Road to DENALI, Alaska

"This is God," said a fellow observer on the Mt. McKinley Lodge deck
as Mt. McKinley began to wrap her powdery shawl round her neck for
the night. We nodded in agreement and found ourselves so enraptured
that we sat for two more hours as the sun took her leave behind the
magnificent Alaska Range. Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North
America, is a fickle mistress, showing herself to only 20% of those
who make the trek to see her. We were fortunate to catch a glimpse as
we rounded out 16 hours of travel.

We drove straight to the lodge after picking up our car in Anchorage
- the only airport I've been to where arrivees change into hiking
boots before getting to baggage claim. Still being on East Coast
time, we were first in line at the cafe at 5:30 this morning and
first to hit the trail for a misty half hour hike before driving the
final leg to Denali - two hours of scenic driving amongst nothing but
treeless mountains, low-lying red brush, stunted coniferous trees and
yellow highlights. Fall comes early in the Alaska interior and
according to our seat mate on the flight up, "we only get yellow and
it lasts about two days."

Individual cars are only permitted on the first 15 miles of the
Denali park road. We drove the full awe-inspiring 15 to Savage River
where we took a moment to scale a few rock mounds and drink in the
colorful bounty before heading back to the park entrance to hike the
Horseshoe Lake Trail where a swan dunked for food just above the
beaver dam. The swan and a snowshoe hare were our only animal
sightings today. The season is winding down here so we picked through
the sparsely filled shelves at two mercantiles before finding some
tomato soup and ramen noodles to have for supper at our little cabin
on the Nenana River.