TALKEENA TO DENALI (MCKINLEY EXPLORER)

Our schedule has us leaving the Lodge at 11 am so we had time for a leisurely breakfast and another walk on the Lodge Trail to take some pictures and spot some more moose poo. It was a 45 minute journey to Talkeena railway station were we boarded the train for Denali. The first section of the trip is a flag down route because there is only trains that travel this route, no highway, so people have to flag down the train to travel around in this region. We saw more spectacular Alaskan scenery and wild life spotting of moose and bears - I even caught sight of the backside of a moose but all happened too fast for a picture. The domed carriages were perfect for viewing. We had lunch on the train with another couple from Florida and enjoyed some time on the outside platform. The second two thirds of the journey did follow the highway so we had plenty of train toots as we crossed over the highway. We had a very short journey to McKinley Chalet situated just outside the national park.

We had a quick turnaround and were then in a bus to catch a covered wagon pulled by 2 horses to take us out to a remote cabin in the forest for supper. We had a pleasant ride through the countryside with one moose sighting and quite a few mosquitos! Our guides were a french lad, a Slovakian lad and a girl from Vermont - not exactly locals but very personable. The meal was delicious, corn, salads, ribs, chicken and chilli followed by dessert. We returned to our accommodation at 10.30 pm in broad daylight!Read more