Mount McKinley Princess Lodge

Wednesday, May 18, 2016
We woke to very grey skies this morning.  But at least we'd had a night's rest and were now switched into Alaskan time.  After a leisurely start that included waving goodbye to our big suitcase after repacking our little carry ons with the stuff we'd need for the next four days, we joined the Rumrills, and the other two couples in our travel group for a walk to the Snow City Cafe.  (Al and Kathy Black; and John and Irma Herrick)

a couple of blocks from our hotel.  We had to wait a bit but finally got 2 booths back to back - one for the ladies and one for the guys.  Our breakfasts were absolutely fantastic and well worth the wait.  On the table they had fresh raspberry jam made by the restaurant and just crying to be put on toast.  Oh was it good.  I had to do some adjustment to my food (eggs florentine) to acquire an English muffin so as to enjoy some of it.

By the time we finished it was just ten minutes till we needed to report to the lobby of the hotel to catch our bus that would take us to the Mount McKinley Princess Lodge near Talkeetna.  I raced like crazy ahead of everyone else as we had not finished packing our little suitcases and the computer was still up and running.  But we made it.  The lobby was jammed with people all waiting for buses. Some of the people were waiting to be bused to a cruise ship and some to go with us.

By now it was raining steadily so we got a bit damp standing in the line to get on the bus after putting our little cases under the bus.  But the bus was warm and dry with comfortable seats and soon we were on our way for the two and a half hour drive toward Denali State Park.  Our bus driver did a beautiful job of sharing stories about Alaska and our surroundings.  And best of all she said I see something ahead -- and sure enough it was a moose nibbling the grasses along the side of the road.  It startled and started to make a quick dash to the woods but not before we had an opportunity for a good view of it.

Unfortunately the clouds hung low all the way and covered all of the high mountains but we could see the bases and low ones.  We most certainly saw plenty of forest that consisted primarily of birch trees and pines including white and black spruce which was definitely darker and more spindley than the other evergreens.

The setting for this lodge is probably beautiful with a main lodge that has a gorgeous fireplace that has helped to keep us warm with its beautiful fire.  There are many outlying buildings including #18 which is where we are staying.

After taking the walk there to get settled in, we made our way back to the main lodge and checked out the things available there.  We found the naturalist stationed at his desk and had a wonderful conversation with him about how he ended up here with his wife (basically he is a workcamper signed up for this season and just into his 4th day of work as the lodge just opened on Sunday).  Later in the afternoon we took a nature walk with him to hear a bit about the trees and plants that are common to the area.  Before that, Dave Rumrill took Al and I on a geocash hunt that had us outside the lodge (in the misty rain) finding a little container and posting on it that we had found it.

After a bit of time touring the gift shop, we all gathered in the Base Camp Bar and Grill where we enjoyed "linner".  Our breakfast at 8:00 had worn off but we had decided to wait for a late lunch early dinner so we'd only need one more meal for the day.  This was it.  We finished with just enough time to return to our rooms for a change to warmer gear before heading off to the nearby Hudson Theater.

The theater walls were set up to look like a base camp for mountain climbing.  It had just opened for the first time on Monday.

There we attended a couple of programs including one about moose led by the other naturalist employed by the lodge.and one led by a pilot for Princess based out of Talkeetna to provide all kinds of "tours" that are available through Princess.  He had lots of gorgeous pictures taken while in flight over the area and more specifically of the base camp for climbers.  One of his jobs is to take climbers to that point along with all their supplies.  Those he was quite knowledgeable about the actual climbing of the mountain.  Unfortunately I fought sleep through both presentations so kept nodding off so missed much of the info since while my ears heard things my eyes weren't open and my brain wasn't absorbing the info. But I did get a picture of Ken with one of the huge and very heavy rack of antlers from a moose.

We were back in our room by 8:00 and I was in bed about 15 minutes later unable to keep my eyes open.