9/11

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Another early start as I checked out of the Denali Bluffs Lodge to board the charter bus to travel to the small village of Talkeetna. More beautiful scenery greeted me on the ride with the bus driver playing some authentic Alaskan music which had some commonalities with bluegrass. She also played a video entitled “Alaska: The Majestic” that was narrated by Charlton Heston. We arrived in Talkeetna mid morning and prior to my room at the lodge being ready.

I boarded the shuttle to ride down to the downtown area and kill some time prior to the room being ready and my afternoon flight around Mt. McKinley. All of Talkeetna was contained in about 4 square city blocks. It was quaint, but very touristy with offices for some of the rafting and aviation tours that operate in the area. An acquaintance had told me that it was an area you could skip and not miss anything, and, after spending most of the day there, I tend to agree. I walked down to the river just south of the confluence of the Talkeetna and Susitna Rivers. After getting lunch, I walked down to the K2 aviation office to let them know I would not need transportation from the lodge to the airstrip. From there I walked to the town’s museum, that incorporated some of the original buildings from the finding of Talkeetna. Other than a model of Mt. McKinley, buffalo and horsehair coats, and pieces from the original Alaskan Railroad depot, there was not much that stood out at the museum.

By this time, it was time to head to the airstrip for a flight around Mt. McKinley. K2 aviation did offer some flights that landed on some of the glaciers around the mountain, but were not landing on the glaciers that day. There were some clouds around Mt. McKinley, but once in the air there was plenty of clear skies to see the mountain. I lost a coinflip to sit in the co-pilot seat which contributed to some less than stellar photos being taken because of the overhead wing blocking my view and glare from the window. (Pictures below are of peaks in and around Mt. McKinley.)

Glacial riverbed near Mt. McKinley

Flying on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 was somewhat surreal, especially as the airspace around Mt. McKinley is not controlled in the manner of commercial flights. There was an air control tower at the airstrip controlling takeoffs and landings, but once in the air, the pilots were constantly calling out their locations, intentions, and visually scanning the area around them to prevent collisions. My pilot was constantly switching between communicating with his fellow pilots and calling out to his passengers the names of the glaciers and faces of the mountains we were seeing. He was calling things out so fast I can’t remember what was seen other than to be able to tell you that shots were either of a glacier, Mt. McKinley, or the surrounding area. As with other areas where glaciers were present, it was visible that the glaciers were receding. Locals also noted other little changes that were present in the local weather that left them wondering what was occurring. There was much dipping, diving, and turning of the plane to give us the best view possible of the landscapes, but thankfully no ducking or dodging of other planes. I don’t recall seeing any planes near us while in the vicinity of Mt. McKinley despite hearing the voices of pilots through the headsets.

(While on the Arctic Ocean excursion, Ben, the tour guide, had told our group of what occurred in Alaska when 9/11 occurred. The hunting season for moose begins in early September each year with many hunters getting flown into remote locations. Hunters only carry enough supplies for the duration of the hunt and have pre-arranged meeting times and locations with the bush pilots as the hunters want their preferred spots to remain secret. As cell and satellite phones were scarce to non-existent in 2001, hunters were completely isolated and had no idea of what had occurred. Cell reception is non-existent outside of the major residential areas. All they knew was that their pilots were not arriving and food was getting scarce. The FAA had grounded all planes, but eventually worked out agreements to let the bush pilots back into the to pick up hunters before starvation and/or bad weather set in.)

Once back on the ground, I went back to the lodge to check into my room. After getting settled, I headed back into town for some shopping, supper, and ice cream. My evening riverboat cruise had been cancelled due to the lack of interest, so my evening was completely open. Once back in the lodge, I left a request to be woken up in case the northern lights could be seen. I went to the back patio to take in the view of Mt. McKinley that the lodge had. There was also time to admire the lodge’s fireplace which crafted from rocks from the local rivers. While enjoying the view of Mt. McKinley and the fireplace, it started to set in that my time in Alaska was nearly over.

