Alaska Trip - Day 10 (Mount McKinley)
On our day at McKinley we were able to get a relatively good view of it right before we left for Anchorage, here is a timelapse video we were able to film.
Alaska Trip - Day 9 (Denali)
We had part of a day where we went into Denali National Park. We went on a nature bus ride, on which we saw two moose pretty close up. We also saw nice scenery, and caribou (American name for reindeer) but they were so far off they were just specks in the distance even with binoculars. We got a chance to see Mt. McKinley, tallest mountain on North America. Many people do not even get to see it when they go, as it is constantly covered in clouds. On our day in the park we only saw the very tip, but I will save a picture of it for tomorrow, when we got a much better view.When we got back from the park we rode a bus to another hotel, where we would be the next day.
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| Moose |
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| Moose |
Alaska Trip - Day 8 Part 2
After arriving at Denali and getting of the train, we ate dinner and then went on a four-wheeler tour. Alaska is so far north that it gets a lot of sunlight during the summer, so although we didn't get back to the hotel until after 11 pm, it was still very bright.
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| From the train. This lake is on the continental divide, it drains both north and south |
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| Four-wheeling |
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| From our hotel |
Alaska Trip - Day 8
After the seven day cruise we got off the ship for a few days in land. Most of the first day was taken up by a train ride to Denali National Park, which contains Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America.
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| Turnigate Arm is filled with mud because the rivers which fill it contain Glaciers which deposit glacier silt |
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| Dead trees from the 1964 earthquake |
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| Working on the train |
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| Moose from the train |
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| Glacier |
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| Tunnel |
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| Wild Dall Sheep |
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| Wild Dall Sheep |
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| Beaver Pond |
Alaska Trip - Day 7 (College Fjord)
The day after Glacier Bay we had another at sea day. In the afternoon we went to College Fjord. There we saw even more glaciers, which we thought were better than the ones at Glacier Bay. We also saw a lot of wildlife, which you can see at the bottom.
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| Whale |
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| Seals |
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| Sea Otter |
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| Eagle |
Alaska Trip - Day 6 (Glacier Bay)
On the sixth day we were at sea, but we were cruising through what is called Glacier Bay.There many glaciers come down into the water, melting into them and sending out pieces of ice.We arrived in the morning and spent a few hours there.
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| Margerie Glacier |
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| Margerie Glacier right after calving (a large piece of ice falling into the water) |
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| A small boat in Glacier Bay |
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| Grand Pacific Glacier. It is black because it is covered in dirt |
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| Two ice caves at the foot of the glacier |
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| Leaving Glacier Bay |
Alaska Trip - Day 5 (Skagway)
The next day we stopped at Skagway, Alaska. It was one of the boom towns in the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century. It still retains much of the gold rush feel, mostly as a tourist attraction, but there are still a lot of things to see. We started by driving over the mountain range into the Yukon Territory, Canada, on the same route that the gold miners would have taken. There was lots of good views on the way, and when we got into Canada we saw blue skies for the first time in Alaska.
On our return to Skagway we went to Dyea, a few miles away around the bays. It was a gold rush boom town the size of Skagway, but when the miners left the town completely died. The town isn't there any more, all that is left is a few pieces of wood.
On our return from Dyea we had a little time in Skagway itself before we had to leave. We went to the Gold Rush Visitor's Center, the cemetery where Frank Reed and Soapy Smith, who had a famous shootout, were buried, and went to a few buildings.
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| Skagway |
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| Yukon |
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| Welcome (back) to Alaska |
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| All that is left of Dyea, a false front intended to make a building look bigger |
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| View from Dyea |
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| From Dyea towards the mountains |
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| From Dyea |
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| Wildflower |
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| Waterfall |
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| Skagway |
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| Skagway visitor's center |
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| What Canada required the miners to bring over the mountains so they wouldn't starve |
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| Gold mining pan |
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| The shop of Soapy Smith, a con man who ruled Skagway until he was killed in a shootout |
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| Smith's grave |
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