North to Alaska

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the info - MrLtL will need new boots so will look at them. I will investigate a pair of something similar for me, though have a very small foot so it is always a bit of a trial to find something that fits. Ended up with kids ones last time.

 

[Justinf]

Thanks for the info - MrLtL will need new boots so will look at them. I will investigate a pair of something similar for me, though have a very small foot so it is always a bit of a trial to find something that fits. Ended up with kids ones last time.

I ended up leaving mine behind in Fairbanks in a rush which I'll get to in the TR otherwise you could have had them although I'm an 11.5

 

[mmchow]

We slowly started to descend into Anchorage and the scenery was amazing.
I have a fetish for snow. I'm the type of person that always wants what I don't have and I'd love to live in a climate that allows for a couple of months of snow each year. It's just so beautiful and magical. Its purity (when it's not mixed with dirt of course) and the whiteness of it, stuns me

The excitement just like a kid in a lolly shop. Loving it.

I was okay in the end. Made me very careful on every other night after that though. I wore some Salomon Men's Kaipo Mid Waterproof Boot and they were very good. Got them for around $100 on special and they keep your feet warm down to -20. Needed thermal socks for Fairbanks though.

Good tips and that's a bargain to be had.

 

[Cynicor]

LtL- for snow boots you can't pass up Kamik NationPlus or similar.
Goretex hiking boots don't generally cut it on the snow, for multiple reasons.
Many people buy Sorel but they are overpriced and heavy as anything. Kamiks are a fraction of the price for a superior boot.
And I currently own 3 pairs of goretex shoes and both the sorels and kamiks. Looking at getting another pair soon because I can resell the 4 YO Sorels for more than it costs to get new Kamiks!

 

[Cynicor]

And even normal sneakers with a simple rubber pull on cleat will be fine for grip. These can be purchased for $10-20 at any snowy outdoors shop.

 

[Justinf]

Woke with a little bit of a hangover and a very sore elbow.
As today was a 'rest day' I decided I'd head to one of the gyms in downtown and get 40 minutes running in on the treadmill.
In my pained state last night, I'd forgotten to leave the breakfast order thingy outside my room. The breakfast pack only consisted of yogurt, juice, a breakfast bar and some oatmeal but it was free and I'd missed out.
SIS decided she would go skiing at Girdwood tomorrow so I would have the day to myself and I was stumped as to do what to do. I considered ice fishing and the Alaska Native Heritage Village.
We wandered around a shopping mall during the afternoon and took advantage of the fact that there was no sales tax in Alaska so if something cost $20, it actually cost $20.
We had a fairly boring, but relaxing day. Temp was still hovering around the zero celcius mark with not a lot of variation even at night.
We eventually headed out for drinks and a light meal.




We stumbled across the Pioneer Bar which was a dive bar, but in a good way.



No real fancy pants beers at this place so I settled for a few Buds and we called it a night.

 

[Justinf]

SIS went skiing in the morning and would be out the entire day so I was left to my own devices. I thought about heading out to the Alaska Native Heritage Center but decided to visit the museum instead. I visited the gym again and pumped out 40 minutes worth of running.
The museum was boring as bat****. Sorry to be so blunt. To be fair, it was being renovated but it just simply wasn't worth my time and money.
A couple of the exhibits were OK, but at least it was a nice way to keep warm. It was a bit cooler today but still only around minus 1.

 

[Justinf]

After a wander around some shops it was around 4pm and with SIS not due back until after 6pm, I decided to head back to the room to watch TV for a bit.
On my way back it started snowing.
Now, I have been in places where it has snowed before. Hell I was even at Mt Buller one day when it was snowing.
But this was magical. I was in Anchorage and it was snowing. I was so excited. I could feel my heart thumping.

 

[Justinf]

After getting back to my room, there was no need to turn the TV on.
I opened the curtains, laid on the sofa and just watch the white stuff some down in blissful silence for around and hour until it started to get dark.
Sometimes the best entertainment isn't on your phone or a TV.
These pics are from the window of my room.







