Trip review -- June 5 to June 22 -- long

[bbjaspan]

Barbara - other than your 2nd day on the Denali shuttle bus - it sounds like you had a wonderful land trip. We stopped at the Sheep Mountain Lodge - and I agree that the drive along the Glenn Highway is gorgeous.

 

Thanks again for posting your wonderful review!

 

Nancy - Yes, our land trip was great. I am so grateful to you and the others that convinced us to move from the cruise land tour that we had booked to an independent one, and then work out the independent one. Our next door neighbors returned a week ago from our same cruise -- Celebrity Summit NB -- exactly 2 weeks after ours, plus a cruise land tour. Needless to say, independent is the way to go!

 

I wish we had been able to connect on our trips. I feel like I know you and will miss our messages to each other.

 

I wish you many happy times ahead and maybe we will meet again, either on this board or on a trip somewhere -- Shall I ask any Nancy from Illinois that I meet if they are the one? :)

 

All the best,

Barbara

[NancyIL]

Nancy - Yes, our land trip was great. I am so grateful to you and the others that convinced us to move from the cruise land tour that we had booked to an independent one, and then work out the independent one. Our next door neighbors returned a week ago from our same cruise -- Celebrity Summit NB -- exactly 2 weeks after ours, plus a cruise land tour. Needless to say, independent is the way to go!

 

I wish we had been able to connect on our trips. I feel like I know you and will miss our messages to each other.

 

I wish you many happy times ahead and maybe we will meet again, either on this board or on a trip somewhere -- Shall I ask any Nancy from Illinois that I meet if they are the one? :)

 

All the best,

Barbara

 

Thank you, Barbara! I suspect there are a few Nancy's in Illinois - but go ahead and ask. :) I also hope we will meet in person some day, but until then - I hope you'll stop by the Alaska board to continue sharing your experiences with us. I want to return to Alaska next summer for a land trip, and we'll probably spend a few days in Denali. I'll be re-reading the Denali section of your trip report for help in planning my trip. (I'll cross my fingers that we don't get Mark as our shutle bus driver!)

[cjnky]

Thanks for sharing all your experiences with us! I strongly recommend that you contact the Park Service with your high praise for your first driver, and the negative thoughts on the second. That's the only way they really know what kind of job their employees are doing. Like Nancy, I'm sure hoping we don't get a Mark! ;)

[bbjaspan]

Thanks for sharing all your experiences with us! I strongly recommend that you contact the Park Service with your high praise for your first driver, and the negative thoughts on the second. That's the only way they really know what kind of job their employees are doing. Like Nancy, I'm sure hoping we don't get a Mark! ;)

 

My understanding is that when you take the shuttle, unlike a tour, the driver is not obligated to do anything but drive the bus. Darleen was a gift! She had a lot of knowledge and enjoyed sharing it. She loved her job. I would imagine that most of the shuttle bus drivers fall somewhere between Darleen and Mark. We got both ends of the spectrum.

[appletree 1]

Surprised and sorry to hear that you had a dissapointing experience with Kevin. Ours was the opposite. On June 24th, DW, DS, and I took a Mendenhall Glacier trek with Above and Beyond Alaska and it was definitely the highpoint of our vacation. We have had many guides on all kinds nature outings and Kevin was as good or better than any others we have met. He went "above and beyond" to make our day on the glacier enjoyable, safe, and memorable.

 

Kevin put extra effort into maximizing the time we spent on (2 hrs.) and under (10 min. in a spectacular ice cave) the ice, while making sure to get us back to the cruise ship in time to board. He was knowledgeable, informative, and, fun to be with, and he always gave the impression that he was having as much fun as we were.

 

We will treasure our memories, and our photographs, of that beautiful

and fascinating place.

[bbjaspan]

Surprised and sorry to hear that you had a dissapointing experience with Kevin. Ours was the opposite. On June 24th, DW, DS, and I took a Mendenhall Glacier trek with Above and Beyond Alaska and it was definitely the highpoint of our vacation. We have had many guides on all kinds nature outings and Kevin was as good or better than any others we have met. He went "above and beyond" to make our day on the glacier enjoyable, safe, and memorable.

 

Kevin put extra effort into maximizing the time we spent on (2 hrs.) and under (10 min. in a spectacular ice cave) the ice, while making sure to get us back to the cruise ship in time to board. He was knowledgeable, informative, and, fun to be with, and he always gave the impression that he was having as much fun as we were.

 

We will treasure our memories, and our photographs, of that beautiful

and fascinating place.

 

So glad you had the wonderful time you did. We would no doubt feel the same way if we had spent 2 hours on the glacier instead of 20 minutes, 10 minutes in the ice cave instead of much less, and the luxury of enough time to take photographs to treasure. As I hope I made clear, the major problem was the time schedule that had been set up with Above and Beyond's advice and approval. I understand that Above and Beyond has modified their scheduling so that what happened to us won't happen again.

