Denali Flightseeing

August 3, 2024 – Saturday – Day 41

We stayed at camp until after lunch.  Our original plan was to be in Talkeetna around 10:45 am for our 11:30 am flightseeing trip around Denali, but the company called in the morning and rescheduled our flight due to weather.  We were rescheduled until 6:30 pm.  They expected the weather to be better in the evening.  This will be the fourth reschedule of this trip.  We are lucky to have the flexibility to change as the weather and visibility for our flight were excellent. 

We also found out that the Paul Thayn family was going to be on the flight at the same time.  We knew they were going to take this excursion after their Alaskan cruise, but originally we were going to be a week ahead of them.  But with all the weather delays for both of us, we ended up on the same day and time.

We went into Talkeetna after lunch and took showers at a RV park in town.  We then parked at the town’s park by the Talkeetna River.  The park was at the end of Main Street, so we walked up the streets looking in the shops and markets.  Along the way we ran into Rob and Michelle, and Stephanie and Mike.  They were going into the same shop that we were walking too.  We met up with them and walked around the town, finally eating at an outdoor patio restaurant.  After dinner it was time to meet at the flight company and check into for our flight.

The rest of the Thayn Family (Paul, Dottie, Jason, Joy, Kevin, Janel and Merrill) arrived just in time for the flight.  After their earlier flight was canceled they drove to Denali NP for some sightseeing.  So, we didn’t get to talk much with them.

Our flight around Denali was a 2-hour flight in a 10 seat Otter plane.  We were in one plane with Rob, Michelle, Stephanie and Mike.  The rest of them were in another plane.  It took 20 minutes to fly to the part of the Alaska Mountain Range where Denali is located.  There were some cloud layers, but our pilot was able to fly between then and we were able to see some excellent view of Denali (the tallest mountain in American Continent), the rest of the mountain range and many glaciers. 

After flying for about 75-80 minutes we landed on the Ruth Glacier.  Our plane was equipped with skis for snow landing.  There were 4 other planes at the same landing spot, including the rest of the Thayn family.  We were able to explore around the glacier and get some nice pictures.  This part of the mountain range has many large cliffs and walls.  It is a massive area that makes you feel very small. 

After 20 minutes on the glacier we loaded up and the pilot slide the plane down the glacier to take-off.  We flew out of the mountain range through the Ruth Gorge, a very large and deep canyon that contains the Ruth Glacier.

The flight back to Talkeetna took about 20 minutes.  After landing we said our goodbyes to the cousins.  They were spending the night in Talkeetna before flying home the next day.  Eva and I backtracked to the north towards Fairbanks.  It was around 9 pm when we left Talkeetna, so we drove until 10:30 pm and camped near a river about 30 miles south of Cantwell.

August 4, 2024 – Sunday – Day 42

We left our camp at 8:30 and drove an hour north to Healy, AK to attend church at the Denali Branch.  The meeting was crowded as they have a lot of guest and seasonal workers from the national park area.  They have a small building on a dirt road in the forest.

After church we drove to a campsite about 7 miles west of town.  It was a very quiet spot and a nice sunny day.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing at camp.  It was nice to have a spot where we weren’t next to a noisy river or highway.