(Didn't have Internet yesterday, so posting Thurday's events a day late!)
Luggage went out at 5:45 for a 6:00 pick up; Steven’s in the shower and I’m catching up with the journal and getting ready to go to the lobby. We’re leaving here around 7:15 (it’s 6:23 now) and headed for the train to Denali!
On train to Denali
Some observations:
The hills we’re going through look much like the hills at home. The big difference is the trees. Pockets of aspen dapple the hillsides interspersed with black spruce and birch. It makes for varying levels on the surface of the hills as well as splotches of color rather than the more mixed foliage of NY.
The word "poplar" is like saying a tree is an "evergreen." There are LOTS of poplars and Aspen is one of them They have a single root system, which means a stand of poplar are actually all one tree with several shoots off it.
The “na” suffix in the Athabasan language means “water”. Hence Tehana River, Nehana River, etc.
Saw Mt MiKinley! Puts us in the 30% club of those who actually can see the mountain on the train. Beautiful day and sunny! Jennie, our bartender on the train, said she’d been doing this tour for three years and in all that time had actually seen the mountain only about 15 times. And the sight of the entire range was even rarer. She said, “You know the view is spectacular when the crew is getting out their cameras!”
And it truly was a magnificent sight. At first your eye almost slips over it, mistaking it for a low cloud near the horizon. We were about 70 miles away at that point. As the train draws nearer, the mountain plays peek-a-boo with you, hiding behind trees and lower –much lower – mountains, finally emerging across a valley in all its splendor. Because the day was so clear you could see the blues and greys of Denali’s crevasses and the brilliant white of the summit against a deep blue sky. I know I repeat myself, but…magnificent.
I got to thinking as I stood waiting for Steven to iron out a small wrinkle in our schedule. He had gone inside the Holland America office beside the Mt. McKinley Chalet where we’re staying and I stayed outside to soak in the view. I thought to myself, “what great scenery they have here!” and then realized the absurdity of the sentiment. Everyone has scenery. The Finger Lakes has incredible vistas and beautiful colors, as does Rochester and Phelps and everywhere else.
But what is nice is to see different scenery. The mountains immediately around us have no snow at this time of year, but we’re told we only have to wait a few weeks (there was frost on the ground when we left the hotel in Fairbanks this morning!). It’s evident, however, where the tree line begins and ends as the trees all stop at a fairly uniform height on all the mountains. Above it is only brown where nothing grows. The dirt is exposed, as are the bones of the earth. They’re rounded from millennia of winds and snow sanding them down and creating some wonderful shapes and curves. It’s still a little surreal to think that just a few days ago I was in such a vastly different landscape looking at very familiar scenery.
A note about the Chalet. The place is beautiful and the scenery, well, see above for notes about the scenery. The rooms are not as big as Sophie’s Station in Fairbanks, although there are two of them. The “living room” is in the front with a couch and a rocking chair. There’s a writing desk, but no chair to go with it. The bath doesn’t actually have a tub, but has a shower that takes up the same amount of space. The bedroom has one queen (I think – it might be a full) and one twin, so Steven and I are going to have to fight for the extra pillow.
When we first got here, there was no heat in the rooms. Each room has it’s own thermostat and I went around and turned all of them up to 75. So far each room has made it to the low 60’s. They’re cheap with the towels (although of good quality, there are only three), but the soap smells really good. And did I mention the views? J
There isn’t any wireless here in the rooms; I’ll check the lobby later when we go for our Step Through Time hike. There are several hikes available, all tours. We diecided to do this one tonight and see where they go and then if possible, do another one tomorrow after our Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour.
Speaking of which, Steven and I were booked for different tours tomorrow! I was to go on the 6:40 am one with the rest of the family and he was to go at 7:30 all by his lonesome. We spoke to the desk clerk and now we’re together…for the 6:00 AM tour. I’m sort of glad it’s so early as the animals are more likely to be out and about in the morning. But I’m afraid the Denali summit may not yet have gotten up for the day.
