Talkeetna

flying over Mt McKinley

Talkeetna is about 60 miles south of Denali National Park. Not only does it offer a number of flightseeing trips, but it is also the hub for mountain climbers. Most McKinley climbers get themselves and their gear shuttled to McKinley base camp in Cesna 185s from the Talkeetna airport. We saw a bunch of them near the hanger, but couldn't tell if they were coming or going.

It must have been early enough in the season yet because it was no problem for us to get on the 3:00 flightseeing tour. This tour was their most popular one and it included a glacier landing. That didn't really excite me; I'd seen so many glaciers before in Antarctica, but what the heck.

We had 1.5 hours to kill so we had lunch and drove back up the road to a vista point to get some photos of McKinley. Along the road we spotted a pair of swans -- our first real view of wildlife!

We made it back to the airport and met our pilot and fellow passengers, a couple who ran a bed and breakfast in anchorage. They wanted to experience the flights they had been booking their clients on for so long. Our pilot was a retired police pilot from Sacramento who came to Alaska for the summers. We all wore headsets with microphones and our cameras were ready. The plane was equipped with skis around the wheels for the glacier landing. Cool.

Takeoff was quite smooth. The plane flew over the trees and highway towards McKinley. From this altitude we could see a few of Alaska's 3 million lakes. The forests were dense and the rivers abounded. The trees became sparser and the snow became more prevalent as we made our way to the great mountain.

Over the mountains we could see rivers carving their way through the snow. There was an area the pilots called Little Switzerland because of its resemblance to the Alps. Our pilot made sure that each important view came up on both sides of the plane so that everyone could get pictures. The peaks and expanse were astounding. When we got far enough into the mountain range, we couldn't see anything but snow, rocks, and sky.

Occasionally we caught a glimpse of another Cesna, just a speck between us and the snow. We flew over McKinley Base Camp where all the climbers start their 3 week round-trip summit attempt. Only about half of the climbers actually make it to the very top. Some of them die trying. They carry their equipment in backpacks and on sleds. The fun part is coming down the snow because you get to ride your sled!

We flew around the back (north) of Mt McKinley. One particular peak had a wisp of ever-changing cloud obscuring it.

We then headed for our glacier landing strip. It occurred to me that the first person ever to land on that glacier must have either been a real daredevil or he was in real trouble! You can kind of pick out the horseshoe landing strip towards the left center of the picture. The "small" rock jutting from the ground just to the right of it is where you can rent a cabin for $90/night. Wow, the only way to get there is to fly. That's isolation!

The landing was smooth. We could feel the snow ruts steering the plane in their own direction. We came to a stop at the end of the runway, taxied off a little bit and then got out. Nothing but snow and rock as far as you could see, yet it was warm enough to leave the jacket in the plane. The snow was hard packed around the runway, but I was quickly up to my knees when I tried to wander off. I took probably the most picturesque shot of an outhouse.

I was thirsty so I ate some snow. Tasted fine. We spent a half hour on the glacier before it was time to get back in the plane. Takeoff was unnoticable as we headed back to Talkeetna. On the way out we saw some meltwater pools in the ice as well as tracks from some climbers taking a different route. We made it back to the airport in one piece and thanked our pilot for such a neat tour.

On the drive out of Talkeetna we paused to get a shot of one of the 3,000,000 scenic lakes in Alaska. Now it's off to Denali National Park!

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Mick@micktravels.com

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