We spent the July 18th weekend on the Kenai River where the salmon were running but his nibbs was unsuccessful in his bid to round out the larder with a fresh salmon catch. Ken has been having sporadic problems with his back. I am convinced that the fishing is not helping but he says I am wrong. Nevertheless, I feel confident that standing for long periods and casting jerks are not in his best interest.

Monday we drove to Whittier, a nondescript coastal village that I was rather "put upon" to find interesting. There is a 2 ½ mile tunnel leading into town and once there not much exists except a few rag tag shops, 3/4 of which are for sale and the remaining look depressed. There is no community as such, just two large buildings of condominium and/or apartment type construction and that about sizes it up as a town. However, they are trying to build it up and are marketing to cruise ships as an alternate port to Seward for the Denali train trip. I will say that there is a gorgeous glacier just across the bay which does add color and character to a village that was, in my opinion, otherwise lonely and forlorn. Ken’s assessment was quiet and peaceful.

Tuesday we returned to Portage for a trip on the glacier lake to Portage Glacier. We were delighted to experience a large "calving" of the glacier (ice breaking away from the main glacier forming what would be icebergs at sea). The wake that followed the "calving" rocked the boast enough to validate the size of the breaking ice. After our visit to Portage Glacier, we stopped off at a wild animal park to get some close up pictures of the wild animals that we have thus far seen at only a distance. We decided not to stop in Anchorage, preferring to overnight in Palmer but the RV Park there had no vacancy. We decided to go on and luckily found a very nice RV Park on a river outside of the small town of Houston, where Ken could also fish. We ended up spending two nights there while Ken fished and rested the recurring twinge in his back.

Thursday we did a short side trip off the "beaten path" to a small town called Talkeetna, approximately 100 miles outside of Denali. Talkeetna is on the Alaskan Railroad and, as you approach the town, Mount McKinley (Denali) is sometimes visible but we were not treated to that view. Several air taxi services provide scenic trips for close up views of the mountain from the air as well as landings on the glacier, weather permitting. We had thought we might do the plane trip but the weather continued to be inclement with intermittent rain showers and clouds hanging over the mountain making any viewing of the mountain unlikely. We decided not to do the plane trip and, instead, took a 124 mile round trip train ride to Hurricane, a trip promoted as the last "whistle stop" railroad in America. It was an extraordinary step back in time. On the way up, we dropped people off to go to their wilderness cabins. One family operate a gold mine in the wilderness, another man and his dog were going to their cabin for a brief "getaway" from business (we were told he owns a chain of motels in Alaska). There were those who looked like "mountain people" and those who seemed to be regular folks who simply choose to make their home on the "wild side". They appeared to be people that my view of "forlorn and lonely" might mean "peace and quiet". The run to Hurricane is provided by the Alaskan Railway as a service to the locals and offered to the tourist as a scenic adventure. There was no "hipe", no "canned speech", just a trip to the hills on a relatively modern train for another view of the Alaskan lifestyle.

We struck up a conversation with a lady from the Northern Indiana/Chicago area who came to Alaska with her husband in 1959, a real pioneer. They homesteaded in Trapper Creek an area renown for its views of Mt. McKinley, which she said are best during the winter months. She said that she adopted Alaska as her home and " has never looked back". We were amused with a story that she related about a new group of homesteaders to Alaska who brought with them the work ethic of the lower 48. They started work on constructing their cabins at 8 in the morning, a break at 10, lunch at 12, a break at 2 and ending their day at 4. She said that the short Alaskan summer with its long days are a call to action and always followed by long Alaskan nights. As the nights begin to cool and the days grew shorter, the group got the message. Many ended up sharing a cabin with others and the following summer, they adjusted their work ethic to comply with the standards of the Alaskan sun. One lesson I have taken from our visit here. The summers are short, the tourist season brief and for those who live here, the labor of four months must provide for 12.

On the way back, the train proved its mettle as a whistle stop as it stopped to pick up people going into town, some for supplies, others for business and others simply returning to their regular pursuits after a brief interlude in the back country. In addition to our stops for passengers, we enjoyed a brief stop along the river where King Salmon were spawning and an unscheduled stop for a young bear crossing the tracks in front of us. Unfortunately, we were not in "camera view" and missed all but its quick descent into the brush. All in all not a bad days journey.

Saturday we drove into Denali. Although there was no rain, it was cloudy and as we entered Denali, clouds obscured any view of Mt McKinley . We registered at the RV Park, picked up our passes for the early morning Tundra tour, attended a sled dog demonstration, watched rafters preparing to cast off for their down river rafting experience and did a drive through the park. We had been told by all who have been to Denali that statistically speaking only 1/3 of the approximately 350,000 annual visitors to Denali are able to view the mountain. Only a few of the people with whom we had spoken in the days leading to our Denali visit reported anything more than a brief glimpse of the mountain and, as a result of the fires in the Fairbanks area, smoke had been a further detraction.

We enjoyed a demonstration of the "working dogs" of Denali. Denali is the only national park patrolled in winter by dog sled. The patrol extends to Wonder Lake and Kantishna and involves a three month round trip of approximately 180 miles. We were surprised to learn that Denali does not receive the heavy snows that we had expected and rainfall much less intense that we expected. However, the reduction in moisture does not translate to a reduction in temperate.
The weather forecast was for clouds on Sunday and rain on Monday. As we departed the coach to meet our 745A bus Sunday morning, the day seemed bright and clouds scarce though the air was cold. As our bus proceeded outside the forest area of the visitors center, we gained a better view of the beautiful blue sky which promised a beautiful day for viewing the animals. Our tour guide raised our hopes by urging us to keep our fingers crossed and just maybe, the Mountain would reveal itself. Our naturalist tour bus driver briefed us on the history of the park, the animals in the park and prepared us for what he hoped we would see on our trip, the big five, bears, caribou, dall sheep, moose and wolves.

As we entered our first area for viewing the mountain from the park road, we were treated to a beautiful view of the mountain in all of its majesty. At the urging of our driver, everyone rushed to get pictures. Our driver cautioned that it is rare to see the mountain at all and advised us that it can disappear into the clouds quickly and often does by the time another viewing site is reached. We rode along the road enjoying an up close and personal viewing of caribou, dall sheep (not so close), a grizzly bear sow and two cubs and scenery that is spectacular as we traveled a tundra of varied distinction. The mountain remained visible during the whole day’s excursion and we were, indeed, treated to a beautiful day in Denali. We did not see any moose or wolves but the bears and caribou were plentiful. Near the end of our day, a family of willow ptarmigam (Alaska’s State bird) crossed the road in front of the bus as if posing for our pictures. We realize that we were permitted to enjoy a rare day in the last great wilderness and it was a "a many splendored thing".