Denali

With one solid hour of sleep, we were up bright and early for our 5 AM Denali National Park tour. Denali National Park was founded in 1917 to protect the Dall sheep population in the park from hunters who were seen as a growing threat as the establishment of the Alaska railroad made the inner areas of the state more accessible. Originally known as Mount McKinley after President McKinley-who championed the gold standard, but never stepped foot in Alaska- the park and the mountain were changed back to their Athabaskan (native Alaskan) name “Denali” in 2015 by Obama.

Denali is home to many animals, has a section of designated Wilderness where machines are not allowed, and only the first 15 miles are accessible by visitors’ personal vehicles. The park is served by wilderness tours and shuttle buses to access the total 92 miles of drivable road within the park. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2023, the latter half of the road was closed due to unstable roads past mile 43, so we were only able to get about halfway into the park. The construction of a new bridge is not anticipated to be completed until the summer of 2027.

Still, we saw more than enough wildlife to entertain us for the almost six-hour tour. We caught sight of multiple moose, some caribou, the state bird (the ptarmigan), and a bear. We were also treated to incredible views of Denali’s peak.

Our tour ended right around 11 AM, and we opted to get dropped off at the Denali National Park Visitor’s Center so that Mom could get her National Park stamp. We watched a movie, read about the park, saw some topographical maps and models, and visited a few exhibits about the Athabascan people and early gold miners.

Then, after grabbing some lunch, we started off on three brief hikes, through the Spruce Forest trail right near the Visitor’s Center (about 0.3 miles total), along the Roadside Bike Path between the Visitor’s Center and the train crossing (about 0.5 miles) and around Horseshoe Lake (a bit over 1 mile). By then, it was around 4 PM, so we headed back to our hotel, satisfied with our day and our ability to stay awake for so long. We all showered since we’d gotten sweaty from the hiking and the hot day. Then, we walked about a half-mile through the small strip of shops on Park Highway to get to dinner. We ate dinner, headed back to our hotel, and were asleep just about an hour earlier than normal.

The next day was our final full day of adventures before we had to head home. It was another train ride, this time covering the distance from Denali back down to Anchorage. We woke up, packed our luggage, and left it outside our hotel room door for the employees to get to the station. Then we grabbed some breakfast and waited for the bus to take us the six-minute drive to the train station. The bus driver was a bit late because she’d had a full bus from her previous stop and needed to drop them off to have space for the people at our hotel, but it turned out not to matter. As we were checking in at the train station, the employee there told us the train was running about an hour behind. We took the opportunity to do another 1.5 mile hike, crossing bridges over Hines Creek and Riley Creek before turning around.

Finally, the train arrived and we boarded, again in the Gold Star cabin. This time, we were in car A. Last time, in car B, we’d been able to look out behind us and see the rest of the train. This time, we got a slightly different view, with the ability to peer out a front window and see only the two cars that were driving ahead of us.

On this ride, a seven-hour ride from 1-9 PM, we were served both lunch and dinner. We were the second seating for both meals, which meant we got a chance to see some of the Denali National Park scenery as we waited to be called down for lunch. Timing for both meals was great, as the peak of Denali came into view just before we headed down to the dining part of the car. We spent most of lunch waiting for the train to switch tracks, and we didn’t end up missing much scenery. Similarly, we had dinner shortly after we left Talkeetna, when the scenery was switching from nature to more populated areas of Alaska.

When not eating, we were again taking in majestic views, of Denali, Hurricane Gulch, and the various forests and wetlands of the Alaskan countryside. We had a lot of highlights on the trip, but the train rides we took are top contenders for coolest experiences.

We arrived in Anchorage right around nine, disembarked, and once we were reunited, we made our way to the hotel. We were asleep pretty quickly after repacking slightly in preparation of the next day, our final day in Alaska.