OFF WE GO......... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MERIDITH AND JOHN

Tuesday: This is the day......flying to Denali and landing on a glacier--a once in a lifetime event.
It's a beautiful day, warm for Talkeetna, 82 and the sky clear and blue.
It is very rare to clearly see the mountain range--usually covered with clouds.

This is an early morning shot of  Mt. McKinley(right), Mt. Hunter(middle), Mt. Foraker(left),

taken across the Chulitna River

Mt. McKinley (Denali)

 Our plane awaits-A de Havilland Turbine Otter

A few instructions

Ready to go!

Off we go

 Talkeetna and Alaska Railroad bridge

 Talkeetna 

 Mt. Foraker, Mt. Hunter, Mt McKinley

    This glacier is 60 miles long and 4,000 ft thick,

 on top is a moraine-rocks and debris from avalanches in the past                                       

We flew in and around the mountains and glaciers

 Mt McKinley

 Huge Glacier--so many of them, hard to remember the names

 Landing on the glacier

 Our pilot, Jeff

 In the winter, it snows 75-100 feet deep up here

 Because of the warm weather the glacial snow was wet.....

                                                                       Great for snowballs

and snowman

Ready to take off!

 and we're off

                                                                    Ruth Glacier

 on top of this rock is a house you can rent for $150 a night,

 usually for climbers flown in

 The weather up here changes so rapidly, our pilot has camped out

 in the plane many times

 Happy Flyer

 On our way back

 toe of the glacier, with so much rock and soil on top insulating the ice, trees

and brush are growing.  The ice is about 400 ft thick here.

Moose swimming across the lake--maybe to cool off

 Talkeetna River

 Cottages on the lake

And back to the airport--great experience, awesome views

 Our campsite in Talkeetna

 Train depot right behind us, helicopters and airplanes overhead

 and cottonwood seeds falling like snow.

A great place to visit.