We left our lodge near Mt. McKinley, taking the Alaskan Railroad to our next stop near the entrance of Denali National Park. This rail trip took us deeper into the interior of Alaska, more off the beaten path (if there is such a thing in Alaska). We passed a town of population two where a wife elects her husband mayor and he resigns each year. We passed a town where everyone moons the passing train every Forth of July, in protest.
The train trip was breathtaking. We had hit the season perfectly for brilliant fall colors. It was like opening the door in the Wizard of Oz and seeing a world of color for the first time. You'd wonder how or why a plant would be so red. We were gaining elevation, and soon there'd be no more trees, only a palette of ground cover.
We spent one day in Denali National Park, taking a guided bus tour and wildlife search. There is only one road in Denali, and they do not allow cars, only park buses.
Our bus had the most knowledgeable guide I had ever heard. He'd play stump the guide, and no one could think of a question he couldn't answer. Hour after hour he flawlessly explained every detail of Denali, and pointed out animal after animal. I was amazed how his presentation could be so polished, while he located distant animals and drove down a bumpy dirt road with sheer drop-offs along the edge. Not the job for a schizophrenic.
We saw moose, caribou, Dall mountain sheep, and several families of grizzlies. That segment of our trip was better documented on videotape. If you like watching vacation videos, we took around 5 hours of Alaskan footage. I have thought about digitizing some images from the tapes for this site, but I wouldn't hold my breath.