North to Alaska Princess Style

Looking out from the Coral Princess berthed at Ketchikan, I couldn’t see much to stir my interest or whet my appetite for exploration. I saw a small town of clapboard houses stretched out string bean style along Tongass Avenue. Coming away from the docks, though, I realised that Ketchikan still has the rough-and-tumble flavour of its frontier past, when fishermen, loggers, and Indians all mixed at Creek Street, where "the men and the fish come to spawn."

Pilings over Ketchikan Creek supported most of the homes. Black Mary, Blind Polly, and Dolly have long since retired, and their houses are now a collection of coffee shops, boutiques, and galleries. These brightly painted boutiques once catered for gentlemen seeking the company of "sporting women." The museum at Dolly's House gives a look into those bawdy ways of frontier life. There visitors can learn about Ketchikan's colourful history – its guides dress in period costumes.

Ketchikan is still a major commercial fishing port with several salmon canneries and processing plants. Misty Ketchikan, the rainiest town in southeast Alaska, also carries the title "Salmon Capital of the World." Being the first port of call in Alaska, it also bears the title "First City," although with a population of 14,000, it is only the fourth largest in the state. Like many Alaskan cities, it occupies a huge area and consists essentially of several small towns or villages.

Ketchikan offers insight into what Alaska is about. Its attractions include a salmon hatchery and eagle centre, totem poles, museums, and art galleries. Fishing charters and sightseeing tours are available, as is kayaking. You can kayak in Misty Fiords or hike up Deer Mountain. It is the shopping mecca of the Alaskan cruise trail, with the big international diamond shops that cater for the cruise trade sited here, as well as many local tourist shops and galleries. Sales reps on board the ship give briefings on buying diamonds – I pondered on how many people would obtain a commission out of each purchase, and they were very unreceptive.

The climate is damp but mild. If you stay in Ketchikan longer than an hour, chances are that it will rain at least once - we proved fortunate. The average annual rainfall is 162 inches. Despite all the rain, the only people with umbrellas are usually tourists. First City residents seldom use them, nor do they let the rain interfere with their daily routines, even outdoor ones, such as fishing, hiking, or having a softball game. If they stopped everything every time it rained in Ketchikan, nothing would progress.

The port can only take three cruise ships at a time, and as they queue to get in, the time allowed only amounts to half a day, so it is necessary to have a plan of action. Some of the sights are a bit out of town - Totem Bight, for instance, is 10 miles out. Therefore, booking a tour may have an advantage.

When travelling into Alaska, you quickly become aware of bald headed eagles wheeling on updrafts around hills and cliffs and nesting in trees. These birds are one of the clan symbols of Alaskan natives. However, unless you have binoculars, your wish to see those birds, with wingspans of up to 8 feet, up close is difficult.

The Eagle Centre, run by the Ketchikan Indian Community, with its walk-through design, offers visitors close views of one of Alaska’s most majestic creatures. It has become home to injured eagles that can't survive in the wild. Over a dozen of these magnificent birds would not be alive today if it were not for the centre.

The wooden buildings stand over Ketchikan Creek, next to the salmon hatchery. Visitors can walk right through the eagle enclosure. No glass stands between you and the birds only feet away. Remarkably, the resident pair of injured, flightless bald headed eagles have mated for life and have built a nest in which they lay eggs each year. They hunt salmon swimming through their enclosure.

The centre is currently home to 15 birds: two Harris hawks, three red-tailed hawks, four bald eagles, one golden eagle, two ravens, one American kestrel, one goshawk, and one great horned owl.

Through the care and attention given by the centre, these creatures have become ambassadors for their kind, greeting and helping educate thousands of people who visit Ketchikan every year. Throughout the summer months, the Eagle Centre’s educational programmes provide visitors the opportunities to view and learn about these wonderful creatures.

The Eagle Centre has three bird handlers who care for the birds year-round. Their job takes patience, knowledge, and attention to detail to keep the birds healthy and happy. The handlers also educate people on the dangers these birds face from their contact with modern civilization. While having excellent far sight, when they intently focus on a distant object they sometimes lose sight of what's right in front of them and can suffer injury from contact with vehicles or power lines. If they cannot fend for themselves, they either die or, if they are lucky, get placed in an eagle centre such as this one in Ketchikan.

