Sharp's Travels

We headed out the door at 8 am. We are only about ½ mile from the airport where we are taking the Talkeetna Air Taxi over Mt. McKinley this morning at 8:30am. We had clear skies and it was only 41 degrees.

We checked in and signed on the dotted line and were given our boots to slip over our shoes. They wanted us to be prepared when we stepped off the plane onto the glacier. We flew in a wheel and ski equipped Beaver aircraft. As we stepped outside there was the constant buzz of aircraft overhead. We were hyped up and ready to go. We took the Grand Denali tour. You circle Mt. McKinley and traverse the Alaska Range twice. There were 6 of us plus the pilot.

Our take-off was smooth and we headed across country to our first peak, which was Mt. Foraker at 17,400ft., our next peak, Mt. Hunter at 14,573ft, and last Mt. McKinley at 20,320ft. We had a clear view of all three of them. Hurray! This trip was the highlight of our Alaskan adventure thus far. The scenery was breathtaking. The glaciers were so neat to see. We flew around 12,000 ft high and our pilot told us all the history of the mountains and how the glaciers and mountains were named. Gay had the back seat and could move from side to side to take pictures.

We landed at Kahiltna glacier base camp where the climbers begin their ascent, and the Wickersham Wall of McKinley, the steepest continual vertical relief in the world. We were at about 7,400ft.

There were two other site seeing flights on the glacier when we landed. It was only 15 degrees there. We all got out and were shaking in our shoes. Stepping out onto the 700ft thick ice field glacier was an experience unlike any other. We walked around our plane, took pictures and then took off headed back to the airport.

We saw a couple of moose and trumpet swans far below on the ponds. We both had cameras, so there are 386 pictures. What a flight is was, our pilot maneuvered us around mountain peaks, through passes and next to sheer, mile-high granite walls. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Hope you feel as if you were there right along with us. It was amazing!

For pictures of the day see album: Mt McKinley Flight