Photo's AL8
Photo's by Roger - Alaska - Denaili NP - Alaska Mc Kinlely Village Lodge-
July 2008
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Conrad and Kathy waiting for the train to Denali at Talkeetna. |
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Here it comes complete with snow plow. |
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We rode in a luxurious bubble car owned by Royal Caribbean. |
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The dining car on lower level was like a 5 star restuarant. The food and specialty drinks were really outstanding. |
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Beautiful wild scenery observed from a really cushy leather seat. This is living in class. |
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The normal train on this track is a flag train. You just wave it down and pay your fare. |
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A scenic gorge. I took this picture between the cars outside on a platform. I had to raise my camera up in the air over the heads of others. |
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A homestead women lived here alone most of her life. |
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Conrad and Kathy with Talkeetna Lodge in the background. This hotel is world class in my opinion, It is on a hill with a majestic view of Mt. McKineley, a braided river, and other wooded snow capped mountains all around. The rooms are huge and include all amennities. |
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We finally did a short hike, but unfortunately the mosquitos were out. |
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A huge earth quake in the 60's cause the salt water tidal wave to kill these trees. |
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We stayed in this lodge for two nights while visiting Denali NP. |
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Our bus for our 8 hour Tundra Wilderness tour into Denali NP. The windows would get mud on them and we all helped wash them clean. |
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Our driver guide who was a permanent resident of Alaska living in cabin with no indoor plumbing. |
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We followed this huge braided glacial river most of the way on our 64 mile one way journey into the park. |
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Glaciers formed these small lakes on the tundra. |
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The road was paved the first 30 miles and then was dirt. It was very curvy and a bit scary. |
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The weather was light rain and lots of fog. |
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The bus was quite steamy. Paper towels were provided to wipe the windows. It was in the 50's at higher elevation. |
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This Grizzly bear was very thrilling to see. We watched it for at least 15 minutes. |
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He decided to dig for some roots. The cloudy weather was good for more wild life being on the move. We also saw bull moose, caribou, Dall sheep, Golden Eagle, Bald Headed Eagle, Snowshoe Hare, Ptarmigan (a life bird for me), and gray squirrels. |
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Moosing out on the Tundra. |
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The bus really got muddy by mile 72. The driver had a high powered movie camera which displayed the wild life on several monitors through out the bus. |
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This park has no dedicated trails, but back packing is allowed with a permit. |
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This was aparently a good year for pine trees. |
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Ptarmigan, a life bird sighting for me. |
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Kathy and my raft trip on the class 3 Nanano River. I am in back left next to Kathy. The water was 36 F and we all had dry suits on provided by the outfitter. |