Thursday, July 9^th

Denali, AK

• In Fairbanks, it is illegal to feed a moose alcohol. Awww hayl Skeeter, ya heared that gu’ment bullcrap? I cain't believe them’r alls writin' dem stoopid laws up here in a furen country lak Alaskers! Hey Skeet', grab me ‘nother beer’n strip of skunk jerky, will ya?

Today is another travel day – a 4½-hour bus ride to the edge of the park, followed by a 7-8 hour train ride to Anchorage. Despite the long ride, seeing Alaska from the comfort of a privately operated domed rail car is truly the way to go. The upper deck of our car is all glass and complete with big comfortable seats, plus a bar & bartender. The lower deck has a full service dining car with linens, silverware, table service and good food. We left Kantishna Lodge, deep in the heart of Denali National Park and head south toward Anchorage, still without a clue there’s any sort of monster mountain out here.

A typical daily weather forecast in Denali is “…a 50% chance of rain…”, something the Chamber of Commerce fails to mention in their travel brochure. With rain and drizzle most of yesterday, we figured we were due for some sun today. On the drive in, a few of the mountains started to clear and reveal their snow-capped tops, but none of them were the majestic peaks of Mt McKinley. During the train ride, we had another chance to see the mountain, but it still had its head up its ahh…in the clouds. Oh well, I came here thinking we wouldn’t see it, so I’m not disappointed, and with landscape this stunning, it really doesn’t matter the mountain never appeared. Whichever way you look up here, it’s wall-to-wall gorgeous!

Alaska-0024 Mt McKinley is dead center, had the clouds not covered it up.

During a good portion of the train ride we’ve been following one river or another. Some are crystal clear from snow melt and loaded with salmon, while others are saturated with gray silt from glacial melt, resembling liquid concrete.

Alaska-0997 A river of liquid concrete

Beyond either side of the riverbank are mountains both close in the foreground or way off in the distance. Whether they’re up close or off at a distance, every square inch is thick with dark green trees and heavy underbrush. As we rumble closer to Anchorage, the riverbank is a mass of fiddlehead ferns, looking very similar to a swordtail fern found in most every local nursery in Sunny San Diego. Not having ever imagined Alaska to be tropical, these ferns certainly look to be out of place.

Alaska-0975 A rare moment of blue sky