When watching a handler with an eagle perched on his arm, it is difficult to remember the eagles usually weigh as much as a bowling ball. Try holding a bowling ball on your outstretched arm for a time and you will have an idea of what it takes to handle a large bird like an eagle.

The birds normally walk out in the park once a day with the handlers, which the birds enjoy. The benefits are twofold. The birds have a chance to be close to nature, and the occasional contact with the public is an opportunity for people to enjoy and learn more about these wild and magnificent creatures.

Leaping salmon, a symbol of Alaska, but where do you go to see them? Try the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery, Ketchikan. This nonprofit centre releases thousands of coho and king salmon smolts (2-year-olds) each year. The hatchery has observation platforms and educational displays explaining the salmon's life cycle. It is the only municipally owned hatchery of its kind in Alaska.

The hatchery tours let you feed the fry yourself. A naturalist guides you through four interpretive areas at the Hatchery. You see the fish in different stages of growth and learn how Alaskan lifestyles depend on the sea. Thousands of silvery salmon shimmer in the holding pools. Toss them their favourite snack and they go into a feeding frenzy. Learn about their life cycle.

Salmon have been part of the diet of native Alaskans cultures for thousands of years and are now important to commercial and sport fishing as well. Excessive harvesting and destruction of habitat have reduced salmon stocks. This has created the need to rehabilitate natural habitat, to manage harvest, and to increase stocks through propagation. One of the most common methods in use is the salmon hatchery.

Pacific salmon begin life in freshwater streams or lakes and migrate to sea. As spawning approaches, the males develop an enlarged hooked nose. Salmon may become bright red or dark depending on species. At this stage in their life cycle, they return to their birthplace, where they spawn and die. Each fall, fish that have started life here swim up Ketchikan Creek to return to their birthplace. Fish move up the two fish ladders and migrate into a holding pond. Immature fish remain in the pond, while mature female fish are killed and spawned. This may seem brutal, but salmon die when they spawn anyway.

Following spawning comes incubation. Plastic trays, each containing between 5,000 and 10,000 eggs with water passing through, simulates the natural incubation on a gravely stream bed. In late winter or early spring, the young salmon fry transfer to start tanks. Here they feed on a diet of concentrated fish protein. When the ‘fingerlings’ outgrow the start tanks, they transfer to outside rearing ponds for about one year. At release, the "smolt" will be between 4 to 8 inches long. Over 350,000 king, coho salmon, steelhead, and rainbow trout find their way to the sea from the hatchery each year. The number that will return is only a small percentage of the number released, but because of the large quantities of eggs in each spawned female, those few restore hatchery stocks.

The hatchery is next to the Totem Heritage Centre and under a mile away from where the cruise ships dock. The Tlingit Indians called this one-time salmon-fishing camp Kitsch-Hin, "the creek of the thundering wings of an eagle," and fittingly, there is an eagle centre that attends to injured birds attached.

Admission: $9 for adults

The totem pole symbolises a bygone age of the Native people of southeast Alaska, an age now preserved by the Totem Heritage Centre in Ketchikan. Totems have become a valued art form and a symbol of pride and tradition for both the native and non-native people of the Pacific Northwest.

What did totem poles represent? I visited the Heritage Centre to find out. It seems they had a variety of purposes. They might honour ancestors, show the clan's standing and its rights and accomplishments, record a memorable ceremony or record a spiritual experience. Totem figures are not gods. Native Indians neither worshipped them like religious icons nor used them as a talisman to ward off evil spirits.

The Native peoples developed totem poles into a distinctive sophisticated art form. Originally their carvers relied on tools of stone, shell, bone, and animal teeth. Furs exchanged with Europeans for iron tools allowed them to perfect the art form. By 1850, diseases such as smallpox had reduced the Native population and imported cultures caused a decline in the traditional way of life. The Totem Heritage Centre opened in 1976 to preserve totem poles rescued from uninhabited Tlingit and Haida villages before they rotted.

