Take a Hike, Bill

For the first time in 25-30 years I actually went out and hiked. On purpose.
What was I thinking?

Not far from the lodge there is a trail called Horseshoe Lake Trail. We pass by the trailhead everytime we pick people up at the train station and take them to the lodge. When we go past the trailhead, I tell them that this trail is fairly easy, only 1.6 miles round trip, there are beaver in the lake, and birds abound, people have seen porcupine and other wildlife as they are walking.
For some reason I decided that maybe I should see if I am really telling them the truth.
So I started out. The first thing I encounter is a little sign with very small lettering saying that the trail drops 200 feet in .8 miles. Well, says I, that doesn't sound too bad, so I continue on. It is not bad. about 1/4 of the way down there is a bench with a very pretty overlook of the lake below. But then it gets bad. After the bench, it goes downhill at a pretty steep grade. I make it to the bottom but my legs can tell that I have been walking downhill and they don't want to walk any more.
I reach the lake at the bottom. It is really pretty. There is a beaver dam, but no beaver in site. There are signs of wildlife, some hoofprints and other things that show wild animals have been there. And there are benches. My legs tell me I should sit for awhile, so I do.
The problem with hiking on a trail that goes downhill is that to get back you have to hike uphill. It RISES 200 feet in .8 miles. This doesn't sound as fun as the going downhill part. But I have to get back somehow and I don't see any escalators nearby, so I start the ascent. My legs want to continue sitting on the bench.
I am moving along slowly, stopping frequently to gasp, uh, get my breath. While I am walking in between one of these rest stops I hear a noise behind me on the trail. There are two kids, about 10-12, who are running up the trail. Running!! They pass me in a cloud of dust. A few minutes later, a man and woman come up the hill, gasping a lot like I am. I ask if those kids belong to them and they acknowledge ownership. "Tell them they are showoffs" I say with difficulty while trying to catch my breath.
Eventually, I get back to the trailhead and sit on a bench waiting for the shuttle bus to pick me up. My legs are happier but let me know that they are not pleased with me. I promise them that I will not do this again soon.
I have decided that I must change what I am telling the tourists as we go by while sitting comfortably in the nice motor coach. This trail is grueling, you need to be a skilled mountain climber to get down and up without risking the need for medical help. Be happy sitting in the great room of the lodge and watching people go by.
Here are some pictures to proove that I actually did this crazy thing.

The view from the overlook. It is so far down!

The lake from the bottom of the trail.

Beaver dam, but no beaver

I think this was the only flat part of the trail.

The red topped buildings are the Princess lodge viewed from the far side of the river while on the torture trail

Bill Goes to the Dogs Part II

Husky Homestead is a kennel/training facility operated by Jeff King, 21 time participant and four time winner of the Iditarod. The facility is located about 10 miles south of the lodge at the King home.
We saw a demonstration of some of the things the dogs can do, they pulled an ATV around, then we listened to a talk about what it is like to run the race, etc.
Here are some pictures:

The History of Whittier, Alaska

Six months to the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked and occupied two islands in the Alutians, Attu and Kiska. It marked the first time American territory had been occupied by a foreign country since the War of 1812.
Attu and Kiska are about 1300 miles from Seattle. Had the Japanese been able to build an airfield of sufficient size, they could have used long range bombers to bomb Seattle.
This threat caused the US military to really get moving to reinforce Alaska. For one they built the Alaska highway, and built several air bases. They needed a port that was as secure as possible to support all of this effort.
They found that Whittier was on a deep water, ice free piece of water near Prince William Sound. It was very isolated, and cut off from everything by mountains. It was also covered by clouds much of the time, so even if an enemy aircraft flew over it, the chances of them seeing the port was slim.
So the Army built a port facility, and cut a tunnel through the mountain, just big enough for a train to pass through. As ships unloaded cargo, it was placed on rail cars and transported throughout Alaska.
After the war, the military continued to use it as a port, but moved out in 1960. The port became a busy commercial fishing base, and there are hundreds of private yachts docked there also. To get vehicles through to Whittier, they had to be loaded on to flat bed rail cars and carried through the tunnel.
In 2000, the Alaska railroad modified the floor of the tunnel to make it possible for vehicles to drive through. Vehicles go through in one direction for about a half an hour, then it switches so traffic flows the other direction.

