Next stop was our Airbnb home in a residential neighborhood; there was no caretaker or human to deal with – we had the code to open the electronic lock, and that was it. The place was clean and spacious – a cosy 3-bedroom independent home. It had everything you’d need even for an extended stay – from a fridge, microwave, a decent television and even a washing machine in the bathroom. The only drawback we could call out was that there was just one bathroom. One bedroom had a bunk bed as well. There was also a backyard, which we had access to, where there was a small hut or, you could say, a large kennel.
“Maybe that’s home for a bear?”
It sure could accommodate a bear.
One of the benefits of going as a group and renting Airbnb’s is that you get spacious places, and the cost per person turns out to be lower than what you’d pay in hotels.
It was late in the evening, and we surely had to plan something by now for tomorrow. There were a couple of things that stood out from my rudimentary research – Denali National Park and flight-seeing tours. Raghav narrowed down choices for the flight tour while I was digging for info on Denali.
The plan
Our rough itinerary was to drive tomorrow from Anchorage to Talkeetna (a 2-hour drive) and then, later in the day, continue northwards to Denali (a 3-hour drive). Talkeetna was a city where a couple of operators conducted flight tours – each of them had a range of options that differed in terms of the flight path and duration of the flight – the longer it is, the more expensive, and they all have one route that goes around the summit of Mt. Denali (the tallest mountain in North America); since this one goes to about 20,000 feet, it will be the only one where they’d say you should be in good physical condition and will need to use oxygen masks. All these flights offer the option to add a glacier landing, which costs an extra $130 per person. Basic research did say that the glacier landing is a must-add. So that was finalized – Raghav picked the Talkeetna Air Taxi operator and looked at availability for 4 folks for the morning or afternoon. Some packages (routes) didn’t have seats but we did still have a few options. The group consensus was to choose a basic tour with the add-on of a glacier landing. Raghav booked the tickets, and since the glacier landing happens on a glacier inside the Denali National Park, you are required to buy a pass to the park (which is valid for a few days). He made all the bookings online.
From my research, I found there was a bus tour of Denali National Park – but on their website, the bookings were available from Wednesday onwards; but for Monday and Tuesday it showed there were no seats available.
“Is it in so much demand that all are booked out?”
“But it shows the next 2 days as being available.”
And so Moorthy called the Denali National Park to confirm.
“There should be tickets available for sure. Let me check,” the attendant said. “That’s strange. I’m getting a system error.”
He asked us to call the Denali bus depot. Moorthy called and enquired about the Tundra Wilderness Tour.
“Are there tickets available?”
“I don’t know; there may or may not be.”
“What are the timings of the tour?”
“They are random.”
“By when do we have to buy the tickets?”
“You have to come in person to buy the tickets,” the guy responded.
That was one of the weirdest customer service calls!
“Haha, probably he was an intern – I don’t know how things work; buses go randomly whenever they want to and wherever they want to!”
“So we should book our stay tomorrow around Denali.”
Rakesh conducted the research while Raghav skimmed through the booklets we collected at the airport. After discussing options, they booked accommodation in a place called Cantwell – this city was a 30-minute drive from the Denali National Park visitor centre.
This was turning into a trip where everything was decided at the last minute. We only knew where we’d stay the next day and had no plan for anything beyond that! With Sunday planning done, we stepped out to cover some spots that I had marked as part of the plan for Anchorage. But before that, we headed to the Walmart super center, which was 10 minutes away, to get some supplies for the trip.
The item I was most interested in was the bear spray. The staff said it would be in the sporting goods section, but it wasn’t there.
“Costco will have stock. We’ll get it in 2 days,” the staff said.
There was a Costco nearby, but the closing time as per Google was 6 pm on weekends, and it was unlikely we’d make it.
The drive
Our first real destination, as per the plan, was Potter Marsh – to get there, we drove on Highway 1, which is also called the Seward Highway. As we neared the destination, we saw a large water body on our right – this is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean that extends all the way to Anchorage. Beyond the still waters were mountains, with some of them having a sprinkling of snow on top. Between the highway and the water inlet was the Alaskan railway track. To the left of the highway was greenery and smaller mountains (part of the Chugach State Park). This is a highway that you should definitely drive down if you get a chance – with all of nature’s colours surrounding it.
An alternative way to experience this is to take the train. It was an option I’d considered – taking the train from Anchorage to Denali on the train, but then, the problem would be for the return; we’d have to do the train again, and we’d lose the flexibility we had with a car.
Our destination for now was Potter’s Marsh, and so we stuck to the plan without getting diverted by the scenic Seward Highway!