Tours are a hassle,
but they get you where you want to go efficiently, albeit somewhat
impersonally. So at 7:30 this morning we were hussled out of
our room and onto buses and whizzed to the train station. We
were processed like incoming freight and stowed into assigned
tiny seats in the glass-domed rail cars. Once that insanity was
concluded, we were treated to a four-hour train ride to Denali
National Park, in which Mt. McKinley resides (tallest mountain
in North America).
The train ride was fun, the scenery indescribable on the fantastic side, and we all took turns being wildlife spotters.
We had breakfast in the dining car (it was good).
Did I mention the scenery? What a place.
We arrived at the lodge in Denali, dropped our luggage, grabbed a hasty lunch (2 hot dogs), and were herded onto buses again, this time for a "Wildlife Search." The key word was search. Denali National Park is the size of Massachusetts, and it has one road. What are the odds of wild animals hanging out by the roadside?
Surprise, they do. We saw several small herds of Caribou (reindeer), dozens of Dall sheep (photo), a couple golden eagles, two silver foxes (big, with bushy tails), several ptarmigan (state bird), ground squirrels, and nine grizzly bears, including a mother and two cubs. But no moose.
We were disappointed that we returned mooseless, but it was another surprisingly fun bus ride.
Dinner at the lodge was excellent (and none-too-cheap). We walked around the grounds before retiring around midnight. It was still daylight. We have yet to see darkness here.
Tomorrow: Anchorage.