Striking Alaska off the bucket list, well, sorta
Aug 13, 2017, 7:50 pm
#31
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
I am enjoying your trip report very much. Thank you for sharing not just your gorgeous pictures, but your lessons learned and how you routed around your obstacles. The recovery and honesty regarding how you would improve your experience "for next time" is good information to those of us not on the trip with you.
Aug 14, 2017, 11:23 am
#32
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Day 6 (continued)
As I wrote earlier, we were lined up for a shuttle that would take us up to Eielson Visitor Center. After a stop of about 30 minutes, the bus would return to the WAC. Visitors were free to a) stay at Eielson for 30 minutes, then return on the same bus, b) hang around at Eielson longer and take a later bus back, or c) should availability permit, take a different bus all the way up to the final stop - Kantishna. Kantishna is a location that has lodging facilities as well, though obviously, you would need to have reserved that way way in advance! Needless to say, it is pretty expensive as well.
Because it was a relatively cloud free day, we thought we had a good chance of seeing the mountain, though I knew that if the clouds had settled in that direction, our chances would go down very quickly. High mountain peaks typically generate their own weather system, as we had learned to our detriment in Jungfrau, Switzerland, where we didn't see the peak even once during our three days in the Lauterbrunnen valley.
For our journey to Eielson, we had an absolutely great shuttle driver - Ken. Here is how Ken introduced himself, true 007 style. "I am Ken. I am from Kentucky, so I am Ken from Kentucky! I am very courteous. At each stop, I like to get down from the bus first to lend a hand to the ladies (and men) getting down from the bus. I have probably held the hand of thousands of pretty ladies - my wife does not mind that at all. So, I am Courteous Ken from Kentucky!" *now say all that with the southern drawl of Kentucky*
I had read elsewhere that though the shuttle bus drivers are not paid to provide any commentary beyond succinct Yes/No/ThankYou kinda comments, quite a few of them try to engage the visitors and keep them entertained. So, when Ken got started, he said that though we were in a shuttle and his job was to only take us to our destination, he would share his experience with us to make it a pleasant journey for all of us.
Ken looked to me as being almost as old as my mother. And his commentary ratified my guess. Right at the beginning of the trip, Ken said that his bride and he had recently celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary and that though he had been here a few years, he now planned to retire at the end of this season. He also added that he had been married when he was 22, and we could use our math skills to determine his age. His dream was to take his wife to Ireland for a few months, sometime in the future. An amusing take to Ken's announcing his 52nd wedding anniversary: my mother who is not used to the American accent turned to me and said, he sure looks older than 52!
We went by the official Visitor Center and the nearby dog kennels where the rangers raised dogs for use during the winter months. These dog sleds are one of the few means of transportation across the national park in the winter months. The huskies are raised as puppies and kept there in Denali until they are about nine years old, after which they were retired and released to folks who wish to adopt them. However, because of their body chemistry, these dogs are not given to folks in the lower part of the Lower 48. In other words, if you are from, say, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, etc, you would not be able to adopt these dogs as pets. Needless to say, he also added, not all puppies last the nine years. To be part of the sled team, the dogs need to have the right attitude and be willing to be team players. For more information, he said, the dog kennels are open throughout the day (in the summer months) and they even have demonstrations of the dog sleds three times a day - at 10 am, 2 pm (this I misremembered as 12 noon - *spoiler alert* this was a significant miss ... for tomorrow) and 4 pm.
Shortly after that, we were on the Park Road that leads directly all the way into Kantishna. At this point, visitors are permitted to drive in their cars - all the way up to Savage River, which is about 15 miles into the park. We thought that we might do just that tomorrow. One of the visitors coming in an RV in the other direction was straying across the median and so Ken had to take slight evasive action. Soon, he got on his walkie talkie and radioed his base reporting that driver (note to folks driving inside the park: be careful, you might get reported - though I don't know what could happen if reported - for bad driving. Note that the speed limit is IIRC 25 mph)
Oh, I forgot a small but important detail! When I had started my research, I recall reading about which side of the bus to be seated on, in order to get the best views. As it happened, we were among the middle of the group - but though most of the first few seats had been taken, a few entire rows in the back were still available. By then, I had - of course - forgotten which side was the "right" side to sit on (I believe it is the left)! When I asked Ken as we were boarding, he said "whichever side the wildlife will show up at" ;-)
Regardless, as I was climbing up with my mother, I noticed that the first row right behind - and to the right of - Ken was available and took it without a second thought. That turned out to be a good decision as my mother didn't have to navigate through the bus to get down and get back in. And as she was always the first getting out, it didn't really hinder the others (though maybe they were delayed by a few seconds). Of course, it was a great move from the view standpoint as well - in addition to the window to our right, we got both the front windows to look out form! The rest of the family took one of the rows toward the back of the bus.
