We Are The World: Talkeetna, AK: Glacier Tour

Aug 11, 2010

Talkeetna, AK: Glacier Tour

This is the post I've most wanted to share with you. My favorite activity in Alaska, the best part of my trip: Denali Flightseeing.
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We flew out of Talkeetna via Talkeetna Air with what had to be their youngest pilot, who turned out to be absolutely adorable, very friendly and very knowledgeable (or he faked it real good). Asked when he started piloting, he stuttered and finally said, "Ummm, 16, when I could get my license." I had the distinct impression he really started at 7 or 8. He is the one who said these planes are like their "pick-up trucks," everyone has one and uses it without a second thought.
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We're showing you our booties here in this photo, they simply slipped on over our shoes, but made us feel like macho climbers and adventurers.
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We were enjoying the outdoor music at the park in Talkeetna when Doug tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Do you want to fly up to a glacier at the foot of Denali and walk around? If so, we have ten minutes to get on the plane."
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It took 2 minutes to convince Tom to leave the live music, 2 minutes to use the last facilities we'd see for awhile, 2 minutes to grab my pad and pens, water, glasses and phone, & 3 minutes to drive to the airport, where, {{gulp}} we had to weigh in.
That wasn't part of the deal.
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I hesitated. Having gained 50 pounds in five years (honestly), I wasn't eager to look truth in the face. And, really, thinking this through.... we have to weigh every single item we are taking on the plane? Seriously? We're going to load the plane that close to it's limit? I put my hand on the counter, tap, tap, tap, thinking this one through. I prayed. I weighed. I boarded the plane.
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What a trip. My nerves settled soon and it was awesome, of course.

The first part of the trip was over the Talkeetna River and surrounding lakes. We saw cabins and houses on the edge of lakes in the middle of swamp and no-where's ville. The only way they could get there was four-wheeler or plane, or a combination of both. Then we got up into the glaciers and learned that a good portion of the lower parts of the glaciers are underground. They looked like dried riverbeds or dried, melted glaciers, when in fact, there was a ton of ice under the dirt surface. As the glacier creeps forward, picture a bulldozer pushing dirt forward and soon it has accumulated so much dirt that some of it goes back over the top of the blade, scattering the ground on the trail behind you. So it is with the glacier ice. It pushes gravel and stones, which sometimes accumulate on the surface behind.

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It looked like a narrow riverbed, but it's 3-miles wide. Gauging distance was difficult from the air.
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And look here, can you see it? A t-tiny little plane landed, you can see it's t-tiny little tracks, too!
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After we landed, we walked around and stood there gazing at the mountains for a long time, maybe a half an hour. It was about 9 pm during this time. Our plane was late, the pilot would be reprimanded, he said, but he enjoyed it as much as we did and it was the last flight of the day... so.... we stayed awhile. Mt. McKinley even peeked out a few times while we were there! See, above photo, it's hiding right behind us. Below photo, it's peeking out.

We got back at Talkeetna at 9:45pm. All the restaurants would stop serving dinner by 10 pm, so we RAN to a burger shack nearby, recommended by the pilot, breezed into a seat to the huge dismay of the wait staff, and ordered burgers and fries for everyone because they didn't give us time to peruse the menu. :) The burgers were incredible. Dinner at 10 pm was very common to us by that stage of the trip. Daylight at 10 pm was AWESOME! Who needs sleep??!!
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Here's a video of the flight. NOT for those who get seasick easily.