We took the first train of the season. The trains run every week or so in the winter. The Alaska Railroad connects Seward all the way up to Fairbanks. Some of these communities are only reachable by train. They are called flagstoppers because they flag down the train and hop aboard to ride into town. To be a flagstopper sounds charming but maybe a little lonely too. When our train passes through towns on our journey, everyone is waving at the train and we are waving back. I’m not sure if everyone is extra happy because it’s the beginning of the season, or if people always wave at the train.

We took the Denali Star route up to Denali which is about an 8 hour ride from Anchorage. The train schedule is pretty relaxed so sometimes they arrive on time and sometimes they arrive very late. We heard that the train headed to Fairbanks was delayed significantly due to a mudslide one of the days, but when I check the news, I don’t see anything recent. It sounds like it happens sometimes though.

We upgraded our train tickets to the fancy Goldstar Service where we were provided two plated meals, drinks, and an open-air part of the car.

Taiga is the snow forest part where trees are about to grow, this includes birch and spruce. Tundra is where trees aren’t able to grow because it is too cold. The tree line rises a bit each year.

There are local guides providing commentary along the entire route. These guides are trained by the high school through a 11-12 week program for juniors and seniors where they are taught all about Alaska. After completion of the program, the students have the opportunity to be guides on the railroad for the summer.

We were told a bunch of facts about the history and nature of Alaska.

“Native Alaska” means someone who is born and raised in Alaska. “Alaska Native” means indigenous to Alaska.

One way to remember the 5 types of salmon in Alaska, you can count them on your fingers.

Thumb – chum salmon (how to remember: rhymes with thumb)

Pointer – sockeye salmon (how to remember: you don’t want to poke your eye out)

Middle finger – king salmon (how to remember: the tallest finger)

Ring finger – silver salmon (how to remember: where you wear your wedding ring)

Pinky finger – pink salmon (how to remember: sounds like pinky)

You can also form the map of Alaska with your hand! The pointer is for the Aleutian islands.

On the train, we had lovely views

We stayed at Denali Park Village to be close to the park. There were some nice trails right there as well.

The evening we arrived, the Cabin Nite dinner theater was hosting its opening night. We signed up to attend. The event included an all you can eat family style meal and a very well done performance of singing and storytelling.

We learned about the early homesteaders and their stories. “Sourdough” is a term used to describe an experienced Alaskan, and dates back to the early prospectors during the Gold Rush. They traveled with sourdough and relied on it to survive. “Cheechako” is a term for a tenderfoot newcomer. It sounds like “Chicago”. I suppose enough newcomers came from Chicago for the term to exist.

The last song in the performance was very compelling and painted Alaska in a very exciting light. Perhaps the performance even convinced some people to move to Alaska!

The trails near Denali Park Village were nice and one even led all the way to the visitor center of the park. We enjoyed the Oxbow Trail and the Three Lakes Trail.

Denali National Park doesn’t have any marked or fenced boundaries. Animals are able to travel in and out of the park. There’s only one road in the park and it is 92 miles long. We took the park bus to Savage River at mile 15. Later in the season, there are busses that will go further into the park, but that was the end of the road for us. There is a landslide that happened a few years ago at mile 43, so the road is closed beyond that, but next year that landslide should be fully cleared and the road will be open again.

Denali National Park was originally organized to protect the Dall sheep population . They are white sheep that live in the rocky parts of Denali. We didn’t see any, but I’m sure in a few weeks they will be more visible to visitors.

Savage River Loop and the Savage Alpine Trail were both too snowy for us to take. Instead, we enjoyed looking at the animals and surrounding nature.

Here’s a male ptarmigan in his winter outfit.

Here’s a male grouse.

Here’s a ground squirrel.

Here’s an arctic hare in his winter clothes. We saw some that had already started to turn brown for the season.

We took a naturalist guided tour and walked the Meadow Loop Trail and looked at all the plants coming up at the start of spring. We saw fireweed, lichen, and a lot of fungus.

Here’s a lichen on the spruce.

Here’s a nice view including the witches broom infected spruce.

One fungus called witches broom infects the spruce tree and then it goes and infects the bear berry plant and then goes back to a spruce tree and then to a bearberry plant, back and forth forever. Here’s the bearberry.

In the winter, moose eat bark of willow, aspen, and birch. Moose only have bottom teeth. Moose never eat a full ring of bark around a tree because they don’t want to kill the tree.

Instead of teeth, in the top of a moose mouth is a plate that is used to strip the leaves off the vegetation in the warmer times of year when their diet is more leafy.

Porcupines also eat bark and they climb trees. From the train, I saw a porcupine waddling up a hill.

We happened upon a goshawk with a nest and two Canada jays that were mimicking the goshawk call and bullying it. Our guide was very excited about the goshawk. They are not easily spotted.

Something else not easily spotted is actually Denali (Mount McKinley). Only 30% of people visiting Denali National Park actually get to see Denali. It is likely covered by clouds and has its own weather system.

We were the lucky few to get a glimpse from the train. You can see it peaking behind the clouds.

On the train ride back to Anchorage, we passed a train headed to Denali, and it was packed!!! The tourists have arrived!

We also saw a bear from the train just inside of Anchorage. It was trying to open a dumpster.