The Train to Denali National Park

Alaska vacation day 8

So we came to the end of our cruise at Whittier. We disembarked from the ship and boarded the Denali Express train. This ride was supposed to be 10 hours – from 8 AM to 6 PM. However, due to circumstances out of our engineer’s control, wee didn’t arrive at the Denali Princess Lodge until after 10 PM! A southbound train engine was hit by a mudslide so they had to be cleared to resume before we could proceed.

Passage Canal heading to Whittier.
Saying goodbye to the Grand Princess!
We took this train to Denali National Park. We were in the first passenger car – first class!
The ride to Denali was a feast of incredible scenery. Here is one of about 100,000 glaciers in Alaska. What an amazing place is Alaska!
These mountains are in the Chugach Range.
Turnagain Arm off of Cook Inlet. We saw beluga whales here.
Anchorage Train Depot.
Birch trees, which are used in Alaska to make Birch syrup.
Susitna River.
These mountains and the ones below are in the Alaska Range.
Our tour guide said that the snow on these mountains was not there four days before we got there. This was all fresh snow. They call it “Termination Snow” because it means that the tourist season will soon be over, and the workers (who come from all over the world) will lose their jobs.
Nenana River.