Where We Saw Denali In All Its Glory Not Once, But Several Times
Spent A Few Hours On A Scenic Train Ride
And Finally Arrived In Anchorage
Denali
I’m trying an experiment with this post – deliberately adding a cover photo. I’ll see if it works.To
We knew today was going to be a busy, busy day.
It started off with our helicopter excursion that we had postponed from Friday afternoon, because we thought it was going to rain. It didn’t rain Friday afternoon, but it also was not raining on Saturday morning. A good omen.
We were picked up by the helicopter excursion company and driven over to the launch site. We had to sit through a 15 minute safety video and then be fitted with glacier boots. To say that the glacier boots felt odd is an understatement.
The next issue was climbing into the helicopter. There was one giant step up onto the step on the landing skid. Then there was the even bigger gap into the machine itself. With help from one of the other passengers (Mike) and Andy, it was a ONE-TWO-THREE UP!! maneuver and I was in. The additional challenge was that we were doing a “hot turn” – we were boarding the helicopter while it was still running. The wind from the spinning blades literally sucked the air from my lungs as I was helped on board – I was still gasping for air for another few minutes.
Stunning scenery along the way for about 25 minutes:
We landed next to a large pool of glacier water.
Andy and our other two passengers walked down to the pool’s edge. It was a bit too step for me, so I just toddled around on the glacier near the helicopter.
After about 20 minutes, it was time to head back. This time, because the engine was off, it was easier to tell Mike and Andy exactly what to do and when. A few more tries and I’ll have this down to a science!
On the way back were more spectacular views:
But the most spectacular of all, was this –
It’s said that 30% of visitors get to see some piece of Denali – this view is in the 10% range. Our pilot was being a bit of a pain – we were all asking him to confirm it was Denali, because it didn’t really look like any photo I’ve seen. Finally, I asked: WHAT IS THAT GIAN WHITE MOUNTAIN. And he finally replied, “Well, some people call it Mt McKinley”.
Bucket list item checked! We can go home now!
Once we landed back where we started and returned our glacier boots, we were driven into “the canyon” – downtown Denali – where we met up with the rest of the group.
Our guide, Jade, herded us all to the coach that took us to the train depot for the Wilderness Express. We spent the next 5 1/2 hours driving through scenic Alaska until we arrived in Talkeetna.
And then Denali popped up again, and the rest of our group joined the “30% club”.
During lunch, the train crew talked about a mixed drink called “The Grizzley” – kalua, vodka, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a couple of other things I’m not remembering. It was tasty,
We did not spend any time at all in Talkeetna – we went from the train immediately to the bus. We drove another hour or so until the dinner stop, and then back on the bus for another hour or so until we finally arrived in Anchorage.
What a long day. The next three nights we will be hopping back and forth between Anchorage and Seward.
Tomorrow (Day 6): Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park
Maryland Meshugas 