We left
Denali before 8 AM, in the COLD of the morning.
Throughout the ride we have to adjust our clothing to the change of temperatures, sometimes it feels like we do a lot of dressing / undressing and
opening / resealing the luggage to pull things our or to stuff things back in.
This is a scenic ride in every way and the suspense is whether or not Mt McKinley will be in or out of the clouds. The cloud condition changes quite rapidly so that from an area where the mountain can be seen from the road to the next we cannot predict it appearance or disappearance. Or how much of it we will see. Mt McKinley is so big that yesterday I counted 3 different layers of clouds along its flanks.
At one of the look-outs we met a Swiss family who had flown to Whitehorse, YT, rented a crew cab ¾ ton Ford pick-up equipped with a camper and had been cruising around the Al-Can and Alaska.
At another, one of the ubiquitous cruise company buses was meting out lunches to its passengers so that they could picnic in this nice area before moving on. We asked the driver if he had extras and if we could buy a couple from his company for our lunches (places to eat are few and far between). He said that he indeed had extras but could not sell them, however as “Alaskan hospitality” he and his company would gladly give us lunches. So we too picnicked on free lunches; God bless this driver and his company. (P.S. it is against Royal Princess policy - for obvious reasons, but they sure are very friendly people.)
Talkeetna has a striking view on a very scenic portion of the Mt McKinley range, including Mt McKinley itself. The town has become a staging point for those hardy ones from all countries who attempt to climb the mountain each summer. It has an extremely busy airplane based industry ferrying supplies and climbers on skis-wheel equipped airplanes (there are no roads). It also provides tourist with rides to, around and into McKinley, including glacier landings. The price for the rides is rather steep when considered simply from an outlay point of view; however when factoring in all the operating costs of the machines, pilots it is quite reasonable. Talkeetna does not slumber when the climbing and tourist season winds down; salmons and other fish species crowd its three rivers and another brand of visitor requires catering to: the fisherman. So, floatplanes are buzzing too. We are on the back side of the climbing season, but on the high side of the tourist season and also at the beginning of the salmon run so even for a flying enthusiast like me the areal activity is a little overwhelming. Tonight we are staying in an old log cabin (a B & B) that is on the same lot as the garage used by the glacier flying legend Don Sheldon, and as I type I am looking at his original short and narrow strip (still in use today). The commercial operators use the modern airport/strip a few blocks away and the lake, but the old gravel strip still has a Super Cub and a Champ calling it home… and there is still a sign at the end of the runway – down town that is – that says: “no airplane parking beyond this point”.
Today's ride was a mellow 140 miles or so. We do not have a deadline so we stop a lot and visit with people a lot.
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