When Alaska is good, it is really good! August 24, 2013

Finally, yesterday, the weather started to improve - thankfully.  Today was one of those days when you can forget about the poor weather we experienced in the past days.  It was truly spectacular today.    This was what we saw from our deck this morning at the cabin we are staying at in Talkeetna. 

Denali is the highest peak in the US and is the king of the Alaskan Range of mountains.

The Alaskan Range travels 700 miles from Canada to Cook Inlet. 

We took our Grand Denali flying trip this morning and were blessed with great views even from the road.

Denali at road level.

We arrived at Talkeetna Air Taxi at 10:45 this morning for an 11:15 flight.  We were directed by the pilot to board our DeHavilland Beaver (it held 7 of us including the pilot).  There was space for 1 person WAY in the tail of the plane, and then each row held a pair of folks.  Guess who got the tail seat all my herself???  Yup, me.  Miss Plane-Scaredy-Pants!  I swallowed and climbed up ALONE into the tail of the plane!  Ira, meanwhile, got to sit beside the pilot in the extreme front.  Okay, so I am thinking, "When we go down, how the hell am I going to grab him?"   A little voice said, "Forget it lady, you won't and you are going down alone!"  That other voice began chirping, "Happy thoughts, Cindy, happy thoughts!"  So I put on my big-girl pants and behaved cool.  On the outside.

Cindy's View - BUT, I did have a tiny air vent in the window that I opened for fresh air.  And, I was able to see completely out of the left and right of the plane!  

I continued to say my little flying mantra and we were off!  These guys take off one right after the other and there are many, many flights around Denali in the day.  I'd guess about every 15 minutes another flight takes off and one returns.  Keep in mind, that is only when the weather cooperates.

We started by crossing the 3 major rivers here in Talkeetna that converge in the town.  They are very wide, and right now because of the rain, very muddy. Then we flew over great expanses of country that was overgrown with low shrubbery, which is indicative of the Alaskan landscape and which also holds much of their massive mosquito population.  Most of their mountains are barren at the top without the vegetation we know in New England (except the very highest peaks). 

Then things began to get more rugged!

The "Little Alps" are a set of mountains in the Alaskan Range that are used by rock climbers.  When we got up to them, they really looked like the Alps (at least how I've seen them in photos!).

Glaciers were plentiful.   We saw them in every stage of progression; from the beginning of the glacier to the end of the glacier which was mostly stone and lakes.  They were incredible.

We entered the area which is known as "base camp" for those who climb Denali in May through July.  After that, the ice becomes unsafe as it begins to shift and form crevasses which are dangerous.  Below you can see where the tent city was, when during the busy months, there would be hundreds of tents set up here waiting for the push to Denali.  You can see the crevasses forming below from summer ice melting as well as a new lake which formed.

And there it was - Denali.  It seemed close enough to touch, but we were still quite far away from it.  Here are several shots of it from various locations as we toured around the monster of a mountain.

We explored nooks and crannies of the mountain and our pilot explained much of the hiking history of the mountain - where the successes were and where the hiking failures were, as well.  And he showed us where the various routes up the mountain are and those one should NOT even consider!

But, one of my favorite parts of the trip was when we started navigating between mountains and it was so magical feeling like a bird between the rock faces of huge mountains!

As we were heading out of the huge mountain range, I saw this little mountain (little mountain which was probably 12,000 feet) poking out of a cloud.  

As we were ending our tour around the mountain, the wind picked up and the ride got a bit bumpy.  Enough so that I stopped taking photos and hung on.  When we took off from the airport, the pilot briefed us on where all the emergency gear was, and I replayed that back in my mind.  We had tents, sleeping bags, food, etc., in the plane in case we went down.  Whew!  But, I still hung on!  

The ride back was rougher than the ride to the mountain, and there is a funny story about that.  Yesterday, we called and made flight arrangements for a 3:45 PM flight on the 24th.  Well, we got up and it was so beautiful out and I was so excited, I called them to see if we could get on an earlier flight.  My mind was saying, "Why run the risk of bad weather coming in...go NOW!"  All of us who love and live in the mountains, know weather changes on a dime in the mountains and I knew Denali, especially, had that reputation.  So, I wanted to go NOW.  We called and could get in earlier (11:15).  As I said, our ride home was bumpy because the wind picked up.  As the day progressed, the wind really picked up!  So, I was sooooooo happy we had gone earlier when the winds were less active.  The entire day has provided for spectacular view of Denali, but our smooth ride (most of it) was a blessing.  Well planned and executed on our part!

This is our last night in Talkeetna, Alaska.  We move on tomorrow morning to Denali National Park and our stay at the Denali River Cabins and Lodge.  The weather is supposed to hold out for the next couple of days which is PERFECT!!!  

Be watching on news from Denali National Park.