(I’m actually writing the rest of this on Friday, August 21, 2009; was too tired to write last night, but to keep the journal accurate, I’ll write here)
Steven and I wanted to take a hike through Denali National Park so we signed up for one of the excursions that allowed for that. Dave, Dar, Lori and Steven’s mom all went to the dinner theatre at the hotel but since it sounded a lot like the Hoop dee doo Revue at Disney, we decided we wanted something closer to nature.
Heidi was our tour guide and it turns out there was only one other person going on the hike with us. Her name was Lori, an easy one to remember for sure! Heidi informed us that the trail we’d signed up for was closed because of the rain and snow they’d had two days ago so we’d be taking the more difficult trail if that was okay with us. Otherwise we could stick to the lower trails.
No way! We’d debated about the tougher trail and were glad to get an opportunity to challenge it. With only four of us total, it should be a good hike. Four and a half miles up, around, down, up again, down again...more ups…more downs….all in one, big four-mile loop.
Heidi was a GREAT tour guide. She told us all the berries in the park are edible and we stopped for blueberry snacking periodically. I’d never had blueberries fresh off the bush before. They’re small since they’re wild blueberries, but they were like little bursts of blueberry flavor! She showed us a squirrel den (several squirrels live together underground and trick the fox and wolves that want to eat them by going in one hole and coming out of one of the many others), and we saw trees rubbed raw where moose scrape their antlers off.
We also saw incredible vistas standing on precipices waaaaay up high. Highest we got was about 2000 feet up. Sugarloaf Mountain is right across the valley from our hotel with Camelback beside it and Fellows next to that. Between them you can catch a glimpse of Deborah Mountain in the distance (snow covered completely!). Our hotel backs onto Healey Mountain and the river that flows at its feet is the Nehana. The ridge we were climbing it too small to have a separate name. I used to think we had a cabin in the mountains. Now I know we have a cabin in the hills!
We left at 6:00 at night and got back to the hotel a little after 10:00 – and yes, it was still light! Have I said yet how cool this is to have so much sunlight for so long a time? It’s played havoc with my sleeping habits, but then again, so has jet lag. I don’t care. I’m having far too much fun to care about getting sleep!
Luggage went out at 5:45 for a 6:00 pick up; Steven’s in the shower and I’m catching up with the journal and getting ready to go to the lobby. We’re leaving here around 7:15 (it’s 6:23 now) and headed for the train to Denali!
On train to Denali
Some observations:
The hills we’re going through look much like the hills at home. The big difference is the trees. Pockets of aspen dapple the hillsides interspersed with black spruce and birch. It makes for varying levels on the surface of the hills as well as splotches of color rather than the more mixed foliage of NY.
The word "poplar" is like saying a tree is an "evergreen." There are LOTS of poplars and Aspen is one of them They have a single root system, which means a stand of poplar are actually all one tree with several shoots off it.
The “na” suffix in the Athabasan language means “water”. Hence Tehana River, Nehana River, etc.
Saw Mt MiKinley! Puts us in the 30% club of those who actually can see the mountain on the train. Beautiful day and sunny! Jennie, our bartender on the train, said she’d been doing this tour for three years and in all that time had actually seen the mountain only about 15 times. And the sight of the entire range was even rarer. She said, “You know the view is spectacular when the crew is getting out their cameras!”
And it truly was a magnificent sight. At first your eye almost slips over it, mistaking it for a low cloud near the horizon. We were about 70 miles away at that point. As the train draws nearer, the mountain plays peek-a-boo with you, hiding behind trees and lower –much lower – mountains, finally emerging across a valley in all its splendor. Because the day was so clear you could see the blues and greys of Denali’s crevasses and the brilliant white of the summit against a deep blue sky. I know I repeat myself, but…magnificent.
I got to thinking as I stood waiting for Steven to iron out a small wrinkle in our schedule. He had gone inside the Holland America office beside the Mt. McKinley Chalet where we’re staying and I stayed outside to soak in the view. I thought to myself, “what great scenery they have here!” and then realized the absurdity of the sentiment. Everyone has scenery. The Finger Lakes has incredible vistas and beautiful colors, as does Rochester and Phelps and everywhere else.
