Trip to Talkeetna & flightseeing - Talkeetna, AK
Talkeetna, AK
The alarm went off 6,30am & I just wanted to turn over & go back to sleep but I also wanted to go on the 5 hr jet boat at Talkeetna to Devils Gorge on the white water & it was due to leave at 9.30am so that won out!
Sheila got up as I went out to the garage &, as I was departing (in their van), I asked where the hand brake was as I couldn't find it. It turned out to be a foot pedal up from the floor on the left, once pressed it had to be released by hand by pulling a knob.
I’d gone by 7.15am & thought that would be ample time for me to cover the 60 ish miles to Talkeetna but I didn’t factor in my predilection to stop to take photos too often. Saying that I thought I was pretty restrained this morning. There really wasn’t much traffic on the road at all & it was a clear day so the drive on the Parks Highway was very pleasant. In addition Eddie & Sheila’s van was a pleasure to drive.
Houston is the only place in the Mat-Su Borough where it is legal to sell fireworks & there's several outlets along the highway. The first time I saw them all was when I was in the Schleuter Services bus on the way to Fairbanks. I was surprised & wondered why there were so many along here but fireworks are illegal in Anchorage.
Willow is spread out along the Parks Highway for about 2 miles & is a relatively substantial centre with a post office, various shops, Fire Station, Community Centre, Elementary School, Medical Centre, gas station & airport (though that's not unusual as there are absolutely loads in Alaska, some don't look like airstrips & one has to be aware that a plane could land near you in some areas!). Willow had its start in 1897 when gold was discovered in the area but then in the 1940s mining in the nearby Talkeetna Mountains slacked off leaving Willow a virtual ghost town. Due to the completion of the Parks Highway in 1972 Willow made a comeback. In fact in 1976 Alaskans voted the Willow area for their new capital site but funding for the move from Juneau to Willow was defeated in the 1982 election. The population is now around 2,100. The Iditarod restart takes place on WIllow Lake in early March (after a ceremonial start of the race in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March). From Willow to the end of the race at Nome it is 1,049 miles.
Just past Willow there was fog so thick that I had to slow right down as I couldn’t see & it looked like there was steam coming off the Kashwitna Lake at first but it was fog!
At Mile 96.5 I reached Montana Creek (8.30am) I stopped for several minutes to take photos as Sheila had said that this was one of their favourite camping spots. It is in the Susitna Valley & the Creek is an excellent fishing stream with graying, Dolly Varden, rainbow trout & salmon. Sheila said that in various places, this was one, a footbridge had been built in addition to the road bridge because people had been hit by cars when stopping to look at the views.
I turned off the Parks Highway onto the Talkeetna Spur Road & thankfully there was a gas station as I was too low on fuel to get back to Palmer & didn't think there would be a gas station in Talkeetna itself. Just a little further on there was a fantastic sight of sea planes on Fish Lake, it was such a bright & still morning & with the trees reflected in the lake, I simply had to get a photo. Whilst there I checked the price of flights in case I was tempted to take one. A fabulous vista of Mt McKinley came into view 2 minutes up the road so I stopped again – compared to how I usually am (eg Opanake to New Plymouth took me 3 hrs in 2011 & it’s 60kms ) I hardly stopped at all.
Talkeetna is at the confluence of the Talkeetna, Susitna & Chulitna rivers & has a population of about 880. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1993. It was originally the site of a Tanaina village but then became established as a mining town & trading post in 1896, before either Wasilla or Anchorage existed. A gold rush to the Susitna River brought prospectors to the area & by 1910 Talkeetna became a riverboat steamer station. In 1915, Talkeetna was chosen as the site for the Alaska Engineering Commission (the company that built the Alaska Railroad) & the community peaked near 1,000. World War I & completion of the railroad in 1919 dramatically decreased the population. Several of its old log buildings are historical landmarks.
Talkeetna is the starting point for the majority of climbing expeditions to Mt McKinley (Denali). Most expeditions use the West Buttress route. Specially equipped ski-wheel aircraft fly climbers to Kahiltna Glacier to start the climb from 7,200 feet to the summit of the South Peak. The climb via the West Buttress usually takes 18-20 days. More than 1000 people try to climb Denali each year between April & mid July.