This centre near City Park contains the largest collection of original 19th-century totem poles in existence. Poles had a normal life span of about 70 years before crumbling, but some of the samples here are up to 160 years old. A high ceiling and muted lighting highlight the spirituality of the art. Well-trained guides and good interpretive signs explain what you are looking at. The gift shop, open during the summer, carries genuine Native crafts.

The poles display mythological images, usually animal spirits, whose significance is their association with the lineage. Each figure represents a family crest. Some poles tell a family legend in the form of pictographs. Poles may identify the owner of a house or other property, welcome visitors, point out a portal or passageway, mark a gravesite, contain ashes of the dead, and even ridicule an important person who failed in some way.

Early totems carved from mature cedar trees formed part of the Potlatch ceremonies, a ceremonial distribution of property and gifts among family clans in Alaska and British Columbia. With the growth of non-Native settlements in southeast Alaska in the early 1900s and the decline of a barter economy, Natives moved to communities where work was available. The villages and totem poles they left behind were soon overgrown by forests and eroded by weather.

The centre displays 33 magnificent, original poles and many other modern totems and displays of Native Alaskan artefacts. As well as its museum role, the Totem Heritage Centre also preserves and promotes traditional arts and crafts of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people through a nationally recognized program of Native Arts classes.

Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight, a state park 10 miles north of town, also preserve the Indian culture.

This park illustrates the Alaskan Indians way of life. It has a clan house and totems typical of 19th-century Indian villages. The setting, the former site of a traditional fishing camp, is a peaceful spot on the edge of Tongass Narrows, a short walk through woods. The park has guides to give talks, explanatory signs, a printed guide, an interpretive website, and a small bookstore to aid understanding.

In 1938, salvaging and remaking these large cedar monuments began. Skilled Indian carvers using traditional tools carved copies of original poles while teaching young artisans the skills. Modern paint with colours copied from traditional Native paints decorated the totems.

Inside the house is a single large room with a central fireplace surrounded by a planked platform. Such a house would have served as living quarters for several families of a particular clan. Each family had its own space, but shared the common fire. Removable floorboards provided storage for utensils, treasured items, and blankets, while food items hung from the beams and rafters.

A totem often stood at the front entrance of the family house to honour ancestors; to show the clan's standing, rights, and accomplishments; and to record a memorable ceremony or spiritual experience. A totem pole is a symbol of the qualities, experience, and exploits of the clan. The connection between the clan and the various figures carved into the pole may have been as a result a special gift from the animal, fish, or bird spirits. Some clans claimed certain totem figures as ancestors.

A 14-foot replica of a rescued totem of "The Man Wearing the Bear Hat" stands in the Park. The original totem was a memorial grave marker on Cat Island in southeast Alaska. This grave marker represented a man wearing a large carved wooden hat surmounted by a bear's head. Painted killer whales decorate the hat’s brim. Important occasions merited wearing such a hat and telling the stories it symbolizes, perhaps dramatising a little.

The story of the Man Wearing the Bear Hat goes: A long while ago, murderers killed the chief of the Bear Clan, and the killers refused to compensate for his death. The Bear clansman made a wooden hat, carving the bear with mouth open and teeth bared as though ready to attach an enemy. They then invited the murderer and his relatives to a potlatch – a ceremonial distribution of property and gifts - and challenged them either to pay for the death of the chief or to prepare for war. As the accused still did not pay, the Bear Clan attacked them. Since then, the Bear with teeth showing warns the Bear people are proud and will attack their enemies if wronged. The whale fin and painted killer whales on the post represent another crest of the group.

This is the story of one totem – just think of all the stories that have rotted away!

During Comedy Showtime on-board Coral Princess, the comedian Don Ware cracked the joke, "Did you know that while you were asleep, the Regal Princess steamed in circles until the staff in Ketchikan reversed signs to read Juneau and then we went back in." Certainly what is on offer is similar. Juneau, though, is the capital of Alaska. It is the second biggest city in the world in area, but it is easy to think of it more as a small town for all that is visible. The population is only around 30, 000. Like Ketchikan, it also sits on an island, and everything must enter by air or sea. It is home to the famous "Red Dog Saloon," the oldest tourist attraction in Juneau or Alaska.

