North to Denali

Day 8

Wednesday 9 September

Today we head to Denali. This involves a train trip on the McKinley Explorer. It is a domed train similar to the Rocky Mountaineer (as seen on TV).

The train station, or depot, as it is known, is only a few hundred metres from the Hilton. It is the old original station built in 1915 when the railway was built and connected from Seward. It was necessary to have a means to transport the gold mined in the interior to the coast, as well as furs and other goods, so miners petitioned the federal government to provide better transport (up until then it was dog sled, canoe/boat or walk). It is a big old building and apparently survived the earthquake of ’64. They also have an old steam engine on display at the front which had been used to build the railway. It had been brought up to Alaska from the Panama Canal after that project had been completed. It was affectionately known as the “Moose Gooser” for obvious reasons.

The Explorer was a long train and made up of parts. The first bit was 3 big diesels, followed by about 6 Alaskan Rail carriages which were for the general public who need to use the rail, then came the privately owned carriages for Gray Line/Holland America – about 6 of those including a dining car - and then 2 Princess Cruise Line carriages and possibly a couple of baggage cars in there as well.

Transport in Alaska is really simple – there is one main road that basically begins in Anchorage and goes south to Seward, East to Valdez, north to Fairbanks and not very far west to Homer. Any other roads/ tracks lead off this main highway. The Haul Road or Dalton Highway built for the pipeline is the other major road (very rugged). The rail goes from Seward to Anchorage, Denali and on to Fairbanks - about a 16 hour trip straight through. I don’t think there are any side rail lines - just one down the middle of the state.

And then there is flying. This state is the busiest float plane/ small plane traffic in the world. It costs about the same to buy a small plane as it does to buy a car. Many people out of the main towns have a plane instead of a car as a means of transport. There are 3 million lakes in Alaska and these float planes are able to land on any of them that are capable of handling a plane. They are also allowed to land on any bush tracks/roads or landing strips. In Anchorage there is a landing and parking lot for the float planes near the airport. They are able to land on Lake Hood and even park there for a while or if owners are patient enough to wait up to 9 years they may secure a permanent parking bay. The small plane traffic is handled by Anchorage air traffic control which also handles the cargo planes. The airport is the 3rd busiest in the world and almost all cargo in the northern hemisphere goes through the Anchorage International Airport – a very busy place.
Anyway back to our travels. The trip to Denali starts at Anchorage Rail Depot. There are NO station platforms at any of the railway stations and you board the train like they do in the movies – walk to the carriage, hop on the portable step and then the train steps and you are there. Cheaper not to have a platform – not so good for passengers if it is wet or snowing though. So up the steps we went and into a carriage like we have never seen. There was a really narrow, curved staircase leading up to the domed seating – the dining section was downstairs. Great seats and great view.

We had our own train guides who were on hand to tell us what we were seeing, what to look out for and a little of the history of the rail as we went along. There was an elderly gentleman who was the entertainment for the day – he told a few jokes and chatted with people. He also had his scrapbook of his life in the entertainment industry which was passed around the carriage throughout the day. (A bit odd we thought but ….). He had been a support act for a lot of famous old stars like Sammy Davis, Frankie, Ginger and Fred etc. and mainly in live theatre and vaudeville - An interesting old guy to listen to though. This trip was an 8 hour run so we had both breakfast and lunch on the train – a novelty for us. Rick spent much of the time on an open observation deck where he snapped away at various aspects of the scenery.
On arrival in Denali we were met and transferred to our various hotels. We stayed at the McKinley Resort Chalets. To get to the cabins we had to catch a shuttle as the resort is big and spread out. It has been built to cause as little disturbance to the environment as possible????? We had our own little bus stop called the Dahl Sheep stop which let us off at the cabin. Ours was a set of 12 rooms – 6 up & 6 down. Needless to say we were on the top floor. Fortunately our bags were delivered and we didn’t need to drag them up the stairs ourselves.

Accommodation we relatively basic – no frills but still was very comfortable. A good night sleep was in order as we had a really early start the next day for our Denali wilderness tour.