Category: Tourist Attractions

Day 58: Flightseeing trip to Mt. McKinley

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Day 58: Friday, July 12, 2013

We woke up to beautiful sunny skies. The weather forecast was sunny and warm all day. A perfect day for viewing Mt. McKinley.

We started the day by walking to beautiful downtown Talkeetna.

Welcome to beautiful downtown Talkeetna
Downtown Talkeetna.
House rules at the historic Fairview Inn
Stubbs, the Mayor of Talkeetna. He hangs around downtown.
I had a spinach bread for lunch. It’s kind of like a square pizza with spinach and cheese.

Next we stopped by Talkeetna Air Taxi at the airport to book a flight-seeing tour with a glacier landing. The first flight available was at 4:00 so we returned to the RV park to get the truck and drve to the Talkeetna overlook for a view of Mt. McKinley with no clouds.

Beth and Henry at the Talkeetna overlook
An Airplane flies over Mt. McKinley

At 3:30 a van picked us up to take us to the airport for our flight. There were six passengers on our plane – two guys and a gal from Norway, a man from Maryland, and us. Our pilot Alex was from Georgia.

The flight was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Seeing the mountains from the air and flying so close to the south face of Mt. McKinley was awe inspiring. It’s a day I will never forget.

Waiting to board
Mt. McKinley is in the upper left beneath the clouds
Shadow of our plane over the mountains
The Ruth Glacier is in the gorge between the mountains
We went really close to Mt. McKinley
View of McKinley through the front window
We were really close to the mountains
Really, really close to the mountain!
We were headed straight to this mountain
Really, really, really close!

Ours was the only plane on the glacier and we had plenty of time to enjoy the jaw dropping beauty around us.

We landed on the Ruth Glacier. Hard to believe it was warm enough to wear short sleeves.
The high round snow covered peak is the south peak of Mt. McKinley
Henry taking videos
Beth with the plane
Loving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier

We flew low over the glacier as we started our return trip to the airport.

Flying over the glacier
Beautiful scenery on our way back to the airport

What a glorious day it was! A day we will never forget. Perfect.

Day 53: Going to the dogs

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Day 53: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Our day started with a visit to the Denali National Park Kennels for a sled dog demonstration. This is a very popular activity at the park. Demonstrations are given three times a day with shuttle buses leaving from the Visitor’s Center to take visitors to the kennel. When we arrived we had plenty of time to meet the dogs in their homes. Some were anxious to meet people and be petted while others just snoozed or ignored all the people.

These dogs are larger than the Iditarod dogs we saw in Fairbanks. The Iditarod dogs are like the thoroughbred of Alaskan Huskies and bred for racing.

Annie was the first dog we visited
Lukor liked it on top of his house
Pyro liked being petted
Opus with one of the trainers
Nuna liked to dig. She got all the way under her house while we watched
Puppy nap time
Henry and Sylvie

Five dogs were hitched to a sled to demonstrate how they run.

Hitched up and ready to run
Ready for a command
Beth takes a turn at mushing

After the demonstration we drove to the Mountain Vista trail head for short hike. The area where we hiked was the Savage River Camp back in the early 1900’s. Guests stayed in large white tents and dined in a large dining tent with linen tablecloths.

Unknown wildflower
Tundra Rose
Mountain Vista Trail
Siberian Aster
Henry with a young Sitka Spruce
The wildflowers were in full bloom
We walked down to the Savage River to find the wildflowers blooming along the bank

Even though we saw no wildlife we enjoyed the day.

We will be out of cell phone and internet range for the next few days when we enter Teklanika River Camp in the Wilderness area of Denali National Park and Preserve.

Day 52: Adventures outside Denali National Park

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Day 52: July 6, 2013

Our day started with a drive along the highway between our campground and the entrance to the national park.

View behind our campground
Bridge over the Nenana River
Railroad bridge over the mountain pass
The road follows the Nenana River

After lunch we were off for an ATV tour with Denali ATV Adventures. Henry and I chose a side by side four wheeler similar to our Ranger at home. The six ATV’s and three side by side ATV’s in our tour had 3 guides. After watching a safety video on the bus ride to the launch site and a safety introduction by one of the guides we were fitted for our helmets and off we went. Our tour took us on gravel public trails outside the national park. There were plenty of twists, turns, mud puddles, and bumps to make the ride really fun.

On the ATV Trail
We stopped atop a small plateau for a beautiful view
Between the helmet and wind I got a great hairdo!
ATV’s all lined up
Taking a break in a dry river bed next to a huge sand dune
A couple of our fellow riders climbing the sand castle
Ready to ride
Approaching the sand castle

Covered in dirt, we returned to the campground where Henry worked on fixing a leaky kitchen drain. It’s a good thing we have a dual sink in the kitchen because he wasn’t able to get the necessary parts to fix the leak. I’ll just have to remember not to put water in that sink until we get somewhere with a hardware store. There’s always something!

Day 48: Gold Fever in Fairbanks

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Day 48: Tuesday, July 2, 2013

To get up close and personal with the Alaska Pipeline we stopped at a park on our way to  tour the Gold Dredge 8.

At a section of the pipeline in Fairbanks
I can’t reach!

The tour started with a train ride with demonstrations of gold mining techniques and a stop to learn about the dredge before we got off the train to pan for gold. We got to keep our gold!

Gold Dredge 8
We got off the train here to pan for gold
There was old equipment from the mining days
Another large group panning for gold
Henry struck gold!
Henry’s gold. He got $12 worth, I only got $9.

As we were leaving the tour we stopped at a section of the pipeline to learn a few facts about it.

We passed under the pipeline as we finished the tour. You can see where it goes up the hill in the distance.
A cross section of the pipeline showing cleaners called pigs
Inside the pipe

Day 46: Riverboat Cruise on the Chena River

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Day 46: Sunday, June 30, 2013

What better way to spend a beautiful, warm,  sunny Sunday afternoon than to take a tour on the Riverboat Discovery.

We took a tour down the Chena River on the Riverboat Discovery
We watched bush pilot take off from the water
After landing, the pilot came next to the boat
The paddle

Our first stop was at the kennels of late Iditarod Champion, Susan Butcher, for a sled dog demonstration. Susan won the Iditarod sled race four times and passed away from leukemia in 2006.

Susan Butcher’s Trail Breaker Kennels
The puppies are learning to go over the logs
The dogs are anxious to run
And they’re off!
Coming back from their run

The boat docked at an Athabascan Indian Village where two native tour guides showed us what life was like in the village.

Reindeer came out to greet us as we approached the village
We spent some time at an Athabascan Indian Village
Our tour guides in the village were great. Imagine modeling that fur in 80 degree weather!
Up close with the reindeer
Fur Pelts
One of the Alaskan Husky sled dogs
Mush!
Henry with a Grizzly Bear skin
The original Riverboat Discovery
The original Riverboat Discovery

The same family has been operating cruises on the river for many years. We passed by the original Riverboat.

Ted and Ruth Ann, our friends from Michigan who we were with in Haines, arrived at our RV Park yesterday. They left Haines after we did and traveled a different route to get here. It was good to visit with them again this morning.