olivermoss | Alaska Part 9: Back At The Park Entrance

I made a quick post about this when I was still in the area, but leaving the park was a jolt I am still not over. Within 90 minutes of the bus reaching the entrance, the following things happened:

* I saw photographers corner a moose and the moose charged them. No one got trampled but it seemed pretty close. Moose, not bears, are the main wildlife danger in the park. A bear in it's right mind doesn't want to hurt a human, a moose does.

* I was literally pushed around by tourists being aggressive about the shuttle service.

* I was sat at the bar of a restaurant since I was a solo traveler. Since a big sportsball game was on people gathered around me and started shouting, some in my ear. I got up to escape the yelling and someone took my seat and picked up my fork. I don't think he did this intentionally, he was too wrapped up in the game. But he looked like he was about to eat my dinner. I dove back in and reclaim my piece of fish and my water.

I wish I had just walked out, but I was tired and hungry and I just wanted my piece of fish and my water.

I'd gone from nice, chill social experiences with very like minded people to literal pushing and shouting. I was sort of in shock and not dealing great.

I'd planned the leave the area right after exiting the park, but the train was booked up. So, I was to spend two nights at the Grande Denali. Sounds nice, don't it? It sucked. It was on a bluff over the other hotels, and the only way up there was a loose gravel road of tight switchbacks that people drove on very quickly. Getting between the hotel and anywhere else meant the shuttle. The road was bad. I do now know a single person who would risk walking on that road. The shuttle? It sucked and people were literally pushy. The hotel could not accommodate my food needs at all so I couldn't just chill up there.

So I abused the Chalet's shuttle and fled there every morning for my eggs and bacon. At one point I got onto the Chalet shuttle holding the Grande Denali schedule in my hand.

During my extra days I did some one of the hikes around the entrance:

I also shopped. I wanted Denali T shirts. As the food supplies in my bag went down I'd planned to fill the space with new shirts. I'd hoped for a nice wardrobe refresh while I was there. At the entrance to the park dozens of places compete to sell the cheapest shirts and most look like they'd last 3 washings. There was no official park shirt. I eventually bought 2 shirts after looking everywhere, including every hotel gift shop.

I take my T shirt collecting very seriously and they were not catering to me! Ah, well. I kind of wish I'd bought 2 each of the shirts I did get. My other national park shirts are all wearing out.

One of the hikes had a neat bridge:

I got some hikes in, I got my lovely Chalet breakfasts and and oh, how could I forget Black Bear Bakery. There is an allergy friendly bakery there and they make a sweet potato puree based gingerbread cake that is lovely. The best was the apple cake.

Apple cake for lunch:

It was moist in the center, and the top was crunchy and chewy without being sugary! The easy way to add crunch and chew is to dump sugar on top before baking. Their stuff was not sugary and no sugar coatings. They managed great texture without it. I stocked up to supplement my food supplies.

I had a great time despite my various annoyances. I could complain at length about a number of things, including the dumbass tourists who held up my bus for ten whole minutes because they bought the deluxe package and the salesperson told them they could do whatever they wanted. They seemed to think this literally entitled them to, like, the state of Alaska. The poor bus driver had to try to get through to them that no, they can't just walk on any bus without a ticket no matter what package they bought from whom. I could go on about a bunch of other stuff, too, but I also got to stay in Denali Park for 5 days and that is a thing very, very few people will ever do. I did incredible hikes. Saw Seward crystal clear and also socked in by fog. And right now both Seward and Fairbanks are being effected by wildfires. An area I wandered by on a sunny, clear day is now being used as a place to stage people evacuating.

This isn't a wrap up, I have two more entries to post! I know because I already wrote them. I am just spacing out the posting. And then I am going to to post about Murderboat. I just read about the fire outside Fairbanks before doing a final edit on this post and was feeling ... even more navel gazey than I was when I wrote these. I am really lucky to have been able to go and I likely had a better time than a lot of people up there right now.

Alaska Part 10: Finally, Fairbanks.