Presently, Ken slowed down the bus and said, "What you are going to see now is going to cost you! You are going to be part of the 30% Club. What is that? Well, look to the left - Denali has decided to reveal himself to you. Only about 30% of our visitors are able to see the mountain without clouds. You will now need to go back to the visitor center concession booth where my wife works, and purchase the souvenirs which state that you are part of this exclusive club." Forty necks swivelled left and sure enough, there was the Great One!
Denali, the Great One
Moods uplifted, we then stopped to take photos of the sight. Hopefully, he would still be revealed when we got to Eielson, but there were no guarantees. So, we might as well take as many photos as we wanted!
Though folks talk about Denali dominating the landscape, I didn't get that impression - maybe I had overestimated the term "dominating!" Sure, he still towered above the closer mountains, but because of the distance - we were still about 60-70 miles away, it was difficult to grasp the true difference in height.
IIRC, this is the bridge over the Savage River - and tourist traffic cannot go past this point as there is a ranger station right by the bridge. The hut to the bottom left of this photo is one of the earlier huts in the park and is even to this day used by the rangers in the winter months.
Ken gave a good humorous explanation of these areas of the roadway where there is a steep drop to one side. He talked about how he had come once with his entire clan - wife, kids, grandkids and great grandkids and how a couple of them were a bit scared on the way back.
And we see someone working on the road as we were about to take a turn on it.
So, we waited for him to backtrack a bit ...
... and find a point where he could turn off the road
Here we cross one of the Tour buses - these are the ones that are customized air-conditioned (not sure) buses with narration. These do not pick up folks who are using only the shuttle bus system.
Our bus and co-passengers at one of the stops along the route - this is Polychrome overlook where you get to a lot of little hills that change color depending on how sunny, cloudy or rainy it is and the time of day as well. We didn't notice a lot of variation in the colors during our travel, but if you google, you will notice a lot off color variation.
Notice too, how the clouds are all ranging in that one direction. Had Denali been in that direction, he would've been hidden from us.
This photo indicates how the vegetation stops growing past a certain height on the mountain - because of the weather as well as because of the lack of water which probably drains right into the hill or off of it, I would assume
We've still got some distance to go before we get to our closest from Denali
Zoomed in, I just about got around all of the tourists! I got the feeling that Denali was sweating - as I recently learned, it is actually the snow blowing off the face of the mountain (so, I guess I am justified in making the statement that the mountain is sweating).
At Eielson Center, a ground squirrel at a Ranger-led walk that we went on. Some of the other tourists had gone hiking up the hill on one side of the visitor center - the other side led down. We were not too keen on hiking, so went with the ranger. That took a good hour.
By this time, clouds had started forming and only the summit of Denali was clearly visible. So, we knew that even if we were to go all the way to Wonder Lake, our opportunities of further sighting for that day was going to be severely limited. However, we decided that we might as well take advantage of the weather and travel further into the park. For tomorrow, we had a 11 am ticket and though we had an earlier ticket for the day after, we were not sure if we would be motivated enough (having already seen Denali) to wake up early and drive in from Talkeetna. And neither of those possibilities would permit us to venture deeper into the park than Eielson.
Therefore, we informed the local dispatcher that we would want to go all the way to Wonder Lake, and he said that the next bus would have space in it, but we would have to turn around back in it, as the bus after that might not have space to bring us back to the WAC.
At Wonder Lake, there was the option to walk a mile or so each way to Reflection Pond and take a photo of Denali with a reflection. If we hurried, there would be sufficient time to do so and catch the same bus on its way back from Wonder Lake. However, clouds had taken over and - you guessed it, we had bears at the back of our minds, though we had not encountered a single one from the bus - so we decided against trying that hike.
Wonder Lake had clouds around it and the water was also choppy, which is what the drivere had said would be the case at Reflection Pond as well, so in hindsight, not hiking to Reflection Pond was a good decision.
And here are the solitary wildlife figures we came across during today's trip (other than the countless hares and ground squirrels, and a few Dall sheep way up the hills): a moose (check out those antlers), and ...
... a caribou (see how these antlers are different from those of a moose)
Because it was a relatively cloud free day, we thought we had a good chance of seeing the mountain, though I knew that if the clouds had settled in that direction, our chances would go down very quickly. High mountain peaks typically generate their own weather system, as we had learned to our detriment in Jungfrau, Switzerland, where we didn't see the peak even once during our three days in the Lauterbrunnen valley.
For our journey to Eielson, we had an absolutely great shuttle driver - Ken. Here is how Ken introduced himself, true 007 style. "I am Ken. I am from Kentucky, so I am Ken from Kentucky! I am very courteous. At each stop, I like to get down from the bus first to lend a hand to the ladies (and men) getting down from the bus. I have probably held the hand of thousands of pretty ladies - my wife does not mind that at all. So, I am Courteous Ken from Kentucky!" *now say all that with the southern drawl of Kentucky*
I had read elsewhere that though the shuttle bus drivers are not paid to provide any commentary beyond succinct Yes/No/ThankYou kinda comments, quite a few of them try to engage the visitors and keep them entertained. So, when Ken got started, he said that though we were in a shuttle and his job was to only take us to our destination, he would share his experience with us to make it a pleasant journey for all of us.
