Mount Denali Arrives

Call it what you like. The federal government calls it Mount McKinley. Alaskans call it Mount Denali. Either way, it is one big “WOW” moment when you first see it on a clear day. For us, this moment came when we drove to the overlook south of Talkeetna for the third time late Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday morning we woke up to our first sunshine since Thursday. We could tell that the horizon was not clear, and the mountain is 60 miles away, so it would have to do a lot more clearing for us to see anything.

Just the same, we got in the car and drove out of town south to see if there was any chance of a sighting. We got out to Alaska 3 with no luck, filled the car with gas, started back, and suddenly we spotted the top of it, above the clouds, right in front of us. Whoopie! It was not the view we wanted in the long run but it was a promise. We continued back into Talkeetna and stopped at the overlook near town. Nothing. So we waited. At lunch time we went into town and went to the Susitna River bank at the edge of town. Still too many clouds. We were hoping for clearing, but it had not happened enough yet.

Around 5:00 PM Geoff too Jordy for a walk and thought things were looking better near the horizon, as much of it as he could see. The area around Talkeetna is heavily wooded. So we got into the car again and headed up to the overlook. As we turned the car into the parking area, we got our first look. The WOW Moment!

Check off another bucket list item. Not perfectly clear, but it is definitely out. The rest of the day was pretty much finding places where we could see it, and also waiting for the other mountains around it to come out. The weather forecast called for the weather on Wednesday in Denali National Park to be “sunny”. Not partly anything, but just “sunny”.

At sunset, Geoff went back to the overlook to take sunset pictures, but the light angle was not so good. The sun is setting behind and way off to the side of the mountains to either light them well or to be a backdrop. However, they had cleared very nicely and there was hope of a clear morning with much better lighting. So, Geoff got up at 6:00 AM, with sunrise at 6:24 AM, and headed back up to the overlook. Nice! Even before sunrise. Nice!

After shooting there for a while, and with the sun beginning to hit the summit of the mountain, he moved to the Talkeetna Lodge, which has an even better view of the whole range. This was well worth the time and effort to get up early and come take pictures. The rest of the day would be driving toward Fairbanks, but we would be going past Denali National Park on the way and even be another 25 miles closer to the mountain before the day was over, so there may be more pictures to be taken.

Waiting…

After the Palmer/Wasilla area, we came to Talkeetna, Alaska, a little community on the edge of Denali National Park. Here is a train station for folks from the cruise ships to go from their inland buses to the Alaska Railroad and ride up to the park entrance, where they can board another bus, and be taken around the park. Denali National Park is the location of Mount McKinley (AKA Mount Denali), the tallest mountain in North America. This mountain is a “must see” for anyone who comes to Alaska, but, ironically, is most often shrouded in clouds, due to the weather patterns in this mountain range.

We arrived on Thursday for a scheduled two day stay, but with a weather forecast which did not look all that good for seeing the big mountain, but out traveling companions were interested in taking a flight over the park and hope to at least see something of it. The weather still did not look all that good, but there were peeks of sun coming out, and the flight service said they were able to go high enough to get above the clouds, and even above the summit of the mountain, so you would at least be able to see the part of it which was above the clouds. It still seemed there would be a risk of not being able to see much but they even said if the view was a bust, we could get our money back. Ellyn is a bit of a white-knuckled flier in small planes and it was a bit expensive, but Geoff decided to go as well.

As it turns out, the flight was great, the pictures were terrific, even though we could not see the base of the mountain and many of the other mountains around it were totally buried in the clouds. But the main peak and several of the surrounding peaks were really great to see up close. We had to wear oxygen masks above 13,000 feet and got as high as 21,000 feet before heading back down.

One of the objectives of coming to Alaska and of trying to have as much flexibility as possible so we could get to see Mount McKinley on a clear day. Well, we tried. Ken and Martha had scheduled a flight to the Arctic Ocean from Fairbanks on Tuesday, but the weather forecast made it look like there may be some clearing around Denali on Tuesday. So we decided to split up for a while. Ken and Martha left Talkeetna on schedule on Friday, but we stayed on for four additional days to try for some better weather.

Talkeetna itself is a cute little town. There are many original log cabins in the town and some other old buildings from the era of the gold rush. The campground is on the out-skirts of the town, but still within easy walking distance. There are several good little restaurants, one with Tai food, and a couple of little booths selling food, almost like a County Fair. It is very much a tourist town, with lots of different tour companies. The tour buses come into town to get the train to Denali and people come into town for food and shopping.

So we waited. Saturday, wet. Sunday, wetter. Monday, not looking good. Tuesday…to be continued.