[Ourfamily2007]

so would you recommend the walk and glaier trek not the Glacier climbing (which would not work for us). also, have you stayed anywher in Denali or Healy you would recommend. We have one night at the earthsong but need another night some where.

 

Do you know anything about the dog sledding tours or recommentations

[bbjaspan]

so would you recommend the walk and glaier trek not the Glacier climbing (which would not work for us). also, have you stayed anywher in Denali or Healy you would recommend. We have one night at the earthsong but need another night some where.

 

Do you know anything about the dog sledding tours or recommentations

 

I think the hike and glacier trek would have been great if we actually had had a glacier trek, not just putting on crampons and walking around a bit. You should be prepared for some challenging rock hills, up and down -- view the video on their web site. Again, that would have been fine for us if there was not the pressing rush. I can't comment on the glacier climbing since we did not have that opportunity. :(

 

We were pleased with the Denali Lakeview Inn in Healy, where we stayed 3 nights. Fantastic view! Comfortable room, breakfast stuff in fridge.

 

Don't know anything about dog sledding tours.

[tapia]

Wow, what a wonderful review!

 

I too agree about the overlapping things on Celebrity. I'm glad you had a wonderful time otherwise. A couple of unplanned issues of course, but all in all it sounds amazing!

[fti]

Great review. Thank you very much.

 

Do you happen to know which trail you hiked to get onto the glacier at Mendenhall? I am planning on hiking the west glacier trail late this month and wonder if that might be the trail you hiked as well.

 

John

[bbjaspan]

Great review. Thank you very much.

 

Do you happen to know which trail you hiked to get onto the glacier at Mendenhall? I am planning on hiking the west glacier trail late this month and wonder if that might be the trail you hiked as well.

 

John

 

Sorry John, I don't know the name of the trail. We parked in a parking lot and hiked on a regular trail to begin with, through woods and alongside a lake, to our right, with views of the glacier. Then we climbed/scrambled over 2-3 rock hills, unmarked, and the route was not obvious. Kevin had to think about it and scout ahead a couple of times.

 

Hope that's a little helpful.

 

Barbara

[sandiego1]

 

Tuesday, June 19 – Denali – day 3

 

Finally, a day we could sleep in and we needed it! We ate breakfast (provided by the Inn in our refrigerator) and ambled back to Denali. We took a short, guided hike with a ranger (no sign-up, just show up). Her emphasis (each ranger is different) was plants and we identified lots of flowers. The walk ended at a beaver pond (great beaver dam but no beaver) where folks coming toward us from the pond had just sighted moose (no longer in sight).

 

After the walk, we caught the free bus for the sled dog demo, an enjoyable experience. We walked around to meet and pet all the dogs, then we gathered for a ranger program that included the harnessing of five of the dogs to a sled and our watching them enthusiastically pull a ranger around a gravel loop.

 

Barbara - I remember you from the Denali Lakeview Inn! We stayed there Sun 6/17 through the morning of Wed 6/20. We were in the Moon Dream room on the 3rd floor and our friends were in Autumn Tundra on the ground floor. We 1st met putting on our hiking boots at 5AM to catch the TWT bus and you were leaving for Wonder Lake. Then we bumped into each other again the next day at the end of the Ranger hike to Horseshoe Lake and the beaver dam. And again at the dog sled demo. Funny.

 

We also skipped the Discovery Hike that required you to walk through several streams. We did one one on Wed that was a hike through the tundra to a river bed. It was great.

 

We had a very different weather experience than you did. We left Vancouver on Sat 6/8 in the rain. But had absolutely incredible weather for 99% of the trip. We had a misty and slightly rainy morning in Skagway when we did the train and bike ride down the Klondike highway. But it cleared up half-way down the mountain.

 

Our 2 glacier days were unbelievable. Crystal clear sun and not bitterly cold. The 2nd day at College Fjord was actually warm. Glacier Bay was rather chilly, but I was expecting worse.

 

We had such a wonderful experience during our 16 days in Alaska that I'm almost afraid to schedule another trip. There's no way we'd get so lucky again w/ weather and great excursions.

 

Thanks for your review. I just found it and was reliving my wonderful Alaska trip.

[kandj46]

Thanks Barbara for a fantastic review,really enjoyed reading every minute of it.

[bbjaspan]

Barbara - I remember you from the Denali Lakeview Inn! We stayed there Sun 6/17 through the morning of Wed 6/20. We were in the Moon Dream room on the 3rd floor and our friends were in Autumn Tundra on the ground floor. We 1st met putting on our hiking boots at 5AM to catch the TWT bus and you were leaving for Wonder Lake. Then we bumped into each other again the next day at the end of the Ranger hike to Horseshoe Lake and the beaver dam. And again at the dog sled demo. Funny.