Ken looked to me as being almost as old as my mother. And his commentary ratified my guess. Right at the beginning of the trip, Ken said that his bride and he had recently celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary and that though he had been here a few years, he now planned to retire at the end of this season. He also added that he had been married when he was 22, and we could use our math skills to determine his age. His dream was to take his wife to Ireland for a few months, sometime in the future. An amusing take to Ken's announcing his 52nd wedding anniversary: my mother who is not used to the American accent turned to me and said, he sure looks older than 52!
We went by the official Visitor Center and the nearby dog kennels where the rangers raised dogs for use during the winter months. These dog sleds are one of the few means of transportation across the national park in the winter months. The huskies are raised as puppies and kept there in Denali until they are about nine years old, after which they were retired and released to folks who wish to adopt them. However, because of their body chemistry, these dogs are not given to folks in the lower part of the Lower 48. In other words, if you are from, say, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, etc, you would not be able to adopt these dogs as pets. Needless to say, he also added, not all puppies last the nine years. To be part of the sled team, the dogs need to have the right attitude and be willing to be team players. For more information, he said, the dog kennels are open throughout the day (in the summer months) and they even have demonstrations of the dog sleds three times a day - at 10 am, 2 pm (this I misremembered as 12 noon - *spoiler alert* this was a significant miss ... for tomorrow) and 4 pm.
Shortly after that, we were on the Park Road that leads directly all the way into Kantishna. At this point, visitors are permitted to drive in their cars - all the way up to Savage River, which is about 15 miles into the park. We thought that we might do just that tomorrow. One of the visitors coming in an RV in the other direction was straying across the median and so Ken had to take slight evasive action. Soon, he got on his walkie talkie and radioed his base reporting that driver (note to folks driving inside the park: be careful, you might get reported - though I don't know what could happen if reported - for bad driving. Note that the speed limit is IIRC 25 mph)
Oh, I forgot a small but important detail! When I had started my research, I recall reading about which side of the bus to be seated on, in order to get the best views. As it happened, we were among the middle of the group - but though most of the first few seats had been taken, a few entire rows in the back were still available. By then, I had - of course - forgotten which side was the "right" side to sit on (I believe it is the left)! When I asked Ken as we were boarding, he said "whichever side the wildlife will show up at" ;-)
Regardless, as I was climbing up with my mother, I noticed that the first row right behind - and to the right of - Ken was available and took it without a second thought. That turned out to be a good decision as my mother didn't have to navigate through the bus to get down and get back in. And as she was always the first getting out, it didn't really hinder the others (though maybe they were delayed by a few seconds). Of course, it was a great move from the view standpoint as well - in addition to the window to our right, we got both the front windows to look out form! The rest of the family took one of the rows toward the back of the bus.
Presently, Ken slowed down the bus and said, "What you are going to see now is going to cost you! You are going to be part of the 30% Club. What is that? Well, look to the left - Denali has decided to reveal himself to you. Only about 30% of our visitors are able to see the mountain without clouds. You will now need to go back to the visitor center concession booth where my wife works, and purchase the souvenirs which state that you are part of this exclusive club." Forty necks swivelled left and sure enough, there was the Great One!
Denali, the Great One
Moods uplifted, we then stopped to take photos of the sight. Hopefully, he would still be revealed when we got to Eielson, but there were no guarantees. So, we might as well take as many photos as we wanted!
Though folks talk about Denali dominating the landscape, I didn't get that impression - maybe I had overestimated the term "dominating!" Sure, he still towered above the closer mountains, but because of the distance - we were still about 60-70 miles away, it was difficult to grasp the true difference in height.
IIRC, this is the bridge over the Savage River - and tourist traffic cannot go past this point as there is a ranger station right by the bridge. The hut to the bottom left of this photo is one of the earlier huts in the park and is even to this day used by the rangers in the winter months.
Ken gave a good humorous explanation of these areas of the roadway where there is a steep drop to one side. He talked about how he had come once with his entire clan - wife, kids, grandkids and great grandkids and how a couple of them were a bit scared on the way back.
And we see someone working on the road as we were about to take a turn on it.
So, we waited for him to backtrack a bit ...
... and find a point where he could turn off the road
Here we cross one of the Tour buses - these are the ones that are customized air-conditioned (not sure) buses with narration. These do not pick up folks who are using only the shuttle bus system.
Our bus and co-passengers at one of the stops along the route - this is Polychrome overlook where you get to a lot of little hills that change color depending on how sunny, cloudy or rainy it is and the time of day as well. We didn't notice a lot of variation in the colors during our travel, but if you google, you will notice a lot off color variation.