There is a selection of accommodation to suit all tastes from camping grounds to hotels of varying standards, plenty of cafes & restaurants, gift shops, general store, galleries, museums & a number of businesses offering outdoor adventure activities such as hiking, jet boating, flightseeing, rafting, fishing. In December Winterfest features a month of competitions & special events, the most well known being the Wilderness Women's Contest & the Bachelor Auction, the latter raising money for charity by auctioning off bachelors. I may have to leave our lovely warm weather (hopefully) of summer & return to Alaska in December for a while!!
For the contest women have to be at least 21 (wonder what the maximum age is) & are asked to drive, or fly, many miles to show men that women can do all the work. The event starts at 1 pm sharp. A sense of humor is highly recommended -- it’s largely satire, but the competition & prizes are very real - think it may be a bit cold to wear my "Mud Run" gear ie pink fishnet gloves, shorts, pink butterfly wings, pink Dame Edna sunglasses & pink wig. The first round is a qualifier, in which, 3 or 4 women at a time run 100 yards with empty buckets to a ‘creek’, & return the same distance with full buckets. If any water is spilled, time is added. The 5 fastest finishers advance.
In the 2nd round, women are asked to prepare a sandwich & open a beer for a lounging bachelor (but not pour it over his head), & then head out into the ‘woods’. The 5 finalists must put on snowshoes, & move from field to stream while shooting a latex ‘ptarmigan’, sawing a small piece off of a birch round, snagging a salmon & evading a lonely ‘moose’.
Round 3 measures the 5 finalists snow machine skills. Each woman must fill a sled with split wood, then tow it by snow machine & feed the wood into a bonfire, around which bachelors tell lousy stories.
All 3 rounds are timed. After penalty times, if any, are added, the 3 times are combined & the woman with the fastest accumulated time wins. There are some great prizes for the top 3 finishers, but most women do it for the love of the game. Winners have received anything from gold nuggets to free flights to Hawaii & London. Oh well I will stay home in December, not only have I never worn snow shoes nor driven a snow machine but the salmon thing would be a 'step too far' I think. I managed to touch the salmon when I went fishing in Valdez but I presume, in addition to snagging a salmon, I would have to take the hook out of its mouth - no can do!
I got to Maheys (jet boat adventures) at 9.15am & was told that the 5 hour Devils Gorge trip had left early, at 8.30am!!!!! I couldn’t believe it, that’s why I sacrificed my sleep & got up early. I was told that there was a 2 hour one at noon, which I knew about but didn’t fancy. I asked about the 3 hour one but, not only was it being delayed by 1 hour, (ie 4.30pm departure) but it needed 6 people on it to run & they had no bookings at that time. I was soooo bummed that I left to mull things over. I saw another boat trip company & went in to ask what they do but was told that, at this time of the year, they concentrate on fishing charters. Next stop was the Visitor’s Centre to ask if there was anyone else around who does boat cruises – there wasn’t. The man in there, Ned, suggested a flight so I said the people in the Wrangell St Elias area maintain that the best scenery in Alaska is there. Ned said they say that because they are there! He said that the scenery is different here & as it’s such a great, sunny day & all the mountains are visible a flight would be fantastic. He told me about the 4 options, which included a glacial landing flight & a summit flight then he rang Fly Denali to ask what they had available. As they had a seat available on the first summit flight due to leave at 11am he could get me 25% discount due to the lateness. He did a double take when I said I wanted to do both the glacial landing flight & the summit flight but seriously what was a girl to do when she couldn't make up her mind & the choices were so good?? Ned rang Fly Denali again & Maheys to try to coordinate the 2 flights & a jet boat trip, as I decided on the latter 2 hour ride. He organized all 3 & said it would be tight getting from one to another in time but it was possible, though the lady at the flight company didn’t think so apparently. I haggled for a 30% discount on the flights!! It was now 9.50am & the order of the flights had changed to fit them in, I had to check in for the first flight at 11.30am then boat trip at 2.30pm, for which I was on standby as the last 3 seats had gone straight after Ned put the phone down from them &, finally, check in for the summit flight was 4.30pm.
