

We then boarded the Glacier Express for a cruise in the Kenai Fjords. We saw more glaciers up close, puffins, kittiwakes, sea otters, orca's, a black bear close to the shore, seals & more. Another long & stunning day.

Puffin

Sea Otter

Aialik Glacier (note ship in front of middle rock)

On the return train journey to Anchorage we saw dall sheep, mountain goats, moose & a brown bear.

Train track S Bends

As if this wasn't enough, next morning we jumped back on the train for Denali. This was a trip through beautiful birch & spruce forests with patches of low scrub, rivers running thick with glacial silt, beautiful lakes, bogs & swamps - but always surrounded by mountains. We also saw trumpeter swans & beaver dams. The bridge over Hurricane Gulch was a little scary (296 feet above the creek).

View from Hurricane Gulch

A trapper cabin

Anchorage

We're off! Arrived just after midnight after 25 hours of flights & airports. Straight to hotel & sleep.
Woke up to a beautiful sunny day & headed to the local market for halibut & corn fritters. Then wandered around the streets - a really nice feel to the place with friendly locals making us feel welcome.
Visited the info centre to see a live hawk owl & then wandered along Ship Creek to see the locals fishing for salmon.

Salmon fishing in Anchorage

 Day 2 saw us board the Glacier Discovery train to Whittier. The train wanders along the shoreline then dives through 2 tunnels under the mountain range to Whittier. Spectacular views of water, mountains, snow & glaciers. Then boarded the Klondike Express catamaran to cruise Prince William Sound. We saw otters, sea lions, seals, a bald eagle and a hump back whale in addition to close up encounters with glaciers.

A tidewater Glacier

On the return train journey we saw large areas of dead trees caused by the 1964 earthquake & tsunami which washed sea water up over the trees.

Trees killed by earthquake and Tsunami

 We then witnessed 2 hardy surfers riding the bore wave caused by the incoming & outgoing tides meeting & creating a wave which can be ridden for 70 kilometres. The water is close to freezing & the sand beneath the water is like quicksand so not for the feint hearted.

Surfers on bore wave

Dinner sitting on the deck at our hotel in the sunshine until after 10.30pm (the sun sets about 11pm). A great start to our journey.

We're off again!! Alaska & Canada - here we come!

Just picked up the final itinerary & can't wait to get started on this next great adventure. Ten weeks of planes, trains, boats, buses & cars. Mountains, snow, glaciers, water, islands & more. Bears, cariboo, bald eagles etc etc.