Notice too, how the clouds are all ranging in that one direction. Had Denali been in that direction, he would've been hidden from us.
This photo indicates how the vegetation stops growing past a certain height on the mountain - because of the weather as well as because of the lack of water which probably drains right into the hill or off of it, I would assume
We've still got some distance to go before we get to our closest from Denali
Zoomed in, I just about got around all of the tourists! I got the feeling that Denali was sweating - as I recently learned, it is actually the snow blowing off the face of the mountain (so, I guess I am justified in making the statement that the mountain is sweating).
At Eielson Center, a ground squirrel at a Ranger-led walk that we went on. Some of the other tourists had gone hiking up the hill on one side of the visitor center - the other side led down. We were not too keen on hiking, so went with the ranger. That took a good hour.
By this time, clouds had started forming and only the summit of Denali was clearly visible. So, we knew that even if we were to go all the way to Wonder Lake, our opportunities of further sighting for that day was going to be severely limited. However, we decided that we might as well take advantage of the weather and travel further into the park. For tomorrow, we had a 11 am ticket and though we had an earlier ticket for the day after, we were not sure if we would be motivated enough (having already seen Denali) to wake up early and drive in from Talkeetna. And neither of those possibilities would permit us to venture deeper into the park than Eielson.
Therefore, we informed the local dispatcher that we would want to go all the way to Wonder Lake, and he said that the next bus would have space in it, but we would have to turn around back in it, as the bus after that might not have space to bring us back to the WAC.
At Wonder Lake, there was the option to walk a mile or so each way to Reflection Pond and take a photo of Denali with a reflection. If we hurried, there would be sufficient time to do so and catch the same bus on its way back from Wonder Lake. However, clouds had taken over and - you guessed it, we had bears at the back of our minds, though we had not encountered a single one from the bus - so we decided against trying that hike.
Wonder Lake had clouds around it and the water was also choppy, which is what the drivere had said would be the case at Reflection Pond as well, so in hindsight, not hiking to Reflection Pond was a good decision.
And here are the solitary wildlife figures we came across during today's trip (other than the countless hares and ground squirrels, and a few Dall sheep way up the hills): a moose (check out those antlers), and ...
... a caribou (see how these antlers are different from those of a moose)
Aug 14, 2017, 1:11 pm
#33
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Day 6 (concluded)
Our second driver of the day (T.P.) was not as much fun as Ken. I cannot put my finger on one thing that I had a complaint about, well maybe it was that she was not as effusive in giving a commentary (but that could also have been because we were on our way back now and a) everyone was tired, and b) most probably had heard it on the way in). Be that as it may, she did stop at Eielsen where we got out to fill water and admire the scenery (at this point, Denali was no longer visible and we were even wondering if it would rain on us).
We stopped at the Polychrome Overlook for photos, but the grizzly bear eluded us yet again. The folks on the bus - inbound - had apparently spotted a mom and calf but it had been very far away. We - well, to be precise, the other passengers who had industrial strength binoculars - tried to spot them to no avail. We even had a couple of false alarms, but nothind doing - we did see some owls right by the roadside.
Nearing the WAC, it was past eight pm, and our driver slowed down to point out the Riley Creek trestle (railroad) bridge. Many of our co-passengers took photos; Courteous Ken From Kentucky had not pointed this out to us (probably because it was behind us on our way out). I made a note to check it out further tomorrow or the day after, should we get a chance.
Given that it was really late now (past nine pm) when we finally got back - tired - to our cabins, that we had already seen Denali and that the weather was not expected to be as good the next two days, we revised our plans for the next two days.
First thing tomorrow, we would have to check out from our cabins. Then, we would see the folks at WAC to see whether they would offer any refund for the unused tickets. If they did, we would request a refund for my mother's ticket for the day after tomorrow. Besides, we would relinquish our tickets for tomorrow (which was a free set of tickets anyway, as we had purchased the three-for-two offer). With that in mind, the plan was for us to attend the 10 am presentation of the dogs and their sled, then leave before noon for the Yukon River tomorrow, driving all the way back to Talkeetna. The day after, DW, DS and I would drive up from Talkeetna, take the bus up to Eielson then return. But you know what happens to the best-laid plans, don't you? :-)
We stopped at the Polychrome Overlook for photos, but the grizzly bear eluded us yet again. The folks on the bus - inbound - had apparently spotted a mom and calf but it had been very far away. We - well, to be precise, the other passengers who had industrial strength binoculars - tried to spot them to no avail. We even had a couple of false alarms, but nothind doing - we did see some owls right by the roadside.
Nearing the WAC, it was past eight pm, and our driver slowed down to point out the Riley Creek trestle (railroad) bridge. Many of our co-passengers took photos; Courteous Ken From Kentucky had not pointed this out to us (probably because it was behind us on our way out). I made a note to check it out further tomorrow or the day after, should we get a chance.
