Today was our first day exploring the Alaskan countryside with a small but hearty band of souls. On this tour, there are six of us ranging from a husband and wife from Yakima, WA, a father and son from Philadelphia and your humble blogger and Laura from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. The forecast called for rain showers but when we loaded up the van, it was just cloudy. I'm thinking, "maybe it won't rain on us". WRONG! We took a three hour van ride from Anchorage to Denali State Park where upon our exiting the van, it started raining. Not heavy storms or a torrential downpour, but just steady rain showers that DID NOT STOP THE ENTIRE RIDE!! Our first segment was nine miles to the lunch stop. Who would think nine miles could be trying? I can do nine miles standing on my head. But if you take rain, plus temps in the mid 50's, it equals quite the test. I made it to the lunch stop where our tour guides Walt & Greg had a tent setup to shield us from the steady rain. After lunch, another nine mile segment with some "nice" climbs. At this rest stop, we were informed out last segment would be an 18 mile jaunt to the van to conclude our ride day. It was a tough 18 miles. Even though I had my rain/cold gear, I was thoroughly soaked and cold as one could be. I wanted to cry tears of joy when I saw our van in the distance. Well, not really cry but that's how I felt! :) Thirty-six miles covered today and I earned every one of them! Now that we all have dried out, day 2 is upon us. We get to ride the Denali Highway and do a hike. Can't wait to get started!
This is a picture of our first night's lodging at the Perch Cabins in Cantwell, AK. It's a mini house that has an upstairs and can sleep four. Very cozy and comfy and just what we needed after being soaked to the bone for the entire day.
See you tomorrow! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment