Armed with his 1899 Appleton's Guidebook to Alaska, Michael Portillo rides the Alaska Railroad north to explore the remote former goldrush settlement of Talkeetna. Deep in the forest outside town, Michael gets a taste of the pioneering spirit of early 20th-century prospectors and settlers from a modern day 'homesteader' and helps fell a tree to clear land for a log cabin. From Talkeetna, Michael joins intrepid fellow passengers aboard the Hurricane Turn, the last 'flag stop' train in the United States, waving them off as they alight in the middle of bear country to fish, raft and camp. He continues by rail to admire the snow-capped mountains and glaciers and to cross the gorge on the spectacular Hurricane Gulch Bridge Michael ends this leg of his Alaskan adventure in the Denali National Park, six million acres of wilderness crowned by the highest peak in the United States, Denali, where he discovers how photographers captured the beauty of the Alaskan landscape a hundred years ago.
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