Given that it was really late now (past nine pm) when we finally got back - tired - to our cabins, that we had already seen Denali and that the weather was not expected to be as good the next two days, we revised our plans for the next two days.
First thing tomorrow, we would have to check out from our cabins. Then, we would see the folks at WAC to see whether they would offer any refund for the unused tickets. If they did, we would request a refund for my mother's ticket for the day after tomorrow. Besides, we would relinquish our tickets for tomorrow (which was a free set of tickets anyway, as we had purchased the three-for-two offer). With that in mind, the plan was for us to attend the 10 am presentation of the dogs and their sled, then leave before noon for the Yukon River tomorrow, driving all the way back to Talkeetna. The day after, DW, DS and I would drive up from Talkeetna, take the bus up to Eielson then return. But you know what happens to the best-laid plans, don't you? :-)
Aug 14, 2017, 1:32 pm
#34
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,990
I've got to defend myself against this charge of gross underestimation!! :-)
The major mistake I confessed was neglecting to find out where exactly Talkeetna was in relation to Denali and Anchorage when reserving the accommodations. However, on the other distances, I had done a pretty good job of estimating them. What I had underestimated was the actual travel time allowing for the stops! We were absolutely the opposite of the author and his partner in the excerpt below (I am reading "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby):
In other words, we stopped quite often to take photos, reducing our speed from what I had hoped to be about 50-60 mph to more like 40-50 mph, thereby increasing our travel time considerably (especially on the trip from Palmer to Matanuska to Denali).
I do appreciate your comment. Glad that you are enjoying the report and are being amused by it.
The major mistake I confessed was neglecting to find out where exactly Talkeetna was in relation to Denali and Anchorage when reserving the accommodations. However, on the other distances, I had done a pretty good job of estimating them. What I had underestimated was the actual travel time allowing for the stops! We were absolutely the opposite of the author and his partner in the excerpt below (I am reading "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby):
In other words, we stopped quite often to take photos, reducing our speed from what I had hoped to be about 50-60 mph to more like 40-50 mph, thereby increasing our travel time considerably (especially on the trip from Palmer to Matanuska to Denali).
I do appreciate your comment. Glad that you are enjoying the report and are being amused by it.
Definitely not like road tripping on the interstates in the lower 48.
Aug 15, 2017, 3:54 am
#36
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Perth, Australia
Programs: QF, LM, USDM, AA
Posts: 209
Planing to be in Anchorage in about a week and drive down to Seward and do a half day cruise and then drive up to Denali... Did you buy your tickets for the shuttle bus in Denali before you got here or did you buy them when you got there?? I would probably be wanting to take an early bus to Eielson Center and get there by about midday when i think there are walks with Rangers?? So not sure if i need to buy them ahead of time or get up there and there will be seats available?
Also why did you not go for the coupon books? i was told by someone that they can be good value and you can ask around online if people have used coupons or their book left and they are leaving Alaska and maybe get a good deal??
Nice photos by the way and like the information...
Also why did you not go for the coupon books? i was told by someone that they can be good value and you can ask around online if people have used coupons or their book left and they are leaving Alaska and maybe get a good deal??
Nice photos by the way and like the information...
Last edited by casanovawa; Aug 15, 2017 at 4:03 am
Aug 15, 2017, 6:02 am
#37
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Planing to be in Anchorage in about a week and drive down to Seward and do a half day cruise and then drive up to Denali... Did you buy your tickets for the shuttle bus in Denali before you got here or did you buy them when you got there?? I would probably be wanting to take an early bus to Eielson Center and get there by about midday when i think there are walks with Rangers?? So not sure if i need to buy them ahead of time or get up there and there will be seats available?
Also why did you not go for the coupon books? i was told by someone that they can be good value and you can ask around online if people have used coupons or their book left and they are leaving Alaska and maybe get a good deal??
Nice photos by the way and like the information...
Also why did you not go for the coupon books? i was told by someone that they can be good value and you can ask around online if people have used coupons or their book left and they are leaving Alaska and maybe get a good deal??
Nice photos by the way and like the information...
I purchased up front for two reasons: a) I was purchasing the three-for-two tickets, and was unsure if that offer is even available in person (anyone who knows more please chip in) and b) though I learned somewhere that up to a third of the tickets are available in person on the day or up to a couple of days (?) in advance, I was unwilling to take the chance that they might be unavailable when we got there.
That said, we were able to change/reschedule our trips and didn't really have too much of an issue, which would lead me to assume that you could purchase the tickets in person.