I had an hour & a half spare (the only spare time all day till 6.45pm as it turned out) so went to the river at the end of town (as advised by Sheila), forded the stream & had a magnificent view of Mts Foraker, Hunter & McKinley. I also went for a paddle in the river, it was a bit chilly but not on the same scale as the glacial lake at McCarthy & the Arctic Ocean at Barrow.
The Athabaskan people who inhabit the area around the mountain referred to Mt McKinley as Denali, which means 'the high one' or 'great one'. During the Russian ownership of Alaska, the common name for the mountain was Bolshaya Gora, which is the Russian translation of Denali. It was briefly called Densmore's Mountain in the late 1880. In 1896, a gold prospector named it McKinley after WIlliam McKinley, a presidential candidate, who became president the following year. The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali, which is how it is referred to locally. A request by the Alaska state legislature in 1975 to the U.S Board on Geographic Names to do likewise was blocked by an Ohio congressman, R Regula, whose district includes McKinley's hometown of Canton. Members of the Ohio congressional delegation continue to protect the McKinley name, blocking attempts by the Alaska congressional delegation to get the Board of Geographic Names to change it to Denali. Accordingly Denali is correct according to the Alaska state board, while McKinley is correct according to the national board.
I hadn’t eaten before leaving this morning & someone I met at the State Fair said I needed to try the Roadhouse food, so I went in for a coffee & snack. It was humming, there were so many people in there, all the tables were full & mainly by groups of older people who I suspected were on cruises judging by the conversations. Luckily I spied an armchair in a quiet corner, a staff told me I wouldn't be served there – suited me fine as I already had my coffee & pie, both much dearer than almost everywhere else I'd been in Alaska but I wasn't bothered, I was there for the experience.
Drove to the airstrip, about 1 minute drive from the Visitor Centre, & was advised to put shoes on (I had jandels of course & naturally different coloured ones) & more clothes. Luckily, only as I was in the van did I bring jeans, sneakers & a jacket – otherwise I would have been a bit stuffed. The other 5 passengers already had on some big overshoe/boot things so that their shoes wouldn’t get wet on the glacier. The guy must not have believed the size of my feet because he brought smaller overshoes than I asked for – I seriously don’t know what people who do that are thinking, after all at my age I should know the size of my feet. Accordingly he had to go & get a larger pair when I couldn’t get them on over my sneakers.
We took off at midday in an 8 seater plane, I was in the front, but don’t know whether that was because I was on my own or because of my weight. I didn’t care which it was I was just pleased to be in the front of the plane. The views of the area were amazing. We did a u shaped route on the southern side of Mt McKinley, with the pilot, Matt, pointing out the glaciers & various mountains. He landed the plane on the Ruth Glacier after doing, what I thought was a really tight turn, but in reality Matt said it covered 1 mile. I had wondered how he was going to land on a glacier with wheels but there were also short skis so that the pilot could choose which he needed to use to land. We spent about 30 minutes on the glacier, which, being smooth, was very unlike the Root Glacier at McCarthy. The walls of rock around us were several thousand feet high but certainly didn't look it.
The Ruth Glacier is a valley glacier, 64km in length that moves at a rate of 1m a day & was 1,200 thick when measured in 1983. Its upper reaches are nearly 4.8 km below the summit of Mt McKinley. From the top of the cliffs to the bottom of the glacier is higher than the Grand Canyon. The glacier's "Great Gorge" is 1.6 km wide & drops almost 610 m over 16 km, with crevasses along the surface. Above the surface on both sides are 1,500-m granite cliffs.
Matt told us that we needed to keep near his plane as the glacier has an airstrip & if a plane comes in & someone is in the way the person will come off worse. Another small plane did land near us about 5 minutes before we departed. It was neat being on the glacier with the pristine snow, fabulous vista, clean tasting air & peacefulness,
On the return journey Matt said that in the summer he does the flight seeing flights & the rest of the year he flies to the remote villages, mainly in the west, taking supplies, mail etc as there are no roads so air is the only way to get in & out. We landed back at Talkeetna at 2pm.
