Denali Wilderness

Yesterday I was really excited to get into some hiking gear and see some National Park glory but I was a little disappointed. We took a shuttle from the lodge and after a quick trip to the visitor center we were off...into the wilderness. We just spent a couple hours walking through trees with no real Alaska views, in my opinion.

Well, that all changed today! From the entrance to the park I was in awe and this was the Alaska I pictured. We saw a mama moose feeding right by the road with her 2 sweet babies laying down in the tree line. Our driver told us facts and stories for almost the whole 7 hour tour and the one thing that stuck out was that this is a "wilderness park" and how it was different than the other national parks we have been to. If you hike out there you really are on your own. No trails, no cars after mile 14 on Park Road and wildlife that is everywhere.

We had an absolutely beautiful day. Leaving at 6 am was a little chilly but cloudless and that made seeing Denali possible from several views. After hearing only 30% of visitors get to see the peak due to cloud cover we felt super lucky and soaked it all in.

While stopping multiple times to see caribou, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, moose, ground squirrels and ptarmigan (the Alaska state bird), the views were breathtaking. This time of year there is still snow around and the green is just beginning on the trees. Our driver said this is the most animals she has seen since the season started 3 weeks ago.

That's our tour bus for the day.

We went 53 miles to the Toklat River where we dipped our fingers in the freezing, clear water. The return trip went a little quicker since after 5 hours most of us were a little tired.

Tonight is some local dinner theater about history and Ryan is really looking forward to it! (Editor's Note: The show was really dumb and I think everyone agreed on that.) Tomorrow is a train ride and Talkeetna. This is only day 3 and I can't believe how amazing this trip has been so far.

Do bears like syrup?

Today was a travel day and we had to be ready for 6:30 AM since that's when they pick up our bags. We were both up early again so that wasn't a problem; in fact, we were already at breakfast by 6:30. It was our first meal where we were on our own and could eat at a place on the property so we went to the main restaurant which had a lot of choices, including a Belgian waffle bar. That was my top choice but it was busy so I had to wait for them to be made (along with an old lady who just cut in front of me) but I finally got my waffle and syrup and headed back to the table. At some point it all went horribly wrong since when I put the plate down on the table, there's syrup everywhere. I tried cleaning it up with the napkin but that just made it worse somehow. I cleaned it as best I could and finished my meal but when I got up to leave, I realized it had dripped down under the table and was all over one pant leg. This was an issue because our clothes were all packed up and presumably had been picked up already.

We went back to the room and while our suitcases were still there (which was a bit concerning), I figured they'd pick them up at any minute so I just washed up as best I could but I still was effectively wearing syrup pants. We left our room to meet our bus at 9 and sure enough, our luggage hadn't been picked up and everyone else's had. We spoke to our tour guide and I guess they just forgot it somehow so we rolled the luggage down to the bus to load it on there. That wasn't ideal but at least we knew our luggage would be there right when we arrived.

The trip to Denali only took a couple hours and that was with stopping in the middle at what amounted to a gift shop (I do think this tour is like 50% going to gift shops). When we got to the hotel, we found out we had all afternoon to do whatever we wanted and that there was a shuttle to the Denali National Park entrance that left every half hour. Because we had our bags, we could change into hiking clothes - that was a bonus that made up for the fact that we were on the third floor and there was no elevator so we had to drag our luggage up two flights of stairs. We grabbed a nice lunch and then headed to Denali.

At least it was a pretty nice gift shop.

The ground moves so much the rocks don't meet the stone work anymore.

It was not very crowded when we got there and the weather was decent - cloudy and high 50's. We found a few trails that looked fine for the time we had and proceeded to hike out. We did have to turn around after nearly a mile of walking after realizing we forgot anything to drink but that was only a minor setback. Jess was pretty worried about bears and moose because there were animal sightings today (and moose poop was everywhere) but no one on the trail saw anything out there. We were a bit more isolated than I thought we'd be - we only passed people on the trail every 5-10 minutes or so - but it was an enjoyable hike overall. The trees weren't that tall but there still wasn't very good views in most places but the few that were out there were worth the hike. There was still some snow in areas and the ground was very spongy in spots (I guess that's where the permafrost has begun to melt).