 

We also skipped the Discovery Hike that required you to walk through several streams. We did one one on Wed that was a hike through the tundra to a river bed. It was great.

 

We had a very different weather experience than you did. We left Vancouver on Sat 6/8 in the rain. But had absolutely incredible weather for 99% of the trip. We had a misty and slightly rainy morning in Skagway when we did the train and bike ride down the Klondike highway. But it cleared up half-way down the mountain.

 

Our 2 glacier days were unbelievable. Crystal clear sun and not bitterly cold. The 2nd day at College Fjord was actually warm. Glacier Bay was rather chilly, but I was expecting worse.

 

We had such a wonderful experience during our 16 days in Alaska that I'm almost afraid to schedule another trip. There's no way we'd get so lucky again w/ weather and great excursions.

 

Thanks for your review. I just found it and was reliving my wonderful Alaska trip.

 

Hi! I remember you too. We were at the Denali Lakeview Inn the exact same days as you. But on Wed, when you did the Denali ranger hike, we left early for Palmer. Where did you spend Wed night? I do regret not doing the challenging ranger hike on Tuesday, but maybe if I did I would have wished I didn't. It's amazing what different weather you had leaving Vancouver just one day after we did. I guess the bad weather just followed us all the way up.

 

Enjoyed hearing from you. Barbara

[sandiego1]

The ranger hike was excellent. We started the hike just after the rest stop above Teklanika River. There was about 11 of us, plus 2 rangers and a safety guide (teenage ranger in training). At the end of the hike, we found out that 2 of the others were vacationing rangers from Oregon. They knew so much about the plants, flowers, scat... that we found along the hike. I was amazed until I found out that they were rangers too!

 

We hike through the tundra which at times was a little challenger due to the very soft moss like plant that grew there. You really sink in when you step. It was beautiful. We didn't see too many animals. Did come upon a freshly severed Snowshoe Hare foot (guess it wasn't a "lucky rabbit foot" :) - sorry couldn't resist). We lunched at the shore of the river and relaxed a bit before continuing. We could see the rest stop and w/ binocs could see the folks up there looking down at us. It was funny because we were at that rest stop 2 days before.

 

It was a long day and then we had to drive to Talkeetna. We left out luggage at one of the Princess hotels in Glitter Gulch. We didn't want to have to drive back to Healy to get it. It took a while to pick it up, get gas, etc. before we got on the road to Talkeetna. We didn't arrive at the Talkeetna lodge until 7 or 8PM and were pretty tired. It was a long day but the hike was worth it.

 

Took a McKinley flight seeing tour the next day that was amazing. Once we got above the smoke from the forest fires, we had a crystal clear view of McKinley! It was awe inspiring. I'll never forget it. We had to wear oxygen masks for about 1/2 the flight.

 

We had lunch w/ our travel friends yesterday and I told them about your post. My friend (also named Barbara) remembered you too, as did my husband. Didn't know you were a Cruise Critic fan :)

 

Take care.

[oceanlovinmama]

Great review! A group of 7 of us are heading out to Vancouver on the 31st of August and taking Princess from Vancouver to Wittier. We are staying 2 extra nights in Denali doing the Wonder Lake trip....excited and hoping for good weather.....one question.... you talk about putting your camera in a plastic bag...is this while carrying it?? Is it a regular ziplock type bag or special made bag for your camera?? I would be so disappointed if I couldn't take pictures if it rained, and I wouldn't want to ruin my camera. We are renting a car in Skagway to go to Emerald Lake...having never been we heard good things about the train, but I enjoy stopping when and where I want so we opted for renting a car. Thanks for the suggestions on where to eat...we were wondering if there were any places up there. We are staying at a Bed & Breakfast about 25 minutes north of the park. Looking forward to my trip....still trying to convince DH that he needs a warm coat, not just a windbreaker!

[sandiego1]

We ate at:

 

Panorama Pizza Pub - South of the park - AVOID it at all costs. It was the 2nd worst meal we had (the worst was at a BBQ restaurant in Anchorage). We paid about $65 for 1 pizza and a salad w/ absolutely disgusting, gooeycranberry dressing. That was for 4 people. I could barely eat the pizza.

 

Black Diamond Golf Course - in Healy - excellent meal. One of the freshest salads we had in Alaska. Probably my favorite meal.

