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Published: September 1st 2013
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Our 10 seater This morning we were booked in for a scenic flight over the Alaskan Mountain ranges. Arrived at k2 aviation
at 8am ready for our 8.30 flight only to be told that the fog was too thick for the flight to happen at that time. Organised to go back
at 10am.Fingers crossed the fog would lift by then.
Visited Stubb the cat again who was still asleep in the same place as last night. Looked like he hadn't moved an inch! Coffee at the Roadhouse seemed like a good idea. $1.50 buys you bottomless cups of brewed coffee. The place was packed but we managed to find a seat and filled in time finishing off yesterday's blog and posting photos on Facebook.
Some info about Talkneeta: population is 600. It is a mountaineering town built by miners, prospectors, adventurers and the railroad. Talkneeta means "where the rivers join" and it is the junction for the Talkneeta, Susitna and Chulitna rivers.This is the main base for mountain climbers headed onto Denali. They leave Talkneeta for the base camp. In May and June, you can see climbers returning from the mountain sporting heavy beards and sunburn.
Our flight seeing trip went
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Alaskan mountain ranges ahead and we left in an 10 seater plane
at 10.30am for a 1.25 hour flight.We flew over the town and the rivers and then around the Alaskan mountain range. We flew around the 3 largest mountains - Mt Foraker also known as Sultana, Mt Hunter and Mt McKinley also known as Denali (meaning the big one). We flew over the winding Kahiltna Glacier, which is the longest glacier in Denali National Park (45 miles long and 3 miles wide), and we flew over the mountain climbers base camp located at 7200ft on the southeast fork of the glacier.The flight path took us over cabins that were along the rivers - their only access is by seaplane.
1 in 78 people in Alaska own a plane which goes to show how isolated much of the state is.The flight was $265 per person but we were able to use our toursaver coupon which made it an exceptional deal.Needless to say the views were amazing and I would recommend this type of scenic flight to everyone. It gives you a good perspective of how big these mountains and glaciers really are. Very impressive!
After the flight we commenced our journey
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Aerial view of the ranges to Denali National Park - about a 3 hour journey from Talkneeta on the Parks highway. Stopped at Trappers Creek and refuelled, and filled up with water. We had to pay $5 to use the dump station. First time we've come across that but then again we are quite a way out if the city now. Fuel was $3.92 per gallon and the RV took $78 to fill up today. After here the fuel prices rise dramatically.
Having reached Denali we went and registered at Rileys Creek Mercantile which has showers, laundry, wi-fi and is where we registered for our camp stay and collected our bus tickets. We then headed to Savage Creek campground, which will be our home for the next 4 nights. Savage campground has pit toilets, no showers or other facilities. We have a pull through site and the generator can only be used at certain hours.
We stopped by the wilderness access centre and the visitors centre on our way through. Both were interesting places to stop - plenty of information on the park and fascinating displays of the wildlife and the beginnings of Denali. The weather has been showering on and off today
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Glacier view but it hasn't stopped us from enjoying this vast wilderness.
After dinner around
9pm we went for a walk to check out our campground and local area. Short hike of 1/2 mile interpretive tour to the historical savage river cabin who ch today still is a night shelter for rangers and their dogs and sleds during the winter months. Had a chat with the campground host and a walk down to savage river. By this time it was
10pm and still not quite night! Such a peaceful place this is - has to be good for the soul! 😊
Tomorrow we will be heading out on a bus to wonder lake and needless to say we are hoping to come across some wildlife during our trip.
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judithchaffer
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awesome photos of the mountains !!