Scenic Train Ride Through Alaska

What a way to travel through these stunning Alaskan landscapes!

My favorite spot on the train

Boarding our train to Denali

Scenic Train Through Alaska

I have long heard tale of this scenic train ride through the heart of Alaska’s wild frontier. The Golden Star Line heads from mile marker 0 at Seward up North to mile 470 in Fairbanks. Along the way it passes glaciers, bogs, snow-capped peaks, tundra, forest, rivers, ponds, and if you are lucky maybe the great mountain itself, Denali, will peek out from the clouds. Sharp eyes can spot moose around the lakes, bears ambling through the woods, trumpeter swans on their nest, and bald eagles flying above. Most of the time is spent cutting through the wilderness, although towns like Whittier, Seward and Talkeetna provided brief glimpses of human population pushing back the wild frontier. When combined with the cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks, also located on the track, you can account for about 70% of Alaska’s population. It goes to show how important this railroad has been.

Trumpeter Swans seen from the train
Heidi and I boarded the train for an 8:15am departure in Anchorage. It is still a bit early here so we scored a slightly less expensive ticket for the ride to Denali at $131. We expected to arrive at the Denali station around 4pm. The weather was nice and the early season crowd meant lots of room on the train. There is just something about riding on trains that brings out a special feeling in me. Maybe it’s a bit of nostalgia, or the ease of moving around, or the romance of it that strikes me as luxurious. Of course a certain amount of luxury comes from knowing that you have the time to travel at a slower pace, opening up the possibilities for a retreat from the hectic pace of life. I thought about this as I sipped my coffee, caught up on the news, and watched the wilderness through open windows.

Just out of Anchorage we started spotting moose not far off the tracks. There were a couple of narrators on the train who would call out when animals were sighted by the engineers up front, and give us tidbits of information about places the railway took us through. I really appreciated when they turned our attention to the Alaska Mountain Range on our left when the clouds cleared and Denali became visible. Having recently climbed Kilimanjaro, I did have a tinge of desire to tackle another of the seven summits, but the two-week ascent that it takes to make it up Denali is more than enough to keep me down with the animals in Denali National Park. The narrators told us we were quite lucky to see the mountain and that it qualifies us for the 30% club. Apparently only 30% of visitors to the region ever get to see Denali due to either bad weather or clouds hiding it from sight.

First view of 'the Great One', Denali

View from on top

We spent about seven and a half hours on the train enjoying the scenery, the laid back atmosphere, food, beer, chatting with other travelers, and taking a ton of pictures while hanging outside of the train. Even though you can easily drive from Anchorage to Denali these days, I highly encourage a ride back in time on this classic train through Alaska.