Part 2 ~ Land Tour | Anchorage to Denali National Park and Back
After our cruise, it was time for our land tour. We departed the ship in Seward and drove on the beautiful Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm up to Anchorage. We had a very interesting stop at the Alaska Wilderness Conservation Center. We spent one night in Anchorage at the Clarion Suites and then were off to Talkeetna and Denali National Park. We had one night at the Denali Bluffs Hotel and then were back to Anchorage for our last night. Yes, all that in 4 days!
Here's what we saw .....
July 13 - Seward Alaska
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| Seward and the Alaska Oil Pipeline |
We gathered our luggage and boarded the YMT bus to take us along the Seward Highway and Turnagain Arm to Anchorage.
Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center
Along the way, we stopped off at the
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year round and provides spacious enclosures and quality animal care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center.
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| Buffalo/ bison at the AWCC |
The conservation center is situated at the end of Turnagain Arm. The views are stunning!
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| Musk Ox |
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| Brown Bears (also known as Grizzly Bears) |
While we were there, the baby, was playing with a stick in the water. He would throw it up in the air and then splash after it. He did this over and over. It was VERY CUTE! He was too quick and it was hard to get photos. It should have been video taped.
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| Black Bear |
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| Musk Ox |
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| Abandoned Baby Moose (Mooses? Meese?) that were too young to survive on their own |
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| Elk |
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| Adonis - the one-winged Eagle |
The dead trees in this area have been preserved in salt water. After the earthquake in 1964, this area was flooded and became a salt water marsh. All trees died, but were preserved by the salt, so they are still standing.
Mary with a Caribou. She was dying to touch the velvet antlers ... they looked so soft. But that is a big no-no. Apparently the velvet skin is very sensitive - so no touching allowed.
A wild eagle was watching us from his perch in a tree.
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| An injured Moose |
Turnagian Arm
Anchorage, Alaska
Our first stop was the Anchorage Craft Market for some lunch and a visit.
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| Street signs in the craft market |
Then we were off to the Ulu Factory to pick up some knives
Then to our hotel - The Clarion Suites
Benihana's was just across the parking lot. We had a fun dinner with June, Beth, Ron and Elva.
After dinner, we walked around Anchorage. The downtown area is not too big and is very walkable
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| Captain Cook Monument |
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| The Sleeping Lady seen across Cook Inlet |
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| Delany Park is right behind our hotel. It's a beautiful spot for a walk. Look at the size of that CABBAGE! |
Anchorage is known for it's flowers. And no wonder- the days are very long, there is lots of rain, and the soil is volcanic so it is very fertile. The flowers are HUGE and the colours very vivid.
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| A photo taken from our bedroom window at 11pm. Looks like there might be a nice sunet over Cook Inlet around midnight. |
July 14 The Drive up to Denali National Park
The Clarion had a very nice breakfast included and then we were on our way. Since we were only in Denali for one night and coming back to this hotel tomorrow night, we left our big suitcases in a storage room and just packed our carry-ons for the bus trip to The Denali Bluffs Hotel.
Our first stop was in Wasilla at the Ididarod Headquarters. Unfortunately we were there too early to see the sled dogs ... they didn't come until 9am, but on the upside, they did have nice restrooms and a gift shop ;-)
The next stop was TALKEETNA
Some of our group boarded the Dome Train to continue up to Denali, but we decided to continue on the bus since it the road essentially travelled parallel to the train track and the views would be the same .... and then we also had time to explore the quaint and quirky little town of Talkeetna.
We loved this little town!
The Road from Talkeetna to Denali National Park
Beautiful Scenery, but because of low cloud cover, Denali ( Mt McKinley ), the highest peak in North America, was not to be seen
Denali National Park
Dinner at the Salmon Bake - Lots of Character AND Great Halibut Tacos ...yummm!
July 15 | The Tour Through Denali National Park
A description of our Windows into Wliderness Tour: Travel to Mile 30 of the park road, stopping at Mile 12 – Mountain Vista Trailhead. Join a guided hike on the ¾ - mile maintained trail. Under the leadership of a science educator from the Murie Science and Learning Center, you will satisfy your curiosity about the subarctic ecosystem. At the Teklanika Rest Stop, you may stand on the open air deck above the Teklanika River to scan for wildlife, enjoy views to Cathedral and Igloo Mountains and the upper Teklanika River Valley. The Rest Stop is the turnaround point for this tour.
Our tour started at 6:30 and we were so looking forward to this day .... seeing lots of animals in the wild and spotting Denali.
BUT we woke to find the day dark and rainy with lots of fog and cloud. It poured rain all day and the wildlife went into hiding. We saw very little and it was pretty disappointing, but we all knew this was a possibility with Alaskan weather.
Going on our nature hike in the pouring rain. (at Savage River Trailhead)
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| Walking through the Taiga Forest |
We were very lucky to get a guide from the Muri Science and Learning Center as well as a very knowledgable bus driver.
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| Our guide pointing out native plants and wildflowers. This area is a combination of Taiga and Tundra |
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| A very foggy wet day. |
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| Savage River |
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| Savage Rock |
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| At Mile 15 only Park vehicles are allowed. A park ranger welcomes us. |
Still no animal sightings :-(
We are now at our 30 mile turn-around in the park. We have been in the park for about 3 hours.
Our Green Bus ... the seats were quite comfortable for a 6 hour ride, but the mud on the windows was a continual challenge for visibility. The bus driver would try to clean them with water and a squeegee, but sometimes we thought it was worse when she finished because the water got so dirty.
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| Our Tour Bus with the muddy windows |
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| The facilities at the Teklanika Rest Stop |
Our first sighting!! A mother and baby Ptarmigan. They move fast, so the photo is pretty blurry ... but I had to have a photo of something wild in the park!!!
The fog lifted as we were returning to the visitors centre, so the bus stopped for some scenery photos
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| Our guide pointing to where Denali is under the clouds |
A porcupine! We were very excited to see this little guy.
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| Porcupine, our only animal sighting in the park |
Now back to the Visitor's Center for Lunch, then a a 5 hour bus ride back to Anchorage! Yikes.... too many bus hours for 1 day.
Here are some animals at the visitors centre that we DIDNT see
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| Dall Sheep |
Back on the Bus (for the 5 hr drive to Anchorage)
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| Alaska Veterans Memorial |
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| Fireweed |
Near Trapper's Creek (near Talkeetna), we had to call an ambulance for an ill passenger on the bus.
A field of fuzzy flowers, called "Cotton Grass".
The Alaskan State Flag
Anchorage - One last day, before heading home on our evening flight.
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| The Anchorage Visitor's Centre - Log Cabin complete with sod roof |
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| Kobuk's Coffee and Gift Shop |
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| Stopping for a coffee and some freshly baked goodies at Kobuk's |
Doing some window shopping
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| Beautiful Aboriginal Carvings |
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| Outlets in the parking lots to plug your car in during the winter months so the engine won't freeze |
After a walking around downtown, we heard that people saw a moose on the waterfront trail, so we rented a couple of bikes and went biking on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It was a beautiful day and the weather warmed up. A great way to spend our last day in Alaska. We had a great time, but we didn't see a moose.
Dinner at Humpy's before we catch our plane home.
Alaska Forget-Me-Not
And we actually some some of Alaska's State Flower, Forget-Me-Nots. I'm not sure why purple fireweed is not the state flower, because it was everywhere!
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| Forget-Me-Nots - Alaskan State Flower |
The End
A field of fuzzy flowers, called "Cotton Grass".
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