Day Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
We had nothing scheduled for the morning. Our room overlooked the Nenana River, and there was an observation deck a few steps from our door.
Here's another shot of the mountains in another direction.
The lodge is only a mile from the entrance to Denali National Park. This park encompasses 6 million acres, about the size of Massachusetts. The park contains Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak at 20,320 feet, but we weren't going to be close to it until day 4. The park also has a lot of wildlife, from moose, caribou, Dall sheep and grizzly bears to gray wolves and red foxes. We were constantly warned to make noise when we were on the hiking trails so as not to surprise a bear.
We took a shuttle bus to the head of some of the hiking trails in the park. We chose to hike down to Horseshoe Lake.
After getting a nice overlook of the lake, we ended up going down several steep hills and right up to the lake.
Then we hiked to the visitor's center to wait for the shuttle to take us back to the lodge. While the shuttle was making its rounds, we saw a moose by the side of the road and the driver stopped so we could take pictures.
Then when we got to our last stop, the post office, we saw another moose with two babies. If you look closely at the right side of the pictures, you can see the two calves through the trees.
The tour lasted for a little over three hours, and then we got on a motorcoach to head for the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. By the time we got there, it was pouring down rain, the only time on our vacation when it really rained hard. No matter, it was evening anyway so we had dinner at the lodge and went to bed.