In your case, it could swing either way: let's say you purchase up front and select your days - what if it is a bad weather day and the next day is much brighter? On the other hand, let's say you don't purchase in advance but the day you are there, it is bright and sunny after three days of bad weather -
and they are sold out because of all the folks who waited the three previous days and have beat you to today's tickets? I think you'll have to decide by flipping a coin or some other way. It also depends on how many days you might be able to allot to being in the Denali area - popular wisdom is that if it is bad weather in Denali and sout of Denali, Fairbanks has bright sunshine! As for us, I played safe by purchasing tickets for three days and got lucky on the first!
Taking the early bus to Eielson is definitely the thing to do - you should plan for 8:30 at the latest. And even that will likely just barely get you all the way to Kantishna and back, i.e., if you plan to do nothing extra on your own (in other words, you'll go in and come out on the same Kantishna bus). The ranger experience at Eielson was not too great for me - for the kids, yes, but not for adults. But it was a wide open area with not too much fear of bears :-)
Coupon books: we were a group of five. The coupon books cater to specific interests and also are typically for a buy-one-get-one-free. Of all the coupons we saw, the only ones I thought we would be using were the cruise coupons, which gave - IIRC - $50 off the second person's ticket. Other coupons include one free ticket for the aerial tour, one free ticket for each of multiple train rides (but we could not split up the party for the train ride, or purchase three books for the five tickets which would have all added up to more expense and more time taken as well). But if you are in Perth and will be there in about ten days, isn't it too late to purchase the coupon books? [I don't know if they are available for purchase locally - I never even tried looking for the ones famous online or for any others in stores]
I never asked around online for the coupon books - that might have worked for us as well. That's a good option that I didn't even consider! But remember, IIRC you need to have the entire coupon book on you and not the loose sheets of the specific coupons you want to use. So make sure that you get the physical complete book(s) that has the coupons that you need to use still attached to it.
Aug 15, 2017, 6:08 am
#38
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Wish you - and casanovawa - all the best. Are you going just for the cruise or are you adding on a land portion to your trip as well? Please do share photos from the cruise - that's still on our bucket list :-)
Aug 15, 2017, 7:45 am
#39
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
It's easy to not realize how variable the driving times in Alaska can be. It's not at all unusual to have hour+ delays due to construction in summer, let alone getting stuck behind some goofball driving 50 in a 65 zone with no way to get around them. Or to have the entire highway shut down due to a collision, as happens frequently on the Seward Highway.
Definitely not like road tripping on the interstates in the lower 48.
Definitely not like road tripping on the interstates in the lower 48.
I had read about the Alaska rule of being ticketed if you are leading a platoon of more than five vehicles ;-) but had half thought it was more of an urban legend than reality ... until I saw signs all over the place. DW and I are still unsure how exactly it is enforced? We were not in this situation, but let's say you slowed down at a small stretch of road for two minutes - enough to build up traffic behind - and are now going five miles over the speed limit, will you be ticketed if you don't pull over and let everyone overtake you?
Aug 15, 2017, 9:18 am
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: AA
Posts: 14,733
Aug 15, 2017, 10:49 am
#41
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Day 7
Like I've written previously, we had shuttle bus tickets for three consecutive days; however, I never wrote how we were a bit fortunate to even have those tickets. Long story follows (for those not interested in the long story, please go to location marked "----- end of long story ------")
Not to belabor the point of the three-for-two tickets, but I had to call the Aramark Denali (the concessionaires who handle all the transportation inside the park on behalf of the National Park Service) phone number to purchase them as there was not enough information available online to do it by myself through the online reservation screen. And remember, I didn't really understand how the shuttle system works, as there were some gaps in the information available online (or at least, in the places I looked while researching the trip), so I had a few questions as well.
I called the phone number for Aramark late in the month of May for travel in the first half of July. At this time, there was a lot of availability that I could tell, based on the website. And I was on hold ... and I was on hold ... for over an hour! I had the phone next to me in the bed as I could not handle holding it with a bent neck. In that timeframe, I dozed off - but was suddenly woken up by a human on the other end of the line. I asked my questions one after another. Dude was a bit brusque and, it appeared, put off by all the questions I had to ask. However, he did answer them, even though it was somewhat impatiently.
Finally, we got to the point where I gave him the three dates in July I needed the ticket for. Remember, at this point in time, I am in the bed, staring at the ceiling and still only three-quarters awake. He replied back - so it is Thursday, Friday and Saturday (I believe those were the days he said - could've been others). I said, yes, and repeated the dates back to him. He then asked for the times, and I gave him the one early timing, followed by the one later timing and another early timing. He repeated back to me Thursday x am, Friday y am and Saturday z am. And I gave him my credit card information.
Fast forward to end of June. I am getting all my ducks in a row. I have printed twenty different pieces of the puzzle, labelled them 1 through 26, starting with the parking ticket for two weeks near the Airport, the MCO-SEA tickets ... ending with SEA-MCO tickets. I am looking through each of them to check the timings when I suddenly come across the Denali shuttle bus reservation. I see June. I rub my eyes, look again. They are the same dates that we need, but they are for ... JUNE!!! I'm more wide awake now than I've ever been in the last few years for sure! Not only are the tickets for June, but they are for two weeks ago. In other words, the tickets are invalid. I log in to the website, enter the ticket code and get confirmation - the tickets were valid in the past!