After returning the hotel and ordering room service pizza (we apologize to the Judds for canceling our reservations at the nice restaurant), we turned in early since we have to meet the bus for our Denali tour before 6 AM.

As they say in Denali, "If you see a bear, make sure to pet it.." Note: no one says this.

Gold (or maybe Yellow) Fever

We finally made it to Alaska! Yesterday was nearly a full day of travel but thankfully everything went well and we didn't even arrive at the hotel all that late. Of course, by the time we went to bed it was still past 2 AM EDT so it was a long day. Unfortunately, it was only 10 PM here and that meant it was still very sunny and bright when we turned in.

We were both up by 5 AM and we didn't have to meet our group for breakfast until 8 so after getting ready, we took a walk outside by the river. Even at 7 AM, the mosquitoes were out in full force which foreshadowed what we'd see later in the afternoon.

At 8, we went to breakfast and met our tour guide and some of the group. As expected, it turns out that except for one kid traveling with his grandparents, Jess and I are the youngest on the trip. Everyone is very nice though and well traveled so it is good to hear stories. It turns out many of them have kids our age so we definitely stand out.

Our first stop of the day was Gold Dredge 8. I will say it's nice to just be outside at a certain time and the transportation, tickets, meals, etc. are already taken care of - they just point you in a direction and tell you what time to be where. When we arrived at the dredge site, we had a few minutes to look at a section of the Alaska Pipeline which is a pretty impressive feat of engineering that winds 800 miles across Alaska. After boarding a train to go to the dredge site, we were finally ready to pan for gold.

When you exited the train, you were given a bag of pay dirt and then you got to pan it and collect the gold. There's definitely a technique to it and I was not being aggressive enough at first but Yukon Yolanda helped and soon Jess and I had our gold flakes collected. When they measured it, Jess had $21 worth and I had $18. I'm going to assume this is all real and therefore in about 5 minutes, we pulled almost $40 out. Basically, it'd be stupid for us not to move here and become gold miners, especially since we know what we're doing now. The rest of the dredge was pretty neat too and they had free cookies so for a first stop, it was great.

Remember how I mentioned that we were the youngest ones on the tour? The unexpected downside is that everyone seems to remember our names because we stand out. I'm terrible with names when I meet a bunch of people at once but thankfully they gave us name tags during the day so it's a little less embarrassing now.

The afternoon was spent on a sternwheel boat that cruisesd a few hours on the Chena River. We ate lunch at the place where we loaded onto the boat but the interesting part is that they had a "-40" room that simulated the cold that you typically feel in the winter here. We had light jackets on and it was certainly cold but it wasn't so bad. That said, Jess disagreed and said it was horrible (no argument there though since even +40 can be too cold for me now).

The boat cruised down the river and we saw some houses, the old pump station that's now a bar and a bush pilot demonstration. We then stopped by one the kennels for the sled dogs and they did a demonstration which was fun to watch. Finally, we stopped at a replica village that showed some of the native life. This part of it was fine, but it felt a little cheesy (plus we were losing steam at this point so fatigue probably played a factor, along with the light rain). There were also a ton of large mosquitoes around too which I'm sure bit us up. It was also great when we were listening to a talk and Jess smacked me in the head to get one off of me and hit me harder than intended. At least the lady behind us thought it was hysterical. The other neat part is the woman doing the dog demonstration along the river brought some to a pen there and you could pet them. Even the old dogs they had seemed to have a ton of energy, unlike CT who gets mad if you wake him up and make him go outside.

We then got back to the hotel before heading to a wine tasting dinner. It was ok - the fish and steak were good but I am not into wine at all so that part didn't do anything for me. I'll be looking forward to a good night's sleep since we have to get early to have our luggage packed by 6:30 AM tomorrow.

As the gold miners say, "Gold is easy to get so quit your job and start prospectin'!" Note: They don't say that, but I'm seriously considering it anyway.