Denali National Park

It's the second Sunday morning of our Alaska vacation and we wake up in our lodge just outside Denali National Park.  The tour itinerary says that after breakfast, we are off to "Glitter Gulch", a stretch of shops across the street from the Princess complex just outside the park.  However, Betsy, Tom, Kay, and I would rather go see the National Park Service sled dog demonstration and then visit the  park Visitor Center to take in the exhibits.  If time permits, we would like to actually get a short hike in.  The only time deadline we have is to make it to the train station by 3:15 to catch our transportation to Fairbanks.  So off we go.

After touring the Visitor Center, I check out the trail options outside the rear entrance.  It looks like we have time to take the Taiga Trail and Horseshoe Lake Trail  and still make it back in time.  (As it turns out my calculations were off by a bit, so we would have to keep moving on our walk.)


To begin, the trail winds between towering spruce trees.  As everywhere else in Alaska, the flowers are beautiful.

We cross the main road of the park that leads to the tundra and the fantastic scenery surrounding Mt. Denali. 
Yesterday, our bus tour took us this way.

The trail has  boardwalks where needed to keep us out of the boggy soil.  By the way,  Taiga is defined as the sometimes swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, Yup, that's it alright.

We cross the tracks on foot now, but later we'll be on board the train.

Our first view of Horseshoe Lake.

Betsy's Del Sol t-shirt changes color in the sun.

This is a lot of steps to go down, but the challenge will be when we have to head back this way later.

The colors in the forest are just spectacular.

Betsy spotted a little beaver swimming near this substantial dam.

"Glitter Gulch" is in the background, but we are happier to be here at the lake.

This narrow trail on the far side allows us circle the lake.

From this very sturdy pedestrian bridge, you can hear (but barely see) the river far below.

A little longer and we're back on the Taiga Trail to the Visitor Center.  Today we've hiked 4.1 miles and over 300 feet of elevation at a very respectable 2.1 mph (we are sight-seeing, too, after all).  And yes, we made it back in plenty of time for the the train.