In a panic, I called the credit card company to see if there was anything they could do about it (I had given up on calling Aramark because their policy clearly states that changes are permitted only before the actual ticket date, and I was S.O.L.!). They asked if I had spoken to the merchant. I said not really. They said that they could try to see what they could do, but I needed to first see if the merchant could resolve the issue.
So, I call Aramark. An hour later - and this hour I had tea, coffee, donuts, milkshakes, etc stacked up to keep me awake (but did not need any of them) - I get through and spoke to a reservation agent, who was really nice about the whole story. He managed to rebook us back to July. Which is why I was not too worried about not getting a refund for the unused tickets for today and tomorrow.
---------------- end of long story -------------
So, we woke up bright but not too early on our second day in the cabins near Denali. We had to check out before 11 am, but we were planning to check out as soon as the front desk opened at 8 am. Now, I am re-reading the instructions for our Talkeetna reservation and notice that the latest someone will be available to meet us would be 10 pm. As today was our Yukon plan, that would not work. And we didn't have a working cell phone. So, I asked if the folks at the front desk would help me reach Talkeetna folks. And they said I could use their office phone, which is what I did and was able to finalize plans on how we could get the keys to our accommodation that night, as we would be reaching really late. I am really grateful to the folks there for having let us use their phone.
Reaching the WAC before ten am, we went over to one of the ticket agents and informed her of our decision to relinquish our tickets for today and that my mother and DD would also not need their tickets for tomorrow. She was nice enough to offer us some refund back for the tickets, though I hadn't hoped to get any money back!
With that settled, we went to the kennels to see the dog-and-sled show. As it was about 10:15 am, I knew that we would probably miss the first part of it, but would be able to watch the latter part of it - besides, we would be able to watch the noon show and leave right after that. When we got there, we saw folks leaving - and learned that the show is more like 30 minutes not 45 minutes. And that the next show is not at noon (as I had remembered) but at 2 pm. As that would be too late, we decided to just visit the dogs for some time and then leave. DD was a bit unhappy but not too much :-) It was almost noon by the time we left the kennels and headed back towards the park entrance.
On the way, we saw the Riley Creek bridge and decided to stop by the side of the road take a photo.
Not to belabor the point of the three-for-two tickets, but I had to call the Aramark Denali (the concessionaires who handle all the transportation inside the park on behalf of the National Park Service) phone number to purchase them as there was not enough information available online to do it by myself through the online reservation screen. And remember, I didn't really understand how the shuttle system works, as there were some gaps in the information available online (or at least, in the places I looked while researching the trip), so I had a few questions as well.
I called the phone number for Aramark late in the month of May for travel in the first half of July. At this time, there was a lot of availability that I could tell, based on the website. And I was on hold ... and I was on hold ... for over an hour! I had the phone next to me in the bed as I could not handle holding it with a bent neck. In that timeframe, I dozed off - but was suddenly woken up by a human on the other end of the line. I asked my questions one after another. Dude was a bit brusque and, it appeared, put off by all the questions I had to ask. However, he did answer them, even though it was somewhat impatiently.
Finally, we got to the point where I gave him the three dates in July I needed the ticket for. Remember, at this point in time, I am in the bed, staring at the ceiling and still only three-quarters awake. He replied back - so it is Thursday, Friday and Saturday (I believe those were the days he said - could've been others). I said, yes, and repeated the dates back to him. He then asked for the times, and I gave him the one early timing, followed by the one later timing and another early timing. He repeated back to me Thursday x am, Friday y am and Saturday z am. And I gave him my credit card information.
Fast forward to end of June. I am getting all my ducks in a row. I have printed twenty different pieces of the puzzle, labelled them 1 through 26, starting with the parking ticket for two weeks near the Airport, the MCO-SEA tickets ... ending with SEA-MCO tickets. I am looking through each of them to check the timings when I suddenly come across the Denali shuttle bus reservation. I see June. I rub my eyes, look again. They are the same dates that we need, but they are for ... JUNE!!! I'm more wide awake now than I've ever been in the last few years for sure! Not only are the tickets for June, but they are for two weeks ago. In other words, the tickets are invalid. I log in to the website, enter the ticket code and get confirmation - the tickets were valid in the past!
In a panic, I called the credit card company to see if there was anything they could do about it (I had given up on calling Aramark because their policy clearly states that changes are permitted only before the actual ticket date, and I was S.O.L.!). They asked if I had spoken to the merchant. I said not really. They said that they could try to see what they could do, but I needed to first see if the merchant could resolve the issue.
