Our trip took us down AK 3 for 122 miles. Most of the trip was over flat ground, that is until we approached Denali National Park. As we got closer snowcapped mountains sprung up around us.
The views we see is what I think of when I hear the word Alaska, snow and mountains.
We spot Dahl Sheep in the mountain sides by looking for white spots that move among the rocks, otherwise it is just snow.
The lodge is beautiful and sprawling. Our bags are waiting for us in our room. We are on the second floor and our door shows light through the top and bottom of the frame from frost heaving. Nothing to do for it.
There are a lot of gift shops within the property and the prices can be a bit steep if you’re not careful. You can buy Caribou hides there, but we found them cheaper in Ketchikan though we didn’t buy at any location. This where knowing what you want and doing some online research is crucial.
The onsite dining is excellent. I can’t comment on prices as our meals here were included in our tour.
The next morning, we boarded a bus for our drive into Denali National Park. The bus was no a motor coach, but something one sees picking up kids for school, but, who cares with views we saw. A Conestoga Wagon and a team of Clydesdales would have been acceptable.
It is a place well named, it is Koyukon of the Athabaskan people for The High One.
Denali was visible from several places, though the summit was shrouded in cloud cover. At more than 20 thousand feet, the massive mountain generates its own weather. Our understanding was that about 70% of the time not even what we could see is visible to most visitors. We counted ourselves part of the 30% Club.
Being early spring in the Park, the vegetation was still in the early stages of its rebirth. In another 4 to 6 weeks the colors are going to be breath taking. Yet, being there early has its own beauty, one you can feel rather than see. The land still sleeps, yet quivers in anticipation of the coming flood of life.
Oh, there is life there, and we saw it everywhere we look, Caribou, Moose, Ptarmigan, Crows, Snowshoe Hare, and Sow Grizzly with cubs, but it was nothing to the life waiting to wake up and show the world its grandeur. There is beauty in the anticipation of what is coming, a faith in what cannot yet be seen for what it will be. We saw, and we felt, and we rejoiced.
What a joy it would be to travel at your own pace. To have the ability to stop and just look, to watch the Caribou eat and laze around in the warming sun. To watch a Grizzly Sow with her cubs, take a causal stroll through the land she rules, fearing nothing but a Grizzly Boar. To sit in one place for a day, a week or even a month, to see, hear and feel in your soul the lessons Denali has to offer those who will attend.
No one can visit Alaska and not be changed, but here, here in this National Park, your soul sings to the heavens.
Little did we know just how much our souls would sing as we traveled this land.