Day 9 - Denali National Park / Train ride to Fairbanks

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We rose early today so we could get as much time as possible in the Park. We grabbed a bite to eat, then hopped on a shuttle bus to the Park. Once there, we decided to take a bus about 15 miles in to the Savage River Loop Trail, a short loop trail that follows alongside a portion of the Savage River. The morning was cloudy and while we were hiking the loop, it started raining pretty hard. We were dressed for it, though, and eventually it stopped and cleared up. Once back at the visitors center, we found that a mama moose had just given birth to a calf only about 25-30 feet away from the deck out in front of the center.

We then set out on a hike up a pretty steep trail called the Mount Healy Overlook Trail. The weather cleared a bit and it dried up, so we had some pretty spectacular views on the hike. We had a train to catch in the afternoon, and we didn't have enough time to hike all the way to the overlook, so we turned back around and headed down.

On the hike, Deb was amazed at the variety of lichen that she found, and had Cecil take photos so she could use them in her microbiology class next semester. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to look around the visitors center before we went out to the depot to catch the train. One of the rangers said there were over three hundred species of lichen and moss in the park, and I think we saw about two dozen of them! (Only a microbiologist could get so excited about lichen!) Deb said that as much as she loved the cruise, and for all the fun we had the past 7 days, she could have spent the entire time right here. We decided that after we retire, we'll come back up with an RV and spend a couple of weeks in the Park in the summertime, to really enjoy all it has to offer.

We conveniently boarded the train right at the Park, which then took us on a several hour ride up to Fairbanks, the final stop on our tour. We had a great meal in the dining car while we watched the countryside go by. We did see one moose, and gave the "moose antler" wave to people at the RR crossings. We passed through Nenana, where they have an annual "Ice Classic" and everyone in town bets on the date and time when the river ice will thaw. We got in around 8pm, went geocaching, then had a snack and brew in the restaurant. We could hardly keep our eyes open after such a busy day, so we hit the hay early in preparation for our big day tomorrow.

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Photos

an arctic ground squirrel
(yes, that is an actual species!)