I went to a bar for a quiet beer and then arranged to meet SIS at the Hard Rock Cafe in town for a burger.
Early night as we were off on the Aurora Winter Train in the morning.

 

[lakeman]

Any chance of a supplementary post from your sister about the skiing?

 

[Justinf]

Any chance of a supplementary post from your sister about the skiing?

She's an avid skiier and said it was good. Very, very expensive to get out there without a hire care. $250 return in a cab. She wasn't confident driving the icy roads and she said she was even a bit daunted with the taxi drivers. The road is a bit hairy.
She said skiing was good but luckily the snow held off for long enough to get some good runs in.

 

[Justinf]

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from the Aurora Winter Train. The email said we should get there at 7.30am for an 8.30am departure.
We checked out at around 7.45am and dragged our luggage down the steps to the station.
Once we'd checked in, we had half an hour or so to kill so I ordered a latte from the coffee cart and it took forever to make. I think they had to go an milk the cow first.
The train would be full today for the 12-hour trip up to Fairbanks. I ended up going outside as the room was stifling with all the people just waiting around.









Soon enough we were ready to board.



The seats were in a 2-2 configuration, quite comfy with quite a lot of legroom. There were two carriages for passengers and one dining car.
The mix of people were mostly older in demographics, but also young uns too.
I honestly didn't know how I was going to go on a train for 12 hours.

 

[Justinf]

It was the early morning kind of feeling. You're excited to be moving on to the most anticipated part of the trip, but not sure what to expect.
To be honest for the first three hours to Talkeetna, I wasn't sure whether I'd made the right decision.
At Talkeetna a Chinese tour group boarded and took the whole of Car B and immediately went to the dining car (all of them) despite their being an allocation system in place. Nobody did anything to stop them. Consequently they stayed in there until 1pm until somebody actually said something and said that there was a whole car that had not even stepped foot in the dining car.
Anyway here's some pics on the trip to our first stop at Talkeetna.

 

[Justinf]

With the pics, sorry about the quality. They are mostly taken through the window on an iPhone on a moving train. There was a compartment in between Cars A and B where you stand and take pics, but I didn't take many because A: it was damn cold, and B: the tour group pretty much hijacked that area.











After Talkeetna, the scenery was to dramatically improve and vindicate our decision to do this 12-hour trek.

 

[Justinf]

As we crawled out of the urban sprawl that was Anchorage, we were on the lookout for wildlife. We saw a few moose and I managed to get a pic, although it looks as small as a dog, it was truly massive. Never realised how big these buggers are.
We also a few bald eagles, which were gargantuan. Huge, huge birds. We were hoping to see bears, but the likelihood was remote due to hibernation and even more remote for wolves.

 

[love_the_life]

With the pics, sorry about the quality. They are mostly taken through the window on an iPhone on a moving train. There was a compartment in between Cars A and B where you stand and take pics, but I didn't take many because A: it was damn cold, and B: the tour group pretty much hijacked that area.

The photos are just fine and dandy - it looks incredible.

 

[Pushka]

Agree with love_the_life. Fabulous pictures.

It's a shame that large tour groups overwhelm and spoil it for others. Herd mentality and all that. But even sadder when others don't enforce their own policies.

Next year for me. Was doing a land tour a couple of years ago but not now. An extended cruise touching some unusual places. Have always wanted to go to - Sitka

From Talkeetna we had also booked a flight on TAT to land on Denali. Oh well.

 

[Justinf]

So once we got into Denali NP, the whole ballgame changed.
The scenery was simply jaw-dropping.
We had lunch in the dining car and it was actually quite reasonable with prices to match.
I had some chowder soup and a burger and than it was back to the carriage to see the sights.

 

[Justinf]

The train stopped at Hurricane Gulch on the bridge. It was awesome. A straight drop.

 

[Justinf]

By early afternoon, the trip was becoming much more enjoyable. The carriages were pretty empty as people got out of their seats and walked around.
We had a few flag stops where people just hail the train down from the side of the track. We had one mulfunction which took around 15 minutes to fix and we had some people get off in the middle of nowhere with snow shoes.