Stampede

Saturday, September 10^th

The day was the second worst day for weather of the trip to this point (Wednesday at the Arctic Ocean was the worst). It was cloudy, rainy, chilly, and windy. This would persist the whole day and prevent the northern lights from being visible that night. The main attraction for the day was a backcountry jeep tour that lasted about 4 hours and 28 miles from start to finish. I was picked up at the hotel and taken along the Park Highway to the start of the jeep tour. I was paired with couple from Wichita who had recently celebrated their 44^th anniversary. The husband started driving, but I took over after one of the stops and drove the rest of the way. The couple had rented a car and was driving through Alaska. In the words of Wilda, she was glad for someone else to drive and just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

I had overheard a gentleman state this tour was anticlimactic, but I was presently surprised and enjoyed the trip and meeting the couple from Wichita. The jeep tour followed the Stampede Road which will be familiar to you if you have read the book Into the Wild by Jack McCandless or seen the movie of the same name. The road was originally built by a miner to get to an antimony mine. This miner had largely built the road by himself. McCandless was dropped off at the end of the road and hiked back to a bus that was left following additional roads being built by the state department of transportation. He would later die in the bus from alkaloid poisoning due to eating wild potatoes. Many hikers still make their way back to the bus (which is still back in the woods, about 28 miles from where Stampede Rd meets the Park Highway.) However, it’s a very treacherous route and we didn’t make our way that far back as we only traveled about 12 miles down the Stampede Rd. The picture above was taken shortly after the tour leader pulled a couple from Texas out of the mud who had got stuck the previous evening. Part of the treacherousness is due to crossing a river which can change from low to high tide quickly, leaving individuals stranded in the middle on gravel deposited by glaciers. Also along the road was a campsite of a homesteader that had been mauled by a bear in the early 1980s. His campsite was still present after all these years. Many hikers had left shoes near the campsite in honor of the homesteader. His boots had been found 30 feet from the rest of his body.

The company that operates the jeep tour has a campsite where we stopped for a brief lunch and hot beverages before coming back. One of the company’s employees spends six days a week at the campsite cooking for tourists making the trip. While he has a satellite phone and radio, I was surprised he stayed alone due to the dangers present in the wilds of Alaska. He relayed the story of being chased up a tree by a moose earlier in the season, but so far had no bear encounters. Once done at the campsite, we turned around and went back the way we came. There was a “neighborhood” dog where we left the jeeps. Its owner had been after the tour guide to let the dog go for a ride on the tour, but the guide didn’t want to clean up after the dog. After boarding the shuttle to head back to the lodge, the dog jumped on the shuttle and claimed the passenger seat. The dog was soon curled up in the passenger seat as opposed to sitting upright and watching traffic.

I laid low the rest of the day and prepared to say farewell to Denali (with many of the employees in the area also leaving for the year) and head south to Talkeetna on the morrow. However, I did venture out long enough for supper. This allowed me to see a red fox and take some pictures of Glitter Gulch (downtown area around Denali) from the bluffs surrounding the area.

3 Out of 10 is Really 10 Out of 10

Friday, September 9^th

Another early day started with a quick breakfast prior to embarking on a 13 hour bus trip around Denali National Park. The itinerary made me think a school bus would be used, but it was more a charter bus with sliding windows to open to get clear pictures of the wildlife and scenery. The driver was a Danish woman named Gitte who was born in Greenland, moved back to Denmark, made her way to Alaska where she had married and drove one of the Kantishna Roadhouse tour buses three times a week during tourist season.

The bus had barely entered the park when the first glimpses of wildlife occurred. A female moose was spotted with another one nearby. There was also a bull moose a little way further into the park, but a second bull moose was very close the main road. It crossed in front of the bus as if we weren’t there. Gitte had told us to be as quiet as possible any time the windows were open to prevent the animals from being habitualized to humans. Everyone on the bus was warned of this again by the park ranger at the Savage River station which marked the end of the paved roads in the park. Most, if not all, of the roads past this ranger station were gravel due to trying to minimize the impact of frost heaving and the remoteness of the roads. Once past the Savage River ranger station, only tour buses were allowed on the roads to further ensure that wildlife did not become habitualized to humans and have a better control on traffic flows. I would learn later in the day that there was a lottery that allowed individuals to drive their personal cars into these restricted areas. Throughout the day, we would pass many hikers along the road exploring the park.

Although there was some cloud cover, it was largely a nice day with plenty of sun to see the wildlife and get plenty of scenery. The bus stopped often enough for bathroom breaks and to stretch one’s legs. At one stop, the Roadhouse provided hot beverages and very tasty chocolate chip cookies.

The damage to the sign is from where bears have ate the sign. It was shortly after this that the first of two grizzly bears were spotted. The first bear was fairly close to the road. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good shot of the bear’s head, but it was pretty obvious he was ready for the winter which was to arrive shortly.

Late in the morning, we arrived at the Mt. McKinley overlook. There is a 3 in 10 chance that you will be able to see either of its peaks and I was lucky enough to see both peaks (hence the title for this entry). Clouds develop and obscure the view of the mountain very quickly. While both peaks weren’t in sight the whole time, I could see how quickly the clouds would blow in and obscure the view. As you can see from the pictures, it was a spectacular view of Mt. McKinley and the nearby peaks. Although Mt. Everest is about 9,000 feet higher in elevation, Mt. McKinley can be -40F in the summer and Everest only reaches that in the dead of winter. There is a fascinating story about a group of prospectors (called sourdoughs due to that type of dough working well in Alaska compared to other types) that were the first to climb Mt. McKinley. Allegedly, the climbers in the "Sourdough Expedition" subsisted on doughnuts and hot chocolate in the 18 hours it took to climb the peak. They were the first known individuals to climb the peak, although it was not realized till later. A second group climbed the opposite peak. However, they later discovered the spruce pole that the sourdoughs had left as a marker to prove they had climbed McKinley.

Lunch was at the Kantishna Roadhouse. There was the ability to pan for gold along the creek near the Roadhouse or learn about dog mushing. The guy that talked about dog mushing was the son of an Iditarod winner (Emmitt Peters, the 3^rd winner of the race). His father had revolutionized the way runners thought about the race in that he treated the race as a series of sprints as opposed to an endurance race. The dad had cut the time to win the race down dramatically and is the only individual to have raced in 4 different decades. The dog with the goggles is Reba, the lead. Why goggles? Because the lead dog has to look cool in the words of the son. The son hopes to run the Iditarod following completion of college.

After leaving the Roadhouse, the sky clouded up and drizzled or rained all the way back. The route back to the entrance of the park retraced our path from earlier in the morning. More sightings of Dall sheep occurred with one group walking right in front of the bus as if the bus was not there. It was nice to finally get back to the hotel as 13 hours on a bus was a bit too much.

I really don’t know how to describe Denali. It’s a national park unlike any of the other parks I have been to. Hopefully the pictures in this entry do it justice. I took a lot of pictures and there is not enough space as each shot is fascinating in its own right. Its remoteness prevents some of the commercial development seen in the areas surrounding other parks, but there is still some development to support the hotels and tourists that visit the park. However, everything that supports the park essentially shuts down in mid September. There are still some rangers that stay in the park during the winter, but they are mainly there to maintain the paths for dog mushing and the limited number of individuals that come during the winter. Its expansiveness is awe-inspiring as are its seemingly endless U-shaped valleys created by glaciers over thousands of years. Its flora and fauna are unlike other parks and well suited to the harshness of its winters. Surprisingly, most of the bears are vegetarians, but will scavenge meat if available. They subsist on a variety of berries (including blueberries and cranberries) which are abundant and low to the ground. If there is one regret I have about the whole trip, it was not going back into the park to explore the visitor’s center and the science center which are supposedly top class. However, the desire to take it easy once I got back from the bus ride and just to have a lazy day (on Saturday) got the better of me.

After eating supper, I did some shopping and learned that night was supposed to be a great night to see the Aurora Borealis/Northern Lights. Upon getting back to the lodge, I ordered a wake-up call for the lights which many hotels offered. Unfortunately, cloud cover prevented the lights from being visible.