So, I call Aramark. An hour later - and this hour I had tea, coffee, donuts, milkshakes, etc stacked up to keep me awake (but did not need any of them) - I get through and spoke to a reservation agent, who was really nice about the whole story. He managed to rebook us back to July. Which is why I was not too worried about not getting a refund for the unused tickets for today and tomorrow.
---------------- end of long story -------------
So, we woke up bright but not too early on our second day in the cabins near Denali. We had to check out before 11 am, but we were planning to check out as soon as the front desk opened at 8 am. Now, I am re-reading the instructions for our Talkeetna reservation and notice that the latest someone will be available to meet us would be 10 pm. As today was our Yukon plan, that would not work. And we didn't have a working cell phone. So, I asked if the folks at the front desk would help me reach Talkeetna folks. And they said I could use their office phone, which is what I did and was able to finalize plans on how we could get the keys to our accommodation that night, as we would be reaching really late. I am really grateful to the folks there for having let us use their phone.
Reaching the WAC before ten am, we went over to one of the ticket agents and informed her of our decision to relinquish our tickets for today and that my mother and DD would also not need their tickets for tomorrow. She was nice enough to offer us some refund back for the tickets, though I hadn't hoped to get any money back!
With that settled, we went to the kennels to see the dog-and-sled show. As it was about 10:15 am, I knew that we would probably miss the first part of it, but would be able to watch the latter part of it - besides, we would be able to watch the noon show and leave right after that. When we got there, we saw folks leaving - and learned that the show is more like 30 minutes not 45 minutes. And that the next show is not at noon (as I had remembered) but at 2 pm. As that would be too late, we decided to just visit the dogs for some time and then leave. DD was a bit unhappy but not too much :-) It was almost noon by the time we left the kennels and headed back towards the park entrance.
On the way, we saw the Riley Creek bridge and decided to stop by the side of the road take a photo.
Aug 15, 2017, 1:19 pm
#42
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Day 7 (continued)
Because I am a big train fan, I decided - on the spur of the moment - to check out the train station at Denali as it was quite near the visitor center. At this time, we were sure that the 12:30 pm southbound train had departed from Denali. However, when we reached the station, we learned that the train was running late and should be there in a few minutes. So, I decided to hang around, making sure the others did not have an objection. Everyone was OK!
Shortly, the train made an appearance and there was no shortage of cameramen to record the event! Now that it was finally here, I thought that if we left rightaway and headed back up the Park Road, we might be able to catch the train on the bridge. I had to ask a couple of folks in the station before I could get a reasonably definitive reply that the bridge is south of the station (which it is!). So, back we went - away from the park entrance - to find a spot to park and take photos from. Fortunately, we were able to spot a location pretty soon (the other photo - previous post - having been taken from within the car). Folks driving by (we were there a good ten minutes) might have wondered what we were up to looking out into the open, cameras in hand, me and DS.
Soon, we heard the loud whistle of the train and, within a minute, out it came and went over the bridge. This is the best photo I have as I was busy recording its video :-)
Railfanning done, we zoomed out of there as quick as we could. It was 1:05 pm when we left the park northbound to Yukon (we hoped)!
Shortly, the train made an appearance and there was no shortage of cameramen to record the event! Now that it was finally here, I thought that if we left rightaway and headed back up the Park Road, we might be able to catch the train on the bridge. I had to ask a couple of folks in the station before I could get a reasonably definitive reply that the bridge is south of the station (which it is!). So, back we went - away from the park entrance - to find a spot to park and take photos from. Fortunately, we were able to spot a location pretty soon (the other photo - previous post - having been taken from within the car). Folks driving by (we were there a good ten minutes) might have wondered what we were up to looking out into the open, cameras in hand, me and DS.
Soon, we heard the loud whistle of the train and, within a minute, out it came and went over the bridge. This is the best photo I have as I was busy recording its video :-)
Railfanning done, we zoomed out of there as quick as we could. It was 1:05 pm when we left the park northbound to Yukon (we hoped)!
Aug 16, 2017, 8:19 am
#44
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
I haven't seen the show, so maybe someone else can answer the question.
That said, like I believe I mentioned earlier, there are only a couple of railway routes in Alaska. The main line is a direct route from Fairbanks in the north to Seward in the south, with a spur to Whittier and another (?) to Girdwood and the glaciers. Other than that, the only one I am aware of is from Talkeetna to Hurricane, which offers a nice viewing over a gorge (I am writing this based on my research - never went on any train there). These are some of the few whistle stop routes in the country.
That said, like I believe I mentioned earlier, there are only a couple of railway routes in Alaska. The main line is a direct route from Fairbanks in the north to Seward in the south, with a spur to Whittier and another (?) to Girdwood and the glaciers. Other than that, the only one I am aware of is from Talkeetna to Hurricane, which offers a nice viewing over a gorge (I am writing this based on my research - never went on any train there). These are some of the few whistle stop routes in the country.
