Tag: Flightseeing

And finally we flew!!

by Leela Gopinath, posted in Alaskan Adventures

Not knowing how the Alaskan weather would treat us, we woke up to a partly cloudy day ; much better than the previous day , but clearly not an ideal day for flightseeing. So we were very skeptical about the flight taking off. But to our surprise, we got a call from the tour operator that they were offering us a flight over the Knik glacier and the Chugach National Park as Denali and Alaskan Ranges still seemed difficult. They also offered us a refund in case we did not want to take this . This; they said would me a much longer flight and so it would be like a bonus for all the inconveniences of the previous day. So we decided to take it .

Soon, we were ready and got picked up at the hotel and reached the K2 Aviation office. We were weighed at the counter and completed some formalities and were asked to wait for our pilot. Soon more tourists started arriving and we could see the aircrafts getting readied. The weather didn’t seem too good and we kept our fingers crossed.

K2 Aviation office, our flightseeing tour operator

The aircrafts getting ready

Soon, a group of pilots arrived and each of them had a list of people flying with them. Each aircraft had around nine people assigned and we were with Dave…

With Dave, our pilot

Dave gave us some safety instructions and demonstrated the correct use of the headphones provided and we boarded and took our seats. The headphones were primarily for the commentary that Dave would give as we flew over different areas but we too could call out to him at anytime.

Inside the aircraft and all set to fly….

And finally, we took off…

K2 office and Talkeetna airbase as we took off…

The swollen Talkeetna river and the onset of autumn colours came into view…

Talkeetna River

Fall colours over Talkeetna

Soon we were on top of the Talkeetna mountains….

Talkeetna mountains

Contrary to arid snow covered glacierland that we expected, what came in sight was the town of Palmer, the Matanuska river and the Mat Su Valley…

Mat Su Valley

This is the local name for the Matanuska-Susitna valley which is famous for its farmlands producing giant size vegetables besides the salmon bounty in the rivers. This valley carved out by glaciers is located between the Talkeetna mountains, Alaskan Ranges and the Chugach mountains.

Palmer and Matanuska river

The fertile Mat Su Valley

Once we passed this, it was on to the Chugach ranges and the glaciers. Enjoy the views ….

Heading to the glaciers…

What is that black line on the glacier?

Did this question not pop up in your mind?

Well, they are called moraines. They are actually rock and silt debris that the glacier picks up on the way and when the ice mass moves, they are left behind.

Terminal part of glacier feeding the lake

Floating icebergs broken off from the glacier

Nothing but ice for miles around….

Blocks of ice

The end of the glacier clearly visible…

Beautiful colour of glacial lakes

We also got to see the debris of an airplane that had crashed sometime back on the glacier…

Debris of crashed airplane…

Soon we were on our return journey over the glaciers with Dave turning the plane at many places for both sides to get the views. Enjoying every bit of it we landed back safely at Talkeetna air base.

As a parting shot, a short video for you to enjoy….

Enjoy the flight video…..

It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I have tried to bring it to you as clearly as I can . But as I always say, nothing like experiencing anything oneself !! So do go in for the flightseeing over the Alaskan glaciers…you will never regret it..

Do continue to encourage with your comments and feedback….

The quaint town of Talkeetna

by Leela Gopinath, posted in Alaskan Adventures

A base for expeditions to Denali ; the small town of Talkeetna with less than 2000 people is a two and a half hour drive from Anchorage . Its residents are proud of the character of their community and their mountaineering history as the base camp for mountaineering expeditions to Denali and also their characteristic artwork and unique traditions.

Talkeetna started off in 1916 as the district headquarters of the Alaskan Railroad .Today, the locals are proud of their typical architecture and rich wildlife. It is a popular destination for locals and visitors, offering many activities such as flightseeing, rafting, and biking.

Popular activities in Talkeetna are:

  1. Flightseeing tours to Mt. Denali.
  2. Stroll Main Street taking in the history and enjoying the ambience.
  3. Jetboat rides, rafting, kayaking
  4. Fishing.
  5. Hiking
  6. Enjoying the local food and drink.

Located at the confluence of three rivers, Susitna, Chulkitna and Talkeetna, the downtown area is a designated National Historic Site with buildings dating back to the early 1900s.