 

Name? - I think it was one of the Princess lodges. It's the one at the very top of the hill overlooking Glitter Gulch. Beautiful views. Good meal. We stopped in to check the menu, make a rez and asked if we could bring a bottle of wine. We were told yes and there would be a $10 corkage fee (not a problem). When we got there later that night w/ the bottle, we were told that we couldn't drink it on the premises. A little annoying but we didn't let it stop us from enjoying our meal.

 

We also had a surprisingly decent lunch (paninis) at the Denali park cafe. It was kinda pricey but very tasty. Husband had chili as a late afternoon snack after hiking and thought it was pretty good.

 

Camera - I have a underwater digital camera (excellent for snorkeling) so I don't need to worrry about rain. I would think that pictures taken through a ziploc bag wouldn't come out too good. Perhaps you could keep it in a bag and only take it out when taking pictures? There are also underwater bags and cases that can be purchased explicitly for your model of camera. Do a Google search to see if you can find one for your camera model. I used to have one for my 1st Olympus digital camera. Got rid of it when I got the underwater camera.

[bbjaspan]

The ranger hike was excellent. We started the hike just after the rest stop above Teklanika River. There was about 11 of us, plus 2 rangers and a safety guide (teenage ranger in training). At the end of the hike, we found out that 2 of the others were vacationing rangers from Oregon. They knew so much about the plants, flowers, scat... that we found along the hike. I was amazed until I found out that they were rangers too!

 

We hike through the tundra which at times was a little challenger due to the very soft moss like plant that grew there. You really sink in when you step. It was beautiful. We didn't see too many animals. Did come upon a freshly severed Snowshoe Hare foot (guess it wasn't a "lucky rabbit foot" :) - sorry couldn't resist). We lunched at the shore of the river and relaxed a bit before continuing. We could see the rest stop and w/ binocs could see the folks up there looking down at us. It was funny because we were at that rest stop 2 days before.

 

It was a long day and then we had to drive to Talkeetna. We left out luggage at one of the Princess hotels in Glitter Gulch. We didn't want to have to drive back to Healy to get it. It took a while to pick it up, get gas, etc. before we got on the road to Talkeetna. We didn't arrive at the Talkeetna lodge until 7 or 8PM and were pretty tired. It was a long day but the hike was worth it.

 

Took a McKinley flight seeing tour the next day that was amazing. Once we got above the smoke from the forest fires, we had a crystal clear view of McKinley! It was awe inspiring. I'll never forget it. We had to wear oxygen masks for about 1/2 the flight.

 

We had lunch w/ our travel friends yesterday and I told them about your post. My friend (also named Barbara) remembered you too, as did my husband. Didn't know you were a Cruise Critic fan :)

 

Take care.

 

Thanks so much for the hike description. I'm surprised you didn't see much wildlife -- or maybe the rangers plan the hikes that way, so there are no close encounters with bear or moose. Was that discussed?

 

Your description of looking at the folks at the rest stop looking back at you reminds me of my visit to Yosemite some years ago. On our first day, we hiked up alongside first one waterfall, then followed the river and hiked up a second waterfall. How huge and high those waterfalls were! Then, 2 days later, as we drove out of Yosemite we stopped at an overlook where, if you looked carefully, way down there, minuscule, we could see those two tiny waterfalls, one above the other. What perspective!

 

Barbara

[bbjaspan]

Great review! A group of 7 of us are heading out to Vancouver on the 31st of August and taking Princess from Vancouver to Wittier. We are staying 2 extra nights in Denali doing the Wonder Lake trip....excited and hoping for good weather.....one question.... you talk about putting your camera in a plastic bag...is this while carrying it?? Is it a regular ziplock type bag or special made bag for your camera?? I would be so disappointed if I couldn't take pictures if it rained, and I wouldn't want to ruin my camera. We are renting a car in Skagway to go to Emerald Lake...having never been we heard good things about the train, but I enjoy stopping when and where I want so we opted for renting a car. Thanks for the suggestions on where to eat...we were wondering if there were any places up there. We are staying at a Bed & Breakfast about 25 minutes north of the park. Looking forward to my trip....still trying to convince DH that he needs a warm coat, not just a windbreaker!

 

The bag I used was a DryPak, a generic waterproof camera bag I bought at REI. It came in several sizes. It's a heavy duty plastic bag with a hard plastic top with locks that seal it, and a neck strap attached. You put the camera inside and take pictures through the bag. It's supposed to float and be good underwater. The pictures I took through the bag were good. Not as sharp maybe as those I took on sunny days but it's difficult to tell if that was because of the bag (probably somewhat) or due to the rain and fog I was also shooting through.

 

We did not take any warm coats, just layers. T-shirts, shirts, fleece vests and jackets, rainjackets. We never wore all of them at once and never wore the knit hats, scarves or gloves we brought. Don't know if it's colder the end of August.

 

Have a great trip!