The morning rush hour on Polychrome MountainCopyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw
DENALI NATIONAL PARK, AK -- The road is narrow, steep and bumpy, with a rock wall on one side and and a vertigo-inducing drop-off on the other.
There are several blind turns that you have to creep around because there could be another bus, or a dump truck, or perhaps a road grader, coming the other direction. If that happens, you'd both better be able to stop immediately.
I'll take it over I-4 any day.
My schedule for the month of June has me driving a bus that leaves at 6:30 a.m., which puts me in the rush hour on Polychrome Mountain. Everyone who wants to go into the park has to take a bus, and so there are a lot of buses.
There is only one road and it must be maintained, so there are dump trucks and graders. The toilets provided at rest stops must be pumped out, so there are pumper trucks too. There's a new visitors center being built 66 miles out on the road, so this week I've met a truck carrying lumber and another with plate glass.
It all seems crazy, until you consider the chaos that would result if everyone on every bus was white-knuckled in a rental car instead.
It's challenging and it's fun and the scenery is wonderful, for passengers at least.
Me, I keep my eyes on the road.
There are several blind turns that you have to creep around because there could be another bus, or a dump truck, or perhaps a road grader, coming the other direction. If that happens, you'd both better be able to stop immediately.
I'll take it over I-4 any day.
My schedule for the month of June has me driving a bus that leaves at 6:30 a.m., which puts me in the rush hour on Polychrome Mountain. Everyone who wants to go into the park has to take a bus, and so there are a lot of buses.
There is only one road and it must be maintained, so there are dump trucks and graders. The toilets provided at rest stops must be pumped out, so there are pumper trucks too. There's a new visitors center being built 66 miles out on the road, so this week I've met a truck carrying lumber and another with plate glass.
It all seems crazy, until you consider the chaos that would result if everyone on every bus was white-knuckled in a rental car instead.
It's challenging and it's fun and the scenery is wonderful, for passengers at least.
Me, I keep my eyes on the road.
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