Ladee's Travels

347.7 DENALI PARK • Entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve. Riley Creek Bridge is the railroad’s second highest. The train continued on from Cantwell to Denali as I sat, camera in hand, admiring the landscape and anxious to arrive at our destination.

319.5 CANTWELL • A small settlement and starting point of the Valdez Creek gold mining district. This is another railway flag stop and since no one was out waving a flag, we did not stop.  Makes sense to me!  Population is about 222.  It is located in the Denali Borough.  Alaska does not use a county system.  There is a 'before Cantwell' and an 'after Cantwell' photo to show you that this town is in the middle of the forest.

Mile 284.2 HURRICANE GULCH • One of the line’s best photo vantage points, the bridge spans 918 feet, some 296 feet above the creek. We can see the engine round the bend and start over the bridge.

The Seattle Times reported that there is a little train in Alaska that stops for hitchhikers.

After we left Talkeetna, the land instantly turned remote and barren.  There were many streams and rivers.  A fisherman is in the river, unable to wait for the Spring snow to melt.

The waitress at the Crow's Nest in Anchorage is from Talkeetna.  She recommended getting off the train and touring.  I'm not that brave!!!  So, I took photos to get a full view of all that Talkeetna had to offer. Talkeetna is known as the base for expeditions to Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley). Tourists travel to Talkeetna each summer to fish salmon, raft and go flightseeing. Products from local artists, musicians and craftspeople are available in area stores. [Wikipedia] This is the railside restroom at the Train Depot.

The train slowed down to a crawl so that we could see the mountains.  Click, click, click...cameras were taking a lot of photos.  Here are some of the ones that I was able to take.  Keep in mind that these are taken through the window.

We continued along the rail northward, winding past half frozen lakes and different "tundra" levels.

We road in to the town of Wasilla.  Tina Tour Guide mentioned that the town holds an official "Wasilla Clean-Up Days" so that the entire town can turn out and clean up after the winter.  Does the name Wasilla sound familiar to you?  Sarah Palin was the Mayor.  I took several photos to see if I could see Russia from here.  This photo looks across Wasilla Lake

After a good night's rest at the Hilton, we had the bellman call a cab to take us down the hill to the railroad station.  It is close, but I had too much luggage to haul so we took advantage of the cab.  Those taking the Princess tour took the luggage to a separate stand to get tickets for the train and check in the luggage.  The train departed about 8:00 AM ish (we learned that "ish" is the Alaska railroad time schedule) so we had 45 minutes to spend in the terminal.  It is a fairly nice size terminal with restrooms, a coffee bar and the ever present Alaska gift shop.  As boarding time approached, the other passengers were called to line up.  They were going to cross the tracks and board the train. The Princess passengers were to board a motor coach and travel 1/8 mile to board the special Princess car.  We checked in, found our seats on the upper level, and started the journey.  The seats in the upper level of the Princess car were arranged with...