A land tour in Alaska

Laura Tanna

YOU HAVEN'T heard from me in weeks because for the first time I took a cruise. At US$9 per minute for calls from the ship, I wasn't going to telephone in my story nor send it E-mail at US$7.50 for fifteen minutes of computer time at the business centre. The truth is there was too much to do and see to stop for anything except sleep!

Mother dreamed of seeing Alaska, so we met in Dallas, flew for seven and a half-hours on American Airlines, and because of the three-hour time difference with Jamaica, arrived in Anchorage in time for a good night's sleep at the comfortable Sheraton Hotel. We'd selected a Princess Land Tour for three days to visit Denali National Park, then to Fairbanks, before flying back to Anchorage to catch the Sun Princess in Seward port for a week cruising down the Inland Passage to Vancouver.

I'd chosen mid-June to avoid higher summer rates and hoping for drier weather. As we boarded the elegant, double-decker, glass-domed train to begin our seven-hour ride to Denali, we were blessed with perfect weather; cool crisp air and brilliant sunshine gave us access to Alaska's spectacular scenery. Sixty per cent of visitors never see Mt. McKinley, often blanketed in clouds, but we shared all day and the next in its snow-capped glory. With the Talkeetna Range on one side and the Alaska Range on the other, they formed majestic backdrops to banks of white barked birch trees, quivering aspens, and rich green firs.

On the ground was a medley of light green ferns near clear streams, or rocky glacial rivers, murky with dirt and debris dragged along. Crushed white snow compressed into sheets of ice lay beside scattered wildflower blooms of blue lupine. Breakfast and lunch didn't interrupt our pleasure as the dining cars on the bottom deck are designed with huge windows, tables set with white linen cloths and vases of purple Alaskan iris, highlighting the rich snow-covered mountain backdrop.

The train ride to Denali National Park is absolutely a must for any visitor to Alaska. Each of the cruise ship lines have their own railroad cars and they all appear to be double-decker and glass-domed for optimum viewing. I even saw wildlife from the outside platform, and in my excitement called out: "There's a warthog!" Funny how old memories come back. Of course it was a moose, which I didn't recognise because he was bent over. Never mind, I did recognise a Caribou when we saw one but the animal that stole our hearts was a small Arctic squirrel, who stood upon his hind legs, all eight inches of him, and clutching a branch of green leaves, calmly posed for us as he nibbled his breakfast.

Apparently he's a favourite food of the Grizzly Bear, so obviously we weren't in bear country or he wouldn't have been so obliging for the photographers. At Denali, even though staying elsewhere, if the weather is good, have lunch or dinner on the deck at the Princess Wilderness Lodge, built on a bluff far above a river canyon, snow-capped mountains still providing the perfect backdrop as eagles and gulls spread their wings and swoop through the canyon.

Tucking into a plate of Alaskan crab nachos on a crisp sunny day, while spotting adventurous kayakers paddling through rapids below feels just great. I even went horseback riding the same evening; it stays light for so long in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Highlight of our two-hour trek was finding a huge beaver dam, after passing dozens of small trees, their bases neatly cut with conical points and only their tops removed for food, the smaller branches building the dam. Our big mistake of the land tour was not spending two nights in Denali National Park. We should have taken the full day tour into the park's deep interior where we would have seen more wildlife, especially bears and mountain sheep. We took a two-hour bus tour in the morning, visited a log cabin, and were introduced to the Alaska State bird. This is a big joke as anyone there knows that I am referring to mosquitoes the size of birds. Oddly enough they didn't bite; they just kept swarming, so that one was perpetually waving just to see a foot in front. But once out of the fir forest and back on the plain, they didn't bother us.

The afternoon bus ride to Fairbanks couldn't compete with our previous day's fabulous train trip. Nondescript Fairbanks reminded me of that town in the television show Northern Exposure. Our luggage didn't come until after our arrival and next morning our Alaska Air flight to Anchorage was delayed for three hours by hydraulic problems so our visit to the Native Alaskan Centre, where we were to be introduced to the art and culture of the five different indigenous Alaskan peoples, turned into a mere pit stop to eat and use their facilities, rather insulting to them, I thought.

Fairbanks' contribution to my life's memories will be seeing a house, unwittingly built on the permafrost, without first preparing a proper foundation. Only the top of its roof was left above ground. Seems that when the summer thaw comes, the thin layer of soil sinks little by little into the watery subterranean morass. Actually, the best part of the Alaska Air flight was chatting with a stunningly beautiful firefighter, who flew around the State to fight fires wherever needed. She explained that Alaska and Florida, especially the Everglades, use the same kind of firefighting techniques since the terrain is surprising similar. Instead of wildlife, our land tour of Alaska turned out to be an introduction to fascinating fellow travellers and spectacular scenery! (Next: The Cruise)

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