Day 5 - Glitter Gulch

We went into Denali Village, more commonly referred to as "Glitter Gulch" for lunch and a little shopping. The "village" which really just consists of a stretch of restaurants, souvenir shops and hotels sits about 1 mile outside the park entrance. There are no homes here, people who work in the area live in Healy or Carlo Creek. We ate lunch at the "Salmon Bake" restaurant which is a chain in Alaska. The food was mediocre and very expensive. I made Chuck order a beer because I wanted the "Alaskan Ale" label. As most know, I never developed a taste for beer, however, I tried to fake some enthusiasm for the picture.

Burled wood is very popular in Alaska. The burls are created in Black Spruce when the acid level of the soil kills the tree cells. The burl is the result of the tree attempting to heal itself. The burls are extremely dense and strong. You often see these used as supports on porches because of their strength.

The village sits along the Nenana River. Several companies offer whitewater rafting on the river which runs along side the park. Our Denali guide explained you can always tell the difference in Alaska between rivers which flow from a glacier and those which are natural rivers from the color of the water. Rivers which run off glaciers are dirty grey because of all the silt. Natural rivers in Alaska are very clear. There are no fish in the glacial rivers and the animals do not drink from them.