The tunnel is the longest vehicle tunnel in North America, 2 1/2 miles long.

Note the tall, skinny opening in the center of the A-frame. That is the opening to the tunnel at the Whittier end (other end looks the same) . Vehicles are lining up and waiting for the traffic to change directions. The sign is saying the change will occur at 6:00am. We got up at 4:45 to make the 6am tunnel opening.

A Trip to the Ocean

Every Saturday Princess offers tourists the option of going directly from Denali to Whittier where they board the Princess ship for the Cruise portion of their Cruise/Tour vacation.
On Saturday four motor coaches departed Denali for Whittier. I was one of the drivers for this trip.
We left at 8:00am, stopped twice between Denali and Anchorage, then stopped in downtown Anchorage for 1 1/2 hours for lunch. From there it was only another 1 1/2 hours in the motor coach to reach the ship. We arrived at the ship about 5:00pm.
If you are interested in some history, please read the blog about Whittier and World War II.
One of the unique aspects of traveling to Whittier is that you must go through a 2 1/2 mile long tunnel. But the tunnel is only one lane and, besides motor vehicles, the train goes through there also. Since it is only one lane, vehicles use it on a schedule, traffic goes one way for 30 minutes, then it switches and traffic from the other direction goes through. When the train comes along, all vehicles stop and the train gets the priority. So, if you arrive at the tunnel a little late you have to sit and wait until it is your turn again.
We made it down to Whittier, spent the night there, then drove back to Denali on Sunday, a roughly 650 mile trip. All went well. It was fun to get out on a long trip for a change.
Here are some pictures from Whittier.

Three of our coaches parked for the night, mine is the one on the right.

Part of the Terminal where people go through customs, etc., and part of the Diamond Princess ship the people were preparing to board,

The building in the center is a 14-15 story apartment/condo. About 90% of the 200 year round residents live in this one building. Princess has an apartment here, where we spent the night.

The Whittier yacht club.

A small glacier in the mountains around Whittier

A Surprise

We awoke today, June 15, to very rainy, cloudy, foggy weather. As the day moved along, the fog and clouds moved some and uncovered more of the mountains. When we looked up at the tops of the nearby mountains we saw....snow!

Here are pictures of the mountains I watch from the motor coach parking plus a few others.

The View from the Bus Parking Lot

While we are at the lodge in Denali, we park our coaches on a hill next to the highway. Here are a couple of pictures of the view out of the front of the coach while parked. The red roofs are of the lodge buildings, the green is slowly getting higher and higher on the mountains. I could sit in the coach and look at this for hours......

One of the Motor Coaches

Today I drove a group of people down to Cantwell so they could go on the Jet Boat Safari and The Dog Sled Adventure tours. Here are a couple of pictures of the coach I drove.

The Motor Coach parked at the Jet Boat location, front door and one luggage bay open, step stool at the door

The inside passenger seating. 53 chairs.

Where I sit while driving.

Bill Goes to the Dogs

One of the tours people can choose while at Denali is the Dog Sled Adventure. We make four trips a day taking people to and from this tour, which is in Cantwell, a small town about 30 miles south of the lodge.
A few days ago I went on this tour. It is run by Bill Cotter who has raced in the Iditarod dog sled race 20 times. He has modified an golf cart type vehicle and hooks his dogs up to it to pull people around as though they were on a sled. The dogs get very excited when they know they are going to be working. Bill says the dogs get mad because they can't run for several miles, only around the circle which is perhaps a quarter mile. After the ride Bill talks about racing sleds, his equipment, how he eats and feeds the dogs while on the trail. Very interesting, but spending nine days in the middle of nowhere when it is -50 F, having to prepare hot food for yourself and your dogs, maintaining equipment, etc., doesn't sound like fun.
Here are some pictures.

The "sled".

Getting in harness

Coming back home, pulling the sled

That was fun! Let's do it again

Some of the dogs.

When training for races, they start by pulling for five miles and work up to where the dogs will pull for 100 miles a day.