Talkeetna and Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge

Arrived in Talkeetna and got off train and loaded on motorcoach with the rest of the herd for an hour drive to McKinley Wilderness Lodge.  It was nice.  Rooms were pleasant, beds comfortable, lodge beautiful.  The outdoor deck overlooked the Talkeetna Mountains and , behind them, when the weather is clear, the Alaska Range of which Mt. McKinley is most notable.  We were told that only 31% of visitors ever get to see Mt. McKinley.    We were so lucky.

We left a wakeup call if the Northern Lights were visible and if Mt. McKinley became visible in the early morning.  At 1:40 a.m., the call came that the Northern Lights were visible, so we pulled on clothes and coats (it was cold!) and went down to the lodge deck.  The lights were there, but there was no color; they were just whitish cloud looking.  We were told later that sometimes around 3ish, they will start to get more colorful.  We didn't wait.  Went back to bed and at 6:30 another call came that the mountain was visible. 

Now, I have to tell this first.  The night before, we went out on the deck and viewed the darkish Talkeetna Mountains with the clouds behind them.  As we ate dinner, we kept thinking that the clouds were lifting and that we could see just a bit of a snowcovered mountain behind them.  We just knew it was Mt. McKinley making an appearance.  We asked our waitress if we would know for sure that it was "the" mountain when it came out.  She said simply, "yes."  So, taking that into account, when we walked out of our cabin towards the lodge early that morning, our breath was totally taken away by the sight of that huge mountain appearing over the lodge.  Oh, my gosh.  Hurrying into the lodge and out on the deck...it was amazing.  Clear as a bell and big as a 20,230 foot mountain could be.  The base is so big....it stayed out until noonish.

Front of Lodge/mountain visible

Front of Lodge/no mountain visible

We feel so fortunate to have seen such a wonder of nature.

Mt. McKinley

A little info:  At 20,230 feet, it is the tallest peak in North America and rises above the Alaska Range.  And the name?  Denali ("The Great One" or "The High One") is the Athabascan name for peak.  However, in 1896 Princeton graduate and gold prospector William Dickey wrote an article for the New York Sun in which he renamed the peak Mt. McKinley for then presidential nominee William McKinley.  The US Geological Survey recognizes the name as Mt. McKinley, but the State of Alaska Board of Geographic Names has officially changed the mountain's name back to Denali.  Locals simply call it "The Mountain".

The blackish mountains were all that were visible to us when we arrived.  THE mountain appeared by 6:30 a.m. the next morning.

Some McKinley Stats

We went back into Talkeetna later in the day (another hour by motorcoach) and it was visible from there, also.  Walked around, shopped a bit.  It didn't take long!!!  Cute little Alaskan town where a bag of Frito Scoops cost $7.  Talkeetna is the little town that the TV show "Northern Lights" was based on.  Not filmed there, but the characters and town inspired the storyline.  It also is the staging area for all climbers to Mt. McKinley (Denali).

After a short while we got back on the motorcoach for another hour trip back to the Lodge.


We ate dinner at the restaurant aptly named 20320.  Good food and not too terribly expensive.  And called it a day.