Mount Denali.
Today begins the land portion of our Land & Sea tour. We’re instructed that our bags need to be in the hallway at 6:30 and we’re scheduled for a 9:30 bus transfer to Denali. Plenty of time for breakfast and coffee. We’re picked up outside the Westmark by Tom, who tells us that he’s over 60 and he had coffee this morning, so yes, there will be a restroom break along the way. Tom tells us some history on Fairbanks, not named for the lovely riverbeds in and around the city, but after a ‘political shyster’ who wanted the city named after his friend.
Fairbanks sprawls, but yet still has a small town feel. Then again, the population is only 32,000. We pass The University of Alaska and catch our first glimpse of reindeer, which Tom explains are just domesticated caribou. Soon, we’ve cleared the city limits and are making our way South/Southwest to Denali. I am immediately in awe of just how much wide open space there is in Alaska. Bright birch trees, thick dense pine forests, and land seems to continue for miles and miles. Everything feels so majestic and large in scale, and I start to understand why they call Alaska ‘the last frontier.’
The Nenana River.
We make our first stop in Nenana, population 386. There’s a general store, a bar, a book exchange, an
An old train car on the Nenana river in the small town of Nenana.
Episcopal church, a huskey training area and pen, and a school. Apparently, a town only needs 10 people to warrant a school being built.
We leave Nenana, looking for moose, but we’re afforded with a glimpse of something else instead. Up in the distance, almost blended into the white wispy clouds sit the double peaks of Mount Denali. Now, Tom tells us that only 30% of people visiting Alaska actually get to see the peak, so he pulls over for a photo opp. Back on the road to Denali, we later get that moose sighting. Tom tell us about Alaska’s resources, how the state has enough coal to power itself and all the other 50 states for 500 years, he points out wind turbines on the hill, shows us the town where Into The Wild was filmed, and tells us to take care of the seasonal workers at the hotels and restaurants we go to, who are wrapping up their summer jobs. He drops us at the McKinley Chalet in Denali and despite the previous day’s forecast for rain, the sun is still shining.
The view from behind our rustic lodge near Denali National Park.
Inside Denali National Park.
We get checked in to the rustic, log cabin lodge that’s nestled between the Nenana River and a mountainside and book for an afternoon tour of Denali. We go 17 miles into the park on a Natural History tour with our guide Gary, who is the epitome of a naturalist. Gary provides us with the history of the park, noting people like naturalist Charles Sheldon and brothers’ Adolph and Olaus Murie who were key in establishing the park as a preserve and prevented the construction of hotels and resorts within. However, our guide focuses on Mardy Murie, the wife of Olaus, who was considered the Grandmother of the Conservation Movement. Even after her husband’s death, she continued to work to on the Alaskan Lands Conservation act, which protected millions of acres of wildlife land. Along with numerous awards, including the highest, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she is also the subject of the John Denver song, A Song for All Lovers.
He explains the landscape and tells us the importance of fires in the regeneration of certain plant and tree growth. He points out Dall Sheep, mountain goats, and moose. On our last stop inside the park, we get a third glimpse of Denali – as clouds swirl around the peak yet again.
On the way back to McKinley Lodge, Gary tells us his personal story of how he ended up in Alaska. He had come for a visit long ago, and when his kids were grown and marriage over, he wanted to come back. He researched jobs as a fish gutter, and was literally willing to do anything to get back. He says there are no coincidences, and somehow he landed on the park jobsite. With a clean driving record, he thought about applying for the tour operator position. He had driven high occupancy vehicles in the military, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t selected for the position. And then, weeks before the season was due to begin, he got a call and was offered the job. From behind the driver’s seat, Gary procures a laminated version of the travel section from the Sunday paper that his city ran the week after he got the job. It says ‘Destination Denali.’ Gary said he took it as a sign. That was 11 years ago.
Denali National Park, near Savage River.
Denali National Park.
On the way out of the park, we stop and watch a moose feeding on the side of the road. The sun is beginning to set, and everything is still, quiet and harmonious. We have only covered 17 miles of a 53 mile road into the heart of Denali, seeing only a few hundred acres of the six million that make up this national park and preserve.
Gary drops us at the lodge at dinnertime, and we have some Denali Dollars to burn as part of our package, so we opt for dinner at Nenana Bar and Grill. In true spirit, we share the three Alaskan seafood dishes on the menu – wild salmon, rockfish and cioppino (prawns, rockfish, clams and crab). We head back to our lodge, feeling fortunate for three glimpses of the elusive Denali, for the weather that provided us with those glimpses and for the people that shared their love of Alaska with us throughout the day.