But what is nice is to see different scenery. The mountains immediately around us have no snow at this time of year, but we’re told we only have to wait a few weeks (there was frost on the ground when we left the hotel in Fairbanks this morning!). It’s evident, however, where the tree line begins and ends as the trees all stop at a fairly uniform height on all the mountains. Above it is only brown where nothing grows. The dirt is exposed, as are the bones of the earth. They’re rounded from millennia of winds and snow sanding them down and creating some wonderful shapes and curves. It’s still a little surreal to think that just a few days ago I was in such a vastly different landscape looking at very familiar scenery.
A note about the Chalet. The place is beautiful and the scenery, well, see above for notes about the scenery. The rooms are not as big as Sophie’s Station in Fairbanks, although there are two of them. The “living room” is in the front with a couch and a rocking chair. There’s a writing desk, but no chair to go with it. The bath doesn’t actually have a tub, but has a shower that takes up the same amount of space. The bedroom has one queen (I think – it might be a full) and one twin, so Steven and I are going to have to fight for the extra pillow.
When we first got here, there was no heat in the rooms. Each room has it’s own thermostat and I went around and turned all of them up to 75. So far each room has made it to the low 60’s. They’re cheap with the towels (although of good quality, there are only three), but the soap smells really good. And did I mention the views? J
There isn’t any wireless here in the rooms; I’ll check the lobby later when we go for our Step Through Time hike. There are several hikes available, all tours. We diecided to do this one tonight and see where they go and then if possible, do another one tomorrow after our Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour.
Speaking of which, Steven and I were booked for different tours tomorrow! I was to go on the 6:40 am one with the rest of the family and he was to go at 7:30 all by his lonesome. We spoke to the desk clerk and now we’re together…for the 6:00 AM tour. I’m sort of glad it’s so early as the animals are more likely to be out and about in the morning. But I’m afraid the Denali summit may not yet have gotten up for the day.
(I’m actually writing the rest of this on Friday, August 21, 2009; was too tired to write last night, but to keep the journal accurate, I’ll write here)
Steven and I wanted to take a hike through Denali National Park so we signed up for one of the excursions that allowed for that. Dave, Dar, Lori and Steven’s mom all went to the dinner theatre at the hotel but since it sounded a lot like the Hoop dee doo Revue at Disney, we decided we wanted something closer to nature.
Heidi was our tour guide and it turns out there was only one other person going on the hike with us. Her name was Lori, an easy one to remember for sure! Heidi informed us that the trail we’d signed up for was closed because of the rain and snow they’d had two days ago so we’d be taking the more difficult trail if that was okay with us. Otherwise we could stick to the lower trails.
No way! We’d debated about the tougher trail and were glad to get an opportunity to challenge it. With only four of us total, it should be a good hike. Four and a half miles up, around, down, up again, down again...more ups…more downs….all in one, big four-mile loop.
Heidi was a GREAT tour guide. She told us all the berries in the park are edible and we stopped for blueberry snacking periodically. I’d never had blueberries fresh off the bush before. They’re small since they’re wild blueberries, but they were like little bursts of blueberry flavor! She showed us a squirrel den (several squirrels live together underground and trick the fox and wolves that want to eat them by going in one hole and coming out of one of the many others), and we saw trees rubbed raw where moose scrape their antlers off.
We also saw incredible vistas standing on precipices waaaaay up high. Highest we got was about 2000 feet up. Sugarloaf Mountain is right across the valley from our hotel with Camelback beside it and Fellows next to that. Between them you can catch a glimpse of Deborah Mountain in the distance (snow covered completely!). Our hotel backs onto Healey Mountain and the river that flows at its feet is the Nehana. The ridge we were climbing it too small to have a separate name. I used to think we had a cabin in the mountains. Now I know we have a cabin in the hills!
We left at 6:00 at night and got back to the hotel a little after 10:00 – and yes, it was still light! Have I said yet how cool this is to have so much sunlight for so long a time? It’s played havoc with my sleeping habits, but then again, so has jet lag. I don’t care. I’m having far too much fun to care about getting sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment