USA Part 16 – Cabin in the woods

By 5 pm, we started our drive up north towards Denali. If we could get to Denali by 6 pm, we’d be able to make it to the Denali bus depot to enquire about the bus rides for tomorrow – unlikely to make it unless we drove super fast. Rakesh was more than happy to speed away, but Moorthy was more cautious and stayed within the limits. And since the primary driver, as per the rental company, was Moorthy, Rakesh also had to slow down.
On our way to Denali was our room booking for the night in a town called Cantwell; so we decided to check out the place, and then head to Denali, which was another 30-minute drive further north. We were on a straight road – the Parks Highway; trees on the side and the mountain range visible at a distance; skies fairly clear with few clouds. Mobile signal was patchy, and you’ll have stretches where there is none.

At 7 pm, we reached Backwoods Lodge in Cantwell. To get to the office in the Lodge, it was a bumpy off-trail track from the main road for a few minutes.
“Moose Cabin is the next right. Here is the key.”

To travel on these roads it seemed like the office staff had a couple of buggies – perfect for off-roading travel.

There were several lodges clustered near the main office, but on the right, there was a single independent unit – labelled Moose Cabin, surrounded by trees; through the trees, we could see a glimpse of a couple of lodges on the office side – we were pretty isolated. The place reminded me of what you see in horror movies – a cabin in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees!

The place was quite cosy; very compact but just about enough for 4 adults. There was only a single restroom with a wash basin. Next to the bathroom was the kitchen sink and a table. 
They had an old-style TV, which all of us tried to get working without much luck.
“Let’s check out the Denali bus depot just in case they are open.”
“Unlikely to be open. We’re an hour past closing time.”
“Yeah – but there’s also a visitor’s centre.”
As we were about to start, Moorthy said, “Some insects here. Is it a mosquito?”
“Seems big.”
We couldn’t catch a proper glimpse of it, but they did seem bigger than the Indian mosquitoes we were used to. “If they don’t bite, then it’s fine.” 
So far, no bites on anyone, and Rakesh was back at the wheel.
“Check for the next gas station,” Rakesh said. We were extremely low on fuel.
I said, “There’s one behind us, on the way that we came here. Maybe can turn back. Don’t see anything else on the way to Denali except just after Denali.”
But Rakesh didn’t want to turn and motored forward.
“In case that gas station is closed, we’re definitely going to be out of fuel!”
Rakesh was pushing our luck in an unknown territory – to be stranded on the highway with no mobile network connectivity at this hour of the night would be a perfect disaster – on the bright side, we still had daylight!

The Denali Visitor Centre was on the way, but Rakesh decided to fuel first. Thankfully, it was open – it was 8 pm; there was a little convenience store as well that we stepped into. 
“Do you have bear spray?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, without showing any interest.
“Can I see it?”
He pulled a pack from behind him. “50 dollars.”
“Just comes in one size?”
“Yeah.”
“Nothing smaller?”
“Smaller ones won’t be effective.”
It was a medium-sized can like the spray cans we have for cockroaches. It was packed inside a plastic casing. Since I didn’t really know the prices of these or the brands, I thought of checking it out in the Visitor’s Centre.

A little further down the road, there were a bunch of small shops in wooden-style cabins, stacked one beside the other – memento shops, some eateries, coffee shops, etc., with a wooden boardwalk connecting them all. It gave you the feeling of being in an older era – it was a refreshing change from what we are used to. And then a few meters away was another row of similar shops – this is a good place for buying small gifts and mementoes. You’ll find some of the activity operators also here in their little booths – Raghav took snaps of a few of them for research. All were closed at this hour.
I enquired in one of the larger gift shops for bear spray, and surprisingly, they also had it. 
“40,” the staff said. I wasn’t sure if this was the same size because it didn’t have the plastic wrapping, and it was just the can alone.
Raghav, in the meantime, was collecting activity pamphlets and tourist guides from these shops. We are in a digital era, but we still found these pamphlets useful. We stopped at the Black Bear Coffee House (a small joint) for coffee and pastries.

“Let’s check out the visitors centre and find a place for dinner before everything closes.”
The presence of daylight gives you the wrong perception of time! One thing we had seen was that even though the daylight goes into the night, most restaurants tend to close in regular hours – it’s not as if shops and eateries stay open all through the night. 

The bus depot, as expected, was closed, but the visitors’ centre was open – they also had a small shop for supplies. The same bear spray can, enclosed in plastic wrap, cost $60 here! This was the exact same one that we saw in the first shop, and over there, I was thinking that the visitor’s centre would have the lowest price!

“You can even drive in your vehicle into the Denali National Park,” the staff told us.
It was something I had read about during my rushed research online as well – but only up to a particular distance.

But first had to be dinner – we found a Thai place on Google ‘Denali Thai food’ restaurant, and we discovered it was a food truck, but the shutters were down when we arrived! They were also closed. Rakesh wasn’t having any Thai luck today. Raghav and Rakesh walked around the area and noticed some staff behind the truck – on request, they agreed to serve us! Apparently, they closed at 10 pm; so they had just pulled down the shutters when we came in.
We ordered quickly, and the food was served quickly as well – rice, veggies, and chicken – ample quantity. While we were ordering, another small group also came in search of food and placed an order.