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….
Travel-along.in 