Day 9: Talkeetna to Denali

We woke up this morning at 5:25 am to the sound of a passing train. I'm pretty sure that the tracks were no more than 100 yards from our little spruce cabin we spent the night in. It was really loud. . . we were really awake. So we decided that we had enough time to get up and ride the bike before breakfast! The sky was clear with no sign of rain, but it was still cold. Our bike computer registered 39 degrees F as we started the ride. Brrr!

We made it about 13 miles down the bike path towards the highway when we rounded a corner through some loose gravel and immediately heard the unmistakable pop, immediately followed by the rhythmic hissing of a flat tire. I fixed the flat we headed back to town. It was all justification for what was to follow: breakfast.

This time it was at the Talkeetna Roundhouse: a funky converted, summer-lake style cabin-cum-communal breakfast joint. Their claim to fame was GIGANTIC portions. I ordered the full, standard breakfast. Apparently this meant, and I am not kidding: 8 scrambled eggs, 4 slices of bacon, 1 lb skillet potatoes (aka homefries), and two 2" thick slices of homemade doughy toast. I ate. Bill was restrained and had the half standard breakfast (see above, divided by two). Kristina and Patty split the "Black-and-Blue" pancakes: 2 plate-sized (12") sourdough hotcakes with fresh blackberries blueberries. We also sampled a raspberry danish and pecan sticky bun called "the nutty'.

After gorging, we got back in the van to drive 150 miles to Denali National Park for hiking. It seems that we really lucked out with toay's clear weather. On our route north on the Alaska Parks Highway, the sun was shining and we could see Mt McKinley clearly. The landscape along the drive was spectacular: huge craggy mountains with valleys of spruce trees that go on seemingly forever.

Once we got to the park, we went to see the sled dog demonstration. The sled dogs are all hanging out tethered to rustic dog cabins. For the most part, they were just laying around in the sun dozing, completely ignoring the 200 or so tourists milling around. The ranger gave an overview to dog sledding (history, techniques, characteristics of the dogs) and then gave a demo with a 5-dog team on a short gravel track. I was surprised to learn that machines are not allowed in the park, so the dog sleds are an essential means for transporting supplies during the winter.

After the sled dog demo, we walked along the beautiful trails to the visitor center and back to the van. Dinner was fish and chips: fried halibut with sweet-potato fries, and a couple of pitchers Alaska IPA.

During this vacation we are in the land of the midnight sun. Sunset is at 11:40 pm. It's an amazing experience to see the sun high in the sky, then look at your watch to see it is 10 pm. We are sleeping less but not feeling tired.

Tomorrow we take the bus into the heart of Denali.