Talkeetna Historic District

Much of the downtown area looks very ancient and comes alive only in summer when tourists reach Talkeetna for flightseeing tours over Denali, salmon fishing and rafting expeditions. Much of this shuts down in mid September when winter sets in and after that, it’s only the amount of snow that changes year to year.

Winter in Talkeetna

We were in for a flightseeing tour of Denali and that’s what took us to Talkeetna. Taking the Denali Star train from Anchorage early morning, we reached Talkeetna before noon. The weather was less than favourable and we were hoping that we would take off over Denali that evening.

The Denali Star that took us to Talkeetna.

One of the first sights as we left Anchorage was the Knik arm of the Cook inlet and the Eagle River.

Eagle River.

The glacial silt along the Eagle river banks and the Knik arm are favourite places for moose and the train conductor asked us to keep a look out for them. She actually spotted a couple of them.

A moose along the banks of Eagle River

Some beautiful vegetation was also there for us to enjoy …

Typical Alaskan vegetation.

Evidence of forest fires and lightning strikes on vegetation were also seen…

Tree stumps

Soon we were at the town of Wasilla and the train made a short halt there.

Wasilla station.

As the train was getting closer to Talkeetna, it was getting obvious that the chances of our flightseeing getting cancelled was very high. The sky was overcast and it kept raining off and on. So we were a little disappointed but kept our fingers crossed.

Nancy lake was another pretty little lake that was crossed …

Nancy Lake

Passing by the Susitna river, we were finally at Talkeetna station . It was raining and cold and we waited for our hotel to pick us up .

Talkeetna station

After being picked up from the station, we reached our hotel, Talkeetna Inn. A real old world kind of place, there was something cute about the place.

Talkeetna Inn

As we waited patiently, we were informed by our tour company that our trip to Denali was cancelled and we can try in the evening if weather improves. That left us totally disappointed . Once the rain stopped, we took a walk around downtown Talkeetna…simply because we had nothing else to do!!!

A short walk from the hotel and we were on the banks of the swollen Talkeetna River. It was only then that the real impact of the weather was clear to us. The town had been flooded since the last two days and the water had just started receeding leaving a lot of silt all along the road..

The swollen Talkeetna River

By then, the sun was trying to come out and more people started venturing around. An occassional helicopter was seen hovering over town giving us hope that we may have our flightseeing after all !! But luck didn’t seem to favour us at all that day. The Denali trips scheduled late evening took off but the cancelled afternoon session was not rescheduled.

Walking along downtown Talkeetna, we saw some really dated houses and buildings. Some pictures…

Ranger Station

The ranger station at Talkeetna serves as center of mountaineering operations at Denali National Park. Climbing permits are issued here and all climbers are given an orientation before they go on their expedition.

The Ranger Station

Nagley’s Store

This century old general store in downtown Talkeetna is more like an iconic image of the town. Most people visit it for the historic significance and because there is practically no such store anywhere else in downtown…

The century old Nagley’s store

Talkeetna town has old shops on either side of the road selling local art work and the rest are all bars , restaurants and pubs..

Typical display of wildlife exhibits

Typical Talkeetna street scene

Walking around, we spotted this wooden moose that looked like material for a picture….

The wooden moose!!

Few shops selling local Alaskan products attracted us…

Local Alaskan products

By now the rain had almost stopped and we could see the flightseeing aircraft taking off. But the cancelled afternoon trip did not take off!!

Flightseeing tours

So we spent some time at downtown and returned to the hotel hoping and praying for better weather the next day.

Alaskan husky tours are another popular sport here…you can sit on a sled drawn by huskies…

Sled dog tours

As the night fell, the sounds from the bars and restaurants got louder and we slowly made our way back to the comfort of our hotel room.

Hoping for better luck next day on the flightseeing side, we rested for the night.

A Northern Lights attempt

We made an attempt at around 2 am looking for the Northern lights that night. The aurora predictions were good that night and Talkeetna being a small town, the loom of the city lights would not be there and we were at the Northern most part of our Alaskan journey. So, this was our best chance of seeing the Northern lights. But unfortunately , could not see them.

So this was a roundup of this little town of Talkeetna . Hope you enjoyed the typical native look of the place. I leave you this week with a question…Do you think we did the flightseeing at Denali the next day?

Wait for the answer next week….

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