Yesterday I told you about the miles and miles of rivers that parallel the train tracks from Anchorage to Denali National Park. One of the interesting facts that I failed to share is that at one point the river flows south toward the Pacific Ocean. At another point that same river flows northward and deposits into the Bering Sea.

Speaking of rivers, we saw many different kinds of rivers today as we navigated paved roads and gravel roads on a 5 hour bus tour of Denali National Park. Most of these rivers don’t have any fish because the rock silt flowing from glaciers are unhealthy for fish. Many braided rivers that run through the park have less water and more rock.

The Tundra Wilderness tour bus utilizes the only road to explore some of the six million reserved acres of this amazing place. In those acres our tour guide, Jenny, claims there are 1500 Moose. We saw one Bull Moose from miles away. There are 1000 Caribou in the park. We saw eight from about 30 yards away. There are 98 gray wolfs. We saw none. We did see a Grizzly bear, two moose, a Golden Eagle, four Dall Sheep, all from a mile away. If you had a good professional camera lens you had some great pictures to share. We did not. We did see the Alaska State bird, a Willow Ptarmigan, but I decided not to trip over others to photograph that little dude.

We had beautiful sunny weather today so we were able to see the snow covered Denali Mountain from fifty miles away. Some roads in the park were washed out by a landslide earlier this year so we got as close as roads will take you. We are a month too early to take a dog sled any closer than we got today. Sandy and I agree, Denali National Park was one of the most spectacularly beautiful places we have ever viewed. The sunny weather and gorgeous fall colors make this trip one for the memories and one to recommend. We are on the train from Denali to Fairbanks as I write these words. The scenery by train is as fabulous as the scenic bus tour. Is there another expression for FANTASTIC DAY?