Across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau is the Glory Hole, the cavernous entrance to a gold mine where so many of the miners went to glory due to frequent accidents. Joe Juneau and Richard Harris found gold here in 1880 and put Juneau and the territory on the map.

Juneau is complete with beautiful iced-capped mountain views, the Mendenhall glacier, and other small glaciers. The Mendenhall Glacier is a huge ice flow 13 miles from the city centre. It’s a beautiful natural wonder, both when the sun shines on it and when the sky clouds and the ice becomes a deep blue. There’s a visitor centre near the glacier’s face, with displays, film presentations, and several hiking trails around the glacier.

We snapped away with the help of a professional photographer on the "Photo Safari by Land & Sea" excursion offered by Princess. A flexible itinerary allows the tour to catch seasonal highlights, such as changing light and weather conditions. Guides provide photo tips for all skill levels and take the groups to prime destinations to capture the area’s scenic wonder. Our guide was Melissa Kenney, a bubbly guide full of good humour and advice. She made me explore parts of my camera that I hadn’t known existed.

Following viewing the glacier, we went whale-watching. There were only six of us, so we had plenty of room to move around in the boat. The whales were busy – both the humpbacks and the orcas. The ancient cry of "tha’ she blows" sounded often. It called for split-second timing on shutter buttons. My 10-times zoom lens proved useful.

The humpbacked whales can range upwards to 50 feet and weigh 40 tons. They have a mottled white underside and knobs and bumps on their head and flippers. Often they congregate in currents running around a point. Orcas are large dolphins conspicuous by their tall black tails. They are often to found in Lynn Canal between Juneau and Skagway.

I enjoyed the whale-watching so much that I joined the crew of a yacht as soon as I got back to Scotland, and the first time out I was fortunate enough to see dolphins leaping around on the bow wave from a ferry.

The cliff face along the side of the Coral Princess’s mooring dock at Skagway was festooned with symbols representing ships that had called. The stampeders of the Great Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 piled off steamships here, eager to head overland to the Yukon gold fields on the White Pass Trail from Skagway or the Chilkoot Trail from nearby Dyea.

A railway completed in 1900 eliminated the steep slog up the White Pass Trail and onwards to Whitehorse. The train can now start from the docks, and many of the passengers having already purchased tickets stepped ashore into the awaiting passenger cars - some of them the originals from Klondike days. The train had departed by the time we stepped off the sloping gangway.

Nowadays, a road runs up the other side of the pass, connecting eventually with the Alaskan highway, built for strategic reasons in wartime. We travelled to the White Pass Summit aboard a comfortable minibus with an experienced guide narrating the historical tour. These tours are faster and cheaper than the train and have the additional advantage of stopping at viewpoints, but lack the glamour of riding the rails.

At some points we could see the train winding its way up the railway carved out of the rugged mountains by workers suspended by ropes from vertical cliffs while chipping and blasting the granite away. The train climbs 2,885 feet to White Pass in only 20 miles. Hundreds of feet below are the visible remains of the old trails. A long line of climbers, each bent with his load on the steps, cut into the pass travelled along these. At the top lay the Canadian border and the North West Mounted Police. No one could pass without a year’s supplies, about 1,000 pounds. The trail was nicknamed "Dead Horse Trail" because 3,000 pack animals perished in the canyon.

The bus tour travels into Canada, but does not pass through Canadian customs. It makes stops for passengers to view and photograph azure glaciers, towering waterfalls, breathtaking mountain vistas, and extraordinary and unusual sub-arctic alpine terrain. It is approximately 1.5 hours in length.

As we travelled upwards, snow became more prevalent. We stopped at the top, and the Mexican passengers, with whoops of joy, started a snowball fight – those of us used to snow looked on and smiled. The stampeders would have carried on to Lake Bennett, where they would have built and launched their boats for the trip to Dawson City.

Coming back, we stopped at the Alaskan border sign for photographs. The guide mentioned that on a previous trip, they had been busy taking snapshots of passengers standing at the sign - on looking round, they discovered a bear sitting at the other side of the road watching them. Lucky them, we didn’t see a single one the entire trip!

