July 8, 2009 Flight around Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley

This morning we got up early and went for a flight over Denali National Park. I took this picture from about 12 miles from the mountain. This was the best thing we have accomplished since we got here. The smoke from the fires in the north west end of the park was up to 7000 feet. It just makes it so hazy that you can't see the mountains in the distance. Once we were up in the air we could see pretty good. We were flying at 12000 when we got near (10 miles) Mt. McKinley and it looked like we could go over it. It was hard to believe that the mountain was still over 2 miles higher than we were. There were some Caribou on one of the Glaciers and we could see foot prints from some climbers from the day before.

The pilot has lived here 48 years and knows every mountain and glacier by name. Very good flight (75 minutes). I'm the one on the right.

The other lady in the pic works at the park desk for the summer. We asked her if she knew anyone who could share the flight. The price is for 3 people. She always wanted to go so we all went at 8:00 am.

After the flight we packed up and left for Wasilla. Yea!!! We found Sarah Palin's house and drove by. We found a nice camp called the Big Bear campground. Tomorrow we will head for Homer down on the tip of the Kenai Penninsula.

July 7, 2009 Cantwell rv park near Denali

Just to catch up. We stayed 3 nights in Eielson AFB campground about 20 miles south of Fairbanks. June 30, July 1,2. I used the base auto shop to change the oil on the truck and the next day I fixed the broken down closet.
July 3,4,5,6---We moved to a park closer to Fairbanks for the 4th of July weekend. We went to the college botanical gardens and museum one day, and the next day we drove to Denali for the day. The smoke is bad from the wild fires about 100 miles southwest of Fairbanks. Couldn't see much. Drove north of Fairbanks and saw the Alaskan Oil Pipeling where it goes along next to the highway. Monday I took the truck to the chevy dealer to fix the small oil leak.
Left this morning Tuesday July 7, and stopped in Cantwell which is about 20 miles south of Denali. Still can't see Mount McKinley. The fires are still burning. There are 61 fires going in Alaska right now. Tomorrow we are going flightseeing around Denali National park and nearby mountains. This has got to be cool. We needed a third person to go with us for the flight and the lady at the desk here at the camp said she would go. I got a one day fishing license and went fishing in the creeks over in the mountains. The Denali Highway starts here and goes 135 miles east to Paxton. We drove in 20 miles and came back. Rough gravel and dust. Beautiful scenery of the mountains and the Nenana river. I got a couple Grayling. There are a lot of them here. I don't have the right tackle. Need fly fishing stuff. Heading to Anchorage area tomorrow the 8th.