25 May 2008 -- Anchorage to Denali by Rail

We were up at 5:00 AM (remember this was 9 AM EDT). We went for a short walk about in the area around our hotel. We planned to eat breakfast on the train. Princess took us to the train depot by bus and we boarded the Princess Super Dome Car we were assigned to. The car was attached (along with several other cars belonging to Princess and other cruise lines) to an Alaska Rail Road train. We were assigned a table in the car along with another couple. It turned out that this couple was also going on the trip to Prudhoe Bay. In fact, we met several other travelers on the same car who were also going to Prudhoe. The train started out heading north at a fairly slow speed. I don't believe it ever exceeded about 40 mph, and often went slower than that. Much of the way, the train rocked and swayed a good deal. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was somewhat tiring. We had a Princess guide on the car with us who pointed out various sites of interest along the way. The "suburbs" of Anchorage extend out about 50 miles. Most of these small towns were more like villages. We passed through the town of Wasilla which is the actual start of the Iditerod sled dog race. Although the official start is in Anchorage, that is just for show. After a short trek, the whole shebang is trucked out to Wasilla where the actual race begins. The rail route primarily followed valleys between the Alaska mountain range to the west and the Talkeetna range to the east. As we approached the Denali National Park area, we got into more mountainous regions.

We had breakfast and lunch on the train. We were pretty hungry by the time we were able to go to the dining area for breakfast. I decided to get right into the Alaskan salmon and had a salmon burrito for breakfast. For lunch I had a salmon BLT which was really a SLT. It was quite good.

We made a brief stop in the town of Talkeetna. Talkeetna is a very "Alaska" looking town. It is supposedly the inspiration for the town in the TV series "Northern Exposure" (one of my favorite shows from the past). You could almost identify the real buildings that matched the ones in the show.

During the trip, the train would slow whenever there was wild life to see. We ended up seeing eight black bears including a sow with three cubs and a few moose. We also slowed as we approached and crossed the Hurricane Gulch Trestle Bridge. This bridge lies on a curve so you can see it as the train starts across and after crossing. The bridge was built in 1921 and is 941 feet long. More impressive is the fact that the tracks are 296 feet above the Chulitna River. It is the largest trestle bridge in North America.

We arrived in Denali NP around 4:00 PM. We rested a bit and tried to recover from the swaying of the train. We then went for an invigorating walk / hike on a bike path along the river. It was a beautiful, clear afternoon. It was quite windy with the temperature in the 50s. The windbreakers and fleece sweaters we brought worked well to keep us warm. We walked about 4 miles and by the time we got back to the room, we were very tired. We ended up just eating nutrition bars for dinner and going to bed at about 9:00 PM. We both slept very well. Check out the pictures we have posted on Picassa.