This is certainly one of the big highlights of our trip! We booked a flightseeing tour to see Denali up close. We scored big, because most days these mountains are blanketed in clouds. We got up early to wonderful blue skies, and the views were breathtaking! Denali is the highest mountain in North America, at over 20,000 ft. The size of these mountains was very hard to comprehend, there was nothing to compare them to for scale. They were just magnificent. The pilot gave us stories of many of the mountains and glaciers that we saw, but I don’t remember any of the other names.
We chose Talkeetna Air Taxi for our flight – great people – great pilot – would definitely recommend this company!We got to wear headphones to protect our ears and to listen to the narration from the pilotThis plane seated 10 passengers – every seat was both aisle and windowDenali is part of the Alaskan RangeGlacier – there were several glaciers in these mountainsNot Denali – other mountains in the Alaskan Rangeyou can see the ice flows and glaciers between the mountainsDenali!Not DenaliGlacier- both the white and dirt colored areas (Moraine) are all snow glacier. The glaciers just bring the dirt down from the mountains as they flow. This is actually the confluence of two glaciers flowing together.Denali on leftHere you see the two main peaks on Denali -one at 20,000ft, the other at 19,000 ft. The two peaks are 3 miles apartDenali!Not DenaliNot Denali – look at the evidence of avalanchesDenaliGlacierNot DenaliNot DenaliThere were lakes of blue on top of some of the glaciersNot DenaliIce flows
We chose the trip that let us land the plane on a glacier, so we got out and walked in the snow and ice
Chuck and Karen with the airplane on the glacierChuck on the glacier – Denali in upper left corner. We landed at about 5600 feet.Chuck and plane on the glacier
Chuck took a short video of the plane taking off again from the glacier
This was the path our GPS tracked for us flying around Denali. You can see where the pilot maneuvered so that people on both sides of the plane could see the cool stuffOur Denali view from where we landed on the glacier
We hope to get some more shots of these mountains as we explore the Denali National Park next week.