Skagway retains the air of the frontier town of the gold fever Days of ‘98. Then prospectors faced the temptations of 80 saloons, the lure of painted ladies, and the quick fingers of gamblers and thieves, such as "Soapy" Smith and his ruthless gang, even before the dangers of the trail.

Buildings like the historic Arctic Brotherhood Hall, adorned with 20,000 pieces of driftwood, are the objects of many photos. Restored vintage 1936 to 1937 cars, complete with costumed conductors, tour the streets. These are a recreation of Alaska’s first tour company founded in 1923. Its first customer was President Warren G. Harding on his way to drive the "golden spike," marking completion of the Alaska Railroad.

We took a minibus tour through the town and up a winding road to a vantage point giving a clear view of the town. The Coral Princess lay at her berth. A cliff face portrayed a painting of a pocket watch. It was a common way of advertising, as rocky outcrops became denuded of trees as the town expanded.

We rode back into town and went into the Museum of ‘98. The museum contains a wide selection of Gold Rush artifacts and other items reflecting Skagway's colourful history. The impressive building with granite walls and a high-pitched roof standing among lofty trees on the edge of town began life as a short-lived Gold Rush-era college. It later became a federal courthouse and jail and now contains the city hall and museum.

We finished the tour by taking in The Day’s of ‘98 Show celebrating the town’s gold rush days of 1898. The show in the Eagle’s Hall performed by a cast of five dramatises the last day in the life of Skagway’s infamous resident, con artist Soapie Smith.

The scenes are set in Soapie’s saloon and the performance is in the 1890’s style. Soapy, a seriously bad guy with illegitimate con games, prostitution, and bars, doesn’t see himself in that light. By fleecing stampeders, he points out that he has saved lives, as these now-penniless folk have to return home rather than getting killed on the White Pass Trail. When Skagway became more civilized, its citizens decided it was time for Soapie to go. Vigilantes organized, and on his last day, Soapy starts drinking heavily and losing the plot. Gun in hand, he set out to face his tormentors. Frank Reed shot him dead, but also died after he lingered on for more than a week. Reed received a hero’s burial in Skagway cemetery. Smith lies a few meters away.

It’s a fun show. Soapie has been more or less turned into the good guy, with the song and dance numbers in the show offsetting the bloodletting. Members of the audience persuaded to take part danced the "Can Can" and added to the fun. They were brilliant! Entertainment-wise, it’s great, but it also tells the history of Skagway and Soapie Smith.

The Coral Princess entered Glacier Bay in early morning on June 2 on its cruise to the rivers of ice 50 miles away. By noon, the temperature was 52°F and the day was clear and bright. Two Park Service rangers and a state guide boarded the ship at Bartlett Cove and gave detailed commentary.

When Vancouver passed this way in 1794, Glacier Bay didn’t exist. A solid wall of ice fronted the entrance. When C.S. Wood visited in 1877, the ice had receded 40 miles due to seismic action splitting the ice. It has left a bay with spectacular scenery and wildlife. We saw whales, sea otters, harbour seals, and bald eagles.

The captain sailed the ship within close viewing distance of Majorie Glacier and Grand Pacific Glacier. Majorie Glacier shone a brilliant white with blue hues, while Pacific Glacier appears black from debris accumulated over thousands of years. Majorie Glacier calved as we watched - the ice descended with a roar to the sea to create waves. Fascinated, I listened to the loud cracking or popping sounds echoed around us as compressed air escaped from the glacial ice. Deep crevasses descend to a depth of often around 100 feet - below this depth, the pressures in the ice force closure.

As we sailed out of the bay, the rangers left by leaping nimbly into a motorboat that had momentary drawn alongside the Coral Princess at Cape Spencer.

We arrived at College Fjord around noon the next day, another brilliant day. The naturalist onboard gave a running commentary over the ship's PA system of what we were seeing. She pointed out otters swimming on their backs alongside the ship. We saw a breaching whale right off the bow. Orca whales appeared close to the shore – if you go on this cruise, bring binoculars to see the further off sightings on sea and land. At one point, a bald eagle flew majestically over the bow of the ship to the cheers of passengers.

