Talkeetna - Biking & Train to Anchorage

After another breakfast at the cabin, we picked up some rental bikes for a ride on a trail that follows the rail line. The bike shop owner convinced us to try the fat-tire bikes and it was a good idea. The trail was wide, but a bit bumpy in places and we just comfortably bounced over them! The bikes were surprisingly light, so it wasn’t as much work to ride as we thought it would be.

The Chase Trail goes out to a remote community in the woods (which also borders the river), so we were passed by several rugged individuals on ATVs who were probably going into town (Talkeetna) for supplies.

We had picked up a picnic lunch the day before, so we found a spot on a gravel beach at the river for lunch.

Another short stroll around town found us at the ranger station, which is where a lot of the climbers check in before their adventure. Today there were 377 climbers currently on the mountain, and over 1,000 registered to go up.

We had plenty of time for a homemade ice cream snack before it was time to say farewell to our cabin host and catch our train for Anchorage. The views from the train gave us our last glimpses of Denali and the rest of the mountain range. We also spotted a couple of moose.Read more