On landing I uploaded the photos I’d taken so that I wouldn't run out of room on the card then stripped some layers off as I had so many clothes on with dressing for the ice yet off the mountains the day was lovely & sunny. I rang Maheys to see if anyone had cancelled, they had so the lady told me to get there as quickly as I could. A man was waiting to take me to the boat once I’d paid for the trip, everyone else was waiting at the boat to board. There were 2 boats loading up with 14 people on each, I got on the latter one & sat outside at the back so that I could take photos easily as we went along. Although the boat went quite fast at times, & we must have covered about 20 miles, the trip was far too sedate for me & I was wishing I had spent the time looking around Talkeetna, The views, though, of McKinley & the other mountains were picture perfect & I would have missed out on those particular views if I hadn’t gone on the boat. Considering that McKinley's summit is only seen about 25% of the time we were extremely fortunate to have such a fantastic, clear sunny day.
On the return journey up the river we got off the boat & were taken through the woods to see a genuine (so we were told) trapper’s cabin with its original furnishings as well as a replica of a typical Athabaskan summer dwelling & also told about various plants we passed, one of which is used in the formulation of aspirin (can’t remember the name) & makes up a substantial portion of a moose’s diet – no headaches or other aches & pains for them then!!!!! Many of the plants & wildflowers were used by the natives for cooking & medicinal purposes.
When we got back on the boat at 4,25pm I asked our captain how long the return journey takes, she said 10-15 minutes so I told her that the check in for my flight is 4.30pm. As soon as we got back a staff member came racing up asking who was going on a flight & then told me to get in the van & all the others would be taken back to Talkeetna by someone else. When I got to the airstrip the pilot was waiting for me despite the fact that it was only 4.50pm. He, Dave, asked if I'd been on a boat as I was barefoot. I didn't bother putting any shoes on since I didn't plan to leave the plane this time as it was to be a flight around the summit of Mt McKinley.
Again I was in the front seat beside the pilot, Dave, he took a while telling us all the necessaries like where the emergency exits were, flares etc & also explained about using oxygen masks as we were going above 12,000 feet. The scenery, at first, was basically the same as the previous flight I had taken so I conserved my photos. It took a while to climb high enough to look down on the summit of Mt McKinley since it is over 6,000 m high. The pilot said it is actually the tallest mountain in the world as the base of Everest & others are above sea level though they are measured from sea level whereas Mt McKinley’s base is at sea level. Dave also said it has the largest mass of any mountain in the world. His knowledge seemed very good & he kept up almost continuous narration, something I always enjoy as it answers many of my questions. The views were absolutely magnificent & It looked as though we were so close to the mountains when, at one point we were 25 miles away!!!! & another time I mile away, neither seemed correct but, of course, there was nothing to compare the distance to. Dave also flew between the peaks of Mt McKinley & other mountains, words do not do justice to what I saw & I hope the photos portray successfully the majesty of the peaks I was privileged to see.
We landed back at Talkeetna airport about 6.45pm & I had wanted to have a look round the shops & the museum in Talkeetna but most places were closed by the time I was dropped off into town. I went for a drive round the remainder of the town that I hadn’t seen earlier, taking photos until my card was full then had to upload the photos.
I was so hungry as I hadn’t eaten since mid a.m so went in for a burger at Wildflower Cafe as suggested by someone else who said they have the best burgers. Sorry, but in my opinion they come a poor second to Fergburgers. Filled a hole anyway. On a positive note all the ingredients tasted fresh & I doubt that there were loads of preservatives in it like with McD’s.
At 9.20pm I thought I’d better make tracks & get on the road.I still needed to go into Walmart before leaving Alaska & was going to do so tonight if it wasn't too late.
The sunset was beautiful & I stopped too long to photograph it both over Mt McKinley & over the Susitna River. I had text Sheila & said that I’d just left Talkeetna but asked what time Walmart was open till. She told me where to find it & that it’s open 24 hours! It was past 11pm by the time I reached the turnoff to Walmart but if I didn’t go I would be disappointed. As it was I was disappointed because the reason for going there was the emails Belinda gets from Americans with pictures of the attire some people who shop at Walmart wear but the worst that I saw was a lady with pj pants on & we have that at home in some areas too.
I got into the house as quietly as I could, the lounge door was open so I thought Sheila was up waiting but there was no sign of her so after unloading I put the dogs back in the garage & got sorted for bed.