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