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Published: June 13th 2009
(If you've been wondering why I took so long to add this update, read on and you'll find out.)
I left Fairbanks with Denali National Park as my next destination. Thanks to the good old Milepost I finally found an interesting bar along the highway: Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn. I had a beer (no Bloody Mary mix or tomato juice) and checked out the most extensive collection of goofy, utterly tasteless sexual humor I've ever seen...... It was great.
I got to the park mid-afternoon and decided to drive in as far as they allow cars, only 15 miles. To really see the park, you have to take a bus. There are several different tours, but to see the whole park it's an 8 hour day so I decided to head down to Talkeetna where they operate several flying services that will give you an aerial view of the whole park, Mt. McKinley and the other mountains. I arrived at the airport at 9:00 PM and booked a flight for 12:15 the next day. I may go into the park for the bus tour the following day.
I found a really beautiful place to stay, Susitna River Lodging,
in Talkeetna.
The accommodations are just beautiful; spacious and immaculately clean. The owners, Howard & Darlene are very friendly, helpful folks.
There is a big upscale lodge in Talkeetna, the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, which has a beautiful view of Mt. McKinley and I went up there to grab something to eat. Although it was somewhat hazy and late in the evening, the view was really something. While taking several pictures from the deck, my camera slipped from my hand and fell 20 feet to the concrete below! I retrieved it and it was broken. I'm going on a spectacular flight around Mt. McKinley tomorrow and I don't have a camera. The nearest town that would sell digital cameras is Wasilla, and hour and a half away. What to do? I considered getting up early and make the 3 hour round trip to Wasilla and get back in time for my flight, but thankfully Howard had a camera that he loaned me for the flight.
Talkeetna is a very cool little town with a lot of Alaskan flavor and I liked it there so much I decided to stay 2 nights and relax from the grind of all the driving I've been doing.
I arrived at the Talkeetna aiport and I got a kick out of all the different bush planes there and all the activity. There are several flight services there and they all offer flightseeing tours of the park and also bring the mountain climbers to the base camp from which they start their climb of the mountain. Talkeetna Air Taxi, my service, was loading and unloading several planefulls of climbers. The pilots fly them to a glacier at about 7,000 feet where the base camp is. There are currently over 300 climbers on the mountain right now. McKinley is a sort of training climb before attempting to climb Mt. Everest. Thursday, 2 climbers died on the mountain in a fall into a crevasse.
Our plane was a DeHavilland Beaver, a single engine plane with a 450 hp radial engine. It is very sturdy and used all over Alaska and Canada for bush operations. My flight was a complete tour of Denali National Park, flying around Mt. McKinley and a glacier landing. What a blast. There are 2 other huge moutnains very near McKinley also: Mt. Foraker, 17,400 ft and Mt. Hunter, 14,570
Mt. McKinley
Just After Sunset From the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodgeft. Another interesting fact I didn't know about Mt. Mckinley; it is the most vertical elevation change in the world. From sea level to the 20,000 ft peak is only a distance of 5 miles. This flight was one of the top 5 fun things I've ever done and it was spectacular. I got to sit in the right seat next to the pilot.
Now, for my next mishap. After we landed, we were all going to get off the plane and walk on the glacier, Ruth Glacier. To land on the glacier, the pilot lowers skis below the wheels to land on the icy snow. Well, when we were about to deplane, he pilot told me to watch my step and not to step on the wheel below because it would turn since the skis were on the snow. Well, the last footrest was about 3 feet from the snow and I didn't want to jump, so I decided to test the wheel. It seemed like it was stuck in the snow so I gave it a try and immediately my feet went out from under me. I hit the metal foot rest with my right side and
my back hit the wheel on the way to the icy snow. I thought I broke a rib and could barely get to my feet. The one saving grace was that all the other people were on the other side of the plane so I was saved the embarrassment of them seeing my fall. And, at least I didn't fall into a crevasse....I was warned. What a dumbass! There's no fool like an old fool. After getting up and seeing the sights from the glacier, I could barely get back into the plane. I was in a lot of pain. I made it back to the airport and could only drive leaning over the steering wheel to stop the pain in my ribs. My only thought was how am I going to drive over 4,000 miles to get home????
The nearest hospital is in Palmer over 70 miles away, but Darlene called the clinic near town and they could see me at 10:00 the next morning. Thankfully, I have a couple of vicodin for emergencies such as this and it killed the pain enough to go into town and do my laundry. They x-rayed my ribs and I didn't
DeHavilland Beaver
Legendary Bush Plane of the North have any fractures, just separation and bruised ribs. 2 days later, it's much better. Now it only hurts when I bend, laugh. sneeze, cough, burp, breathe deeply or hit a bump. Can't wait for those frost heaves. With the extra vicodin and ibuprofen the Physician's Assistant (no doctor at the clinic) gave me, I'll be able to keep driving. To add insult to injury, the TravelBlog website went down for 24 hours so I couldn't even do this the evening of my fall.
Now, to find a new camera....
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Jan Kribs
non-member comment
You aren't planning any mountain climbs?
And you wonder where the kids get it from?? The pics are just breathtaking - like the rest of your pictures - just stay grounded. "Skinny Dicks" looks like a place YOU would like!!