Here was the surprise. College Fjord is even more impressive than Glacier Bay. College Fjord has seven glaciers along the arm the ship cruises. They are named after famous universities in the States. We closed the shore and approached Wellesley Glacier. Growing close to the ice are 100-foot spruce trees. To see a glacier soar above these trees is impressive – the front of the glacier must tower 300 feet above the sea.

These glaciers are much more active than the glaciers in Glacier Bay - icebergs floated all around us. The captain turned the ship around opposite Harvard Glacier to give everyone an opportunity to see the glacier. Big chunks periodically fell off with a sound like thunder as they hurtled towards the sea.

After about 3 hours in the fjord, the ship was on its way out again. This fjord is awesome and was one of the highlights of the trip.

We stepped ashore at Whittier - this austere town was built as an army post in World War II. A few strides and we were aboard the waiting Princess train. It runs on a railway line built to transport war supplies into Alaska. Maynard Mountain stood in the way of the line, but it was no problem – just blast a 2.5-mile tunnel through the mountain. Now the line was our holiday route into the interior.

Our train had wrap-around glass-domed ceilings to ensure unobstructed views of Alaska's spectacular scenery, necessary for viewing mountains and cliffs. Unfortunately, wildlife seemed rare. Apart from Dall sheep and some swans, little else appeared. A commentary by our onboard host kept us abreast of what we were viewing. Open-air viewing platforms allow for the unobstructed snapshot or breath of fresh air.

Dining choices include a dining salon with picture windows, fine china, and a menu of entrées prepared-to-order or a bistro car serving snacks and drinks in a more casual setting. After winding through taiga forest, we arrived in Talkeetna, a beautiful little town. Talkeetna, a Native word, means, "where the rivers meet," referring to the Talkeetna, Chulitna, and Susitna rivers. Having time before we needed to catch a bus to Mt. McKinley Lodge, we wandered for a few hours around Talkeetna.

Originally the site of a Tanaina village, Talkeetna became a mining town and trading post in 1896. A gold rush to the Susitna River brought prospectors to the area, and by 1910, Talkeetna became a riverboat station. In 1915, the Alaska Engineering Commission building the Alaska Railroad Talkeetna located here. World War I and the completion of the railroad in 1919 reduced the population to a few hundred.

Today, of Talkeetna's 24 buildings, 15 are on the National Register of Historic Places. We browsed around The Historical Society Museum, housed in an old one-room schoolhouse. It displays historical items, local art, and a historical library. Several displays cover the life and times of mountaineer extraordinaire Ray Genet and bush-pilot legend Don Sheldon, both Talkeetna residents. Sheldon pioneered glacier landing and rescued hikers throughout the Alaska range.

The displays include a 144-square-foot scale model of Mt. McKinley. Using the model, a park ranger gave us a talk on the mountain and its glaciers. The old railroad Section House contains climbing displays. There is also an early trapper’s cabin.
This pioneer town keeps its rustic roots as an original supply station for miners and trappers. Many locals still live in log cabins or out in the bush without running water or electricity.

We took the pleasant bus ride to the Mt. McKinley Lodge. When we arrived, the view was spectacular. Not a cloud in the sky. Even though we were 43 miles from Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, it dominated the horizon. Other than taking the nature walk on one of the trails around the lodge, we just relaxed.

Our first overnight stop on our overland journey into Alaska was the Mt. Mckinley Princess Lodge on the banks of the Chulitna River, south of Denali National Park. From the Main Lodge you can see the majesty of Mt. McKinley.

Mt Mckinley Princess Lodge’s 18 log cabins range in size from 8 to 39 rooms. The outside design plays on the 'rustic Alaska' theme with natural wood trusses and beams in the lobby and restaurants. In the rooms there is little different from a typical Holiday Inn. Our room was clean, with satisfactory space and storage. Its memorable feature was a toilet which when flushed sounded as though someone was trying to knock down the wall with a sledgehammer.

The lodge has several restaurants, from Cub Cafe for casual dining to Mountain View Dining Room for finer cuisine. We had our breakfast of coffee and muffins at the Expresso Bar, a meal in the Expedition Pizza and the following night one in the Cub Café. I couldn’t fault the service in any of them.

