The High One

Thursday, September 8th

The fourth day of my Alaskan adventure began early like all the previous days and a farewell to Fairbanks. Check-in for the railroad was at least an hour before departure which was around 8:15 AM, so the shuttle left the hotel around 7 AM for the short drive to the railroad depot.

Fairbanks Depot

There was a model of the railroad set up at one end of the depot which was pretty impressive. It was also nice to see the whole of the rail line since I would not be able to take the railroad south of Denali. This was due to the railroad running just once a week once the tourist season ended in early to mid September. As already experienced with the Arctic Ocean, tourist season was winding down and this would continue the rest of the trip.

The Alaskan Railroad is one of the few, if not only, lines that will pick up passengers along the route if they flag the train down and pay for the number of miles they were on the train. The conductor had been working for the railroad for about all but 10 years of his life. At one point along the route, he asked for used magazines and newspapers which he threw from the train to locals in one of the villages along the route from Fairbanks to Denali. When I booked my trip, I decided to upgrade to the Gold Star service on the railroad, and after walking through the train, I was glad I did. Upgrading allowed sitting in one of the front cars and on the upper deck. Standard passage only had seating in the lower deck of the car with a viewing deck above the general seating area. There was plenty of space to spread out regardless of the passage booked due to so few people being on the train.

Although not needed for the number of passengers, the “A” car was still in use and blocked some of the views. However, the views along the line did not become spectacular until about the last 30 miles of the trip. A view of Mt. McKinley or Denali (the “high one” in the Athabascan language) occurred just briefly, but clearer views would occur the next day. As with most of the travel experienced during the trip, I didn’t want to take my eyes off the scenery for fear of missing something wonderful. I would get a glimpse of 3 Dall sheep on the trip that I had missed earlier in the trip. There were some spectacular views south of the Mooney Bridge as we approached Denali National Park. As I continued to watch the scenery, there was plenty of time to interact with other passengers from places such as Australia, Colombia, Switzerland, and other places in the U.S. There were also several remnants of the Cold War (mainly early warning radar stations) along the line.

Glitter Gulch (Downtown Denali) on left

Once arriving at the depot outside Denali, the hotel shuttle took us to the hotel where I had a couple of hours of downtime. As I walked down the hill from the Denali Bluffs Lodge toward the downtown area, all the stores had end of season sales going on, with prices being marked down to 50% and fleeces for about $10. Lunch was at hot dog stand where I got a dog that had fried onions, bacon, and nacho cheese. It was good, but I’m not sure I’d recommend eating it. Some of the hamburgers sounded tasty though. As I killed time back in the hotel, I was disappointed as the room didn’t have ESPN since I hoped to watch the Arizona v OK State game later that afternoon.

I put on some warm clothes and walked down to meet the shuttle for the whitewater rafting trip I had booked. It was an 11 mile trip down the Nenana River on the outside of Denali National Park. Most of the rapids on this stretch of the river were Class I, II, III, and III-plus depending on the time of the year. The company offered a paddle trip which I opted for instead of just sitting in the raft. Once suited up in Goretex suits, we boarded a converted school bus to get in the water. Interestingly enough, another of the persons on the paddle trip was Ross from Adelaide, Australia. The rafting guide paired us together and we were in the front at the start.

Mooney Bridge

The Nenana River is a glacially fed river that has a grayish tint to it and very cold. Air temperature was around 50 degrees, but windy. The Goretex suits did a good job of keeping you warm and my hands were the only part that got cold. We didn’t paddle the whole way down and stretches where we didn’t paddle led to my hands getting cold. Despite rapids with names such as “Knife,” “Royal Flush,” “Trash Hole,” and the “Trash Compactor,” it was a pretty easy ride down the river.

The Knife (I think)

There were a few areas as the picture shows where a “glacial facial” was waiting for you along the exhilaration of rafting the river.

Along the route, there was a glimpse of three Dall sheep which were likely the same three seen earlier from the Railroad. (Pictures of the Nenana River from the railroad earlier in the day.)

Once back to the rafting office, I climbed out of my suit, and went to find a restaurant that had the Arizona v OK State game on. What I had forgotten was this Thursday was also the start of the NFL season. So the restaurant I went to was airing the New Orleans v. Green Bay game on which turned out to be entertaining. The (halibut) fish and chips from the Salmon Bake in Glitter Gulch was also very tasty. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in the area.