Alaska Land Tour Day 2: Mt. McKinley to Denali

Horse drawn carriage ride available at Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge.
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Today we got up early and finished packing because we were moving onto Denali National Park. We went to the Cub Cafe in the lodge for breakfast which was buffet style. The food was decent and typically what you would expect at a breakfast buffet.

I went into the gift shop and bought an Alaska photo frame and sent a postcard to a friend at home. Afterwards I checked my email one last time. I went outside to the patio to take more pictures of Denali and found it covered in clouds. I was very glad we got there on a clear day yesterday and was able to get pictures of the high mountain.

I am a river guide, I know what adverse river levels look like and this wasn't it!

Denali National Park, Alaska
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Our bus was supposed to arrive at 9 to take us to Denali National Park but it was over an hour late and arrived at 10:00 a.m. We boarded the bus and drove two hours to the boundary of Denali National Park. Along the way I could see the Nenana River which we were going to go whitewater rafting on. I was getting excited for this excursion!

We got to our room and found a letter from the excursion desk explaining that the rafting trip was cancelled due to "adverse river conditions". I was fucking pissed! Not because it was cancelled but because they used a bullshit excuse. I am a river guide, I know what adverse river levels look like and this wasn't it! If you don't have the numbers to run a trip just say so! We went to the excursion desk in the hotel to see what was going on...they claimed the river was frozen......now this particular river flows right outside the hotel, in fact you can see it from the patio. It wasn't frozen! The rafting trip was supposed to be our excursion for the day so we had to pick something else.

Me by the Nenana River in Alaska
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After some discussion we settled on the Husky Homestead Tour which was going to start later in the afternoon. We now had some time to kill so we walked around the lodge and took some pictures, we shopped in the gift shop ad went to lunch in the Lynx Creek Pizza Pub. The food was great and we got some locally brewed beer.

After lunch we went across the street where there were more stores and several outfitters. I went into several of the rafting outfitters and they were all running trips on the Nenana River......amazing the river wasn't frozen for them! I was getting more and more pissed off that Princess cancelled the excursion and then lied about the reason why. I returned to my hotel room and got showered and changed and then went to the gift shop and bought another photo frame.

My family at the Husky Homestead Tour
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By this time it was time to go on our excursion. A shuttle picked us up at the hotel and took us to the homestead of Jeff King, legendary Idiatrod Champion. Jeff was not there but his wife and the dog handlers conducted the tour for us. We were able to see all of their dogs, what their lives and training schedule was like, what they ate and we even got to hold the puppies and have our pictures taken with them. It was a nice tour and made me miss my dog at home.

After the tour we returned to the hotel and walked along the river and took more pictures before going to bed. I stayed awake hoping to see the Northern Lights but no such luck!

Husky Homestead
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Things Learned on Day 2 of my Land Tour:

1. Denali National Park website http://www.nps.gov/dena/

2. Husky Homestead website http://www.huskyhomestead.com/

3. Know that if you book an excursion they can always be cancelled for any reason. Also know that apparently if Princess mustn't get a minimum amount of participants on an excursion they will cancel it and give you a bull shit excuse.