Our McKinley Explore train left Anchorage at 9:15 for the 8 hour, 250 mile ride to Denali. Everyone was seated on the upper level dome cars, with the restaurant car below. Great venue to take in the sights, enhanced by the narrative provided by the train's tour guide, Adam.Our route passed a variety of landscapes, from tidal arms to marshy lowlands to major mountain ranges.
Knik Arm, one of two arms which embrace the Anchorage peninsula, has a tidal range of 40 feet, second only to the Bay of Fundy. The extensive mud flats which appear at low tide are powdery glacial silt, accumulated over the centuries to a depth of over 900 feet. An attempt to built a bridge over a similar arm was given up after they were unable to reach bedrock.
Knik River
Along the Knik Arm and as far south as the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center we visited yesterday are Ghost Forests, vast stands of bare tree trucks. These areas were inundated with sea water by the tidal surges generated by the 1964 earthquake. The trapped water killed and effectively pickled or petrified the trees.
Ghost forest
Along the route we saw moose, trumpeter swans, and beaver
There is a 60 mile stretch of track north of Talkeetna where there are no cross roads. A local "flag stop train" is the only way to access this area. As the name implies, you can flag the train and pretty much get on or off anywhere. People use it to bring in camping gear, building supplies, food, etc. The lucky and intrepid couple below, camping by the stream, were dropped off several days ago and seem to be having a pretty chill time.
Alaska Range
We saw a couple glimpses of Denali's snow cover above the closer mountains, but never its base or peaks.
View from Hurricane Gulch trestle bridge. At 296 feet above the stream, the Statue of Liberty could fit under the bridge.
As we went further north and climbed higher, vegetation changed from mostly cottonwood to aspen, white and black spruce. Eventually we reached tundra at the tree line, where permafrost makes it difficult for for tall trees to establish root systems. Tree line in Alaska is 1500-2000 feet, compared to 10,000 feet in Colorado.
Denali NP
We finally reached the Denali National Park boundary, pulled into the train station and piled into our coaches for transfer to the McKinley Chalet Resort. I'd been texting throughout the ride with my sister Peg who happens to be in Denali tonight with her husband, Jay, on a Road Scholar tour. They are doing our trip in reverse, starting in Fairbanks and ending in Vancouver. This is the only day we overlap. They took a shuttle to our place, and we got to our hotel just in time to join them for dinner at the steakhouse on site. It was fun catching up, and especially to see them here. 🙋
Sunset tonight is 12:18 AM, and sunrise at 3:53. It never quite gets dark here this time of year.
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