We never actually saw the mountain that Denali National Park is named after whilst in the park.
Denali – “the high one” in the local Athabascan language, is shrouded in clouds most of the time . Our guide told us that ninety percent of people that visit Alaska don’t see Denali at all. Ten percent see it partially exposed and only five percent see it ‘naked.’
We set off the next morning under the clearest sky we had seen for some time and coming over a small crest all of a sudden there it was.
Denali stands out so much from this aspect as it is one of the few snow covered mountains at this time of the year and it was simply spectacular.
We took photos, drove a little further and took more photos (along with many other travellers) as the clouds chased each other across the horizon.
The view kept getting better the further we headed south and culminated in an almost perfect picture.
Feeling like we were at least in the lucky ten percent we reluctantly said goodbye to Denali and resumed our journey toward Talkeetna.
For those of you old enough to have watched or perhaps just heard of “Northern Exposure” – the highly acclaimed comedy drama series from the nineties – it is widely thought to be based on Talkeetna.
It is a funky little town with only about a thousand year round residents, home to galleries, historic buildings, a brewery and better than average souvenir/gift shops.
We had booked an afternoon trip with Mahay’s Jetboat Adventures and we arrived with only thirty minutes to spare as the rest of the group were chatting to our gun toting guide and waiting for the train.
The trip today involved an outward journey on America’s last ‘flag stop’ train up to the now abandoned town of Curry and then returning via jetboat on the Susitna River.
Passengers on the Hurricane Train can take advantage of it’s unique flagstop service enabling passengers to get on or off the train anywhere along this backcountry route and locals utilise it for access to remote off the grid cabins, hunting and fishing. The train stopped to let us off at Curry where our guide delivered a very interesting talk about the history of Curry and we checked out some of the old railroad vehicles that are ‘retired’ on the siding.
Curry’s history is fascinating, it was the halfway stop between Seward and Fairbanks during the two-day steam train trip and a very popular resort in the early 1900’s. The grand Curry Hotel built in 1923 was luxury personified in its day and also technologically advanced for the times. Hospitals in Anchorage sent their linen out on the train to be washed in the hotel’s laundry as the facilities were better than in town. It had a pool, a golf course and a suspension bridge over the river and was billed as a “wilderness palace.”
By 1957 the train was now diesel, didn’t need to stop in Curry overnight and the Grand Hotel’s popularity was on the decline. It had been sold by the railroad and the new owner was trying to make it profitable when a fire occurred which destroyed the hotel and killed three people. There was speculation surrounding the cause of the fire, the hotel wasn’t rebuilt and the town decayed around it, eventually becoming a ghost town. Fascinating!
Our return trip was aboard the jet boat along the Susitna and we saw more bear on the shores as well as numerous bald eagles. Stopping at a replica ‘settlement’ of the Dena’ina Indians and early trappers who lived in the area, our guide gave us an interesting talk about these practices and the flora and fauna of the area.
I had planned a ‘flightseeing’ trip the next morning (to view Denali and the mountains including a glacier landing) but had received a phone call just as we left on the train asking if I could make the 6.30 pm flight that evening as the weather was so good today and might not be tomorrow.
We rushed from the Jetboat drop off to the airport as the rest of my group were waiting and a storm was forecast to arrive in the next couple of hours. Russell who is not a fan of small planes, opted not to go and went and found our accommodation – Denali Fireside Cabin and Suites – an excellent choice.
Our flight was on a ten seater where everyone had a window and it was actually quite spacious. The pilot told us that this plane actually behaved like a helicopter and I wasn’t sure what he meant until we started down the runway and we were in the air almost immediately!
As we gained altitude we could see the confluence of the three rivers, the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna and miles of small waterways and forests punctuated by the occasional wilderness cabin.
We reached the mountain range quite quickly with jaw dropping views of these sharply rising peaks, some of the largest mountains in the world from base to summit.
Our pilot was very knowledgeable and throughout the flight gave us comprehensive commentary about the mountains and surrounds before we started our descent for the glacier landing.
I can’t describe the feeling of getting out of the plane onto pristine white snow in absolute silence, enclosed by a ring of mountains. It was simply breathtaking.
We spent about 30 mins on the ground and then were quickly airborne again for the return trip. We could see the storm above Talkeetna as we approached and landed in lashing rain.
Russell picked me up and once again we were searching for somewhere still serving at 9pm but found a decent meal at the lodge just out of town.
The next morning we wandered about town and admired the local personalities whilst doing a bit of last minute souvenir shopping..
We had a pretty easy drive back to Anchorage, interspersed with the ever necessary summer roadworks, but by mid afternoon had returned the car, checked in to the airport hotel and started the onerous task of sorting out luggage.
Alaska has been an absolute delight and is probably my favourite US state now, I spent the flight back to Seattle working out how soon we can come again and in what season, maybe check out the polar bears???😉
Thanks for reading.
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