After a comfortable night and quick breakfast at the Westmark Hotel, we were shuttled to the Alaska Railroad for our trip to Denali. The engines are owned by the railroad and the cars are owned by HAL.
We all had reserved seats on the upper level and enjoyed grand views along the way.
As we rolled along the track Denali reared its head now and again even though still more than two hundred miles away.
We wended through Wasilla and a little civilization then soon back to the wilds. Here and there we saw a homesteaders cabin. Homesteading ended in Alaska in 1986 but many homesteaders still live on their land. It takes planning and resourcefulness to live far from roads and the corner grocery store.
Vegetation we saw included paper birch cottonwood, scrub willow and alder, aspen and white and black spruce. Nothing very tall. Lots of areas with pockets of dead trees where the '64 earthquake changed the topography.
While Ikuko and I were in the dining car, we passed though Willow, a small trading post, and then picked up Princess passengers in Talkeetna.
As we gained altitude we gained colors, with gorgeous yellows and golds showing on the birches and aspens and a red understory of blueberry and fireweed leaves lighting up the forest floor.
Strangely the trees here, though small, were a little taller than those we saw down by Anchorage.
The passenger across the aisle from me was reading his book, "Sundays at Tiffany's" all the way. I had noticed him earlier reading on the ship and on the land portion. He might as well have stayed home.
Hurricane Gulch trestle was completed in 1921 and still carries trains 296 feet above Hurricane Gulch. The trestle is only eight feet wide so the walkway beside the tracks is a scary trek for the occasional brave pedestrian.
We arrived at the HAL McKinley Chalet Resort at 1700 after a beautiful ride through some of America's best wilderness.
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