We went to a talk ‘ Song of the Land’ by LeRoy Zimmerman in the theatre. An engaging and interesting man who had a feel for the wild, his talk included unique photography. Since 1974 he realized he could not capture what he was seeing with his eyes within a single frame of film. He then began created wide-screen multi image productions that he called PhotoSymphonies. Each screen comprises 3 horizontal 35mm slides projected edge to edge on a 1:4 screen. Only when the digital age arrived could he seamlessly join the three separate frames with one another into a composite photo. You can view his photography at photosymphony.com.

Next day we went on the Scenic-Three Rivers Tour from Talkeeta aboard jetboat "Talkeetna Queen". Its 1000 horsepower whisked us along at an average speed of 35 m.p.h. Its glass-dome allowed easy observation while a naturalist explained the wildflowers and plants growing along the banks and the edible plants used by the Native Indians for cooking and medicines.

The trip takes in rivers: Talkeetna, Susitna and Chulitna. The latter’s gorge had white water which created excitement. These low draught jetboats navigate such previously inaccessible waters safely. During the sixty miles travelled we viewed nesting bald eagles, beaver gnawed trees but didn’t see moose or black or grizzly bears.

We enjoyed a quarter mile nature walk to visit a trapper’s cabin, which belonged to the boat owner Steve Mahay – his son Israel was our captain. The rustic furnishings inside showed how he lived at the turn of the century. Nearby we examined a reproduced native encampment. The trip included a stop at a large uninhabited Beaver Lodge exposed due to the beavers’ dam bursting.

We landed a short drive away from the Princess McKinley Lodge. Wildlife, folklore, artifacts, and a panoramic view of Mt Mckinley in the Alaska Range combined to make this an unforgettable and unique Alaskan river adventure.

We transferred from Princess’s Mt. McKinley Lodge to their Denali Lodge on the east riverbank of the Nenana River. This lodge, 1 mile north of Denali National Park, is a jumping-off point for exploring the park. Denali Park is larger than Massachusetts and one of the last frontiers for wilderness adventure.

The Denali Princess Lodge has about 10 log cabins of various sizes. The outside design is of a "rustic Alaska" theme, with natural wood trusses and beams in the lobby and restaurants. In the rooms there is little difference from a typical hotel. Our room was clean, with satisfactory space and storage. Its memorable feature was the loudest plumbing I have experienced – if anyone flushed a toilet in any of the nearby rooms, we knew. The hotel has several restaurants, from Cruiser's Cafe for burgers and beer to Summit Restaurant for finer cuisine. We had our breakfast at the River Run Deli & Expresso Bar.

We had our evening meal at the Denali Princess Dinner Theatre, Music of Denali. The cast retells the legends of the first expedition to the summit of Mt. McKinley in a musical comedy. They include Walter Harper, the first Alaska Native to set foot on the summit of Mount McKinley. The actors and actresses also do duty as servers for an all-you-can-eat meal of salmon, ribs, and dessert. They then present a rollicking adventure that takes you to new heights - to the top of The Great One! The musical comedy has everyone clapping and singing with the cast right up to the finale. The only shortcoming to the evening was that not all enjoyed the haphazard meal. The show is around 2 hours, including dinner.

The "Natural and Cultural History of Denali National Park," included in the holiday with Princess, lasts 4 hours. It consists of a park tour on a school bus – the only ones allowed in the park. I had never realised just how rough a ride these buses give. Also, they have no air-conditioning or restrooms.

The diversity of the landscape unfolded as we transited from a taiga forest to the views of the sweeping tundra. We saw moose, caribou, Dall sheep, marmots, red fox, and arctic ground squirrel, but not a grizzly bear. I was glad that we had our binoculars. If you wanted to see some of this wildlife, they were a must-have for this trip. This park tour also took in breathtaking vantage points overlooking deep valleys, which, on such a clear day, was spectacular! At the turn-around point, we stopped for a break and to consume the snack provided during the trip. I added hot water, from a panel with taps behind the bus, to my chocolate powder to make instant hot chocolate!

This tour was an experience that you should not miss for the scenery.

The next day, we took a train to Fairbanks for an overnight stay before flying home.