Anchorage to Talkeetna

Monday, June 25

This overcast day didn’t bode well for Denali-sightings as we headed north out of Anchorage on the Glenn and Parks Highways, but we’ll be in the vicinity of The High One for five nights, so we have hope for the future on that score. 

We stopped at Thunderbird Falls for a short hike this morning, 

and then in Wasilla, Anchorage’s last suburban outpost, for groceries and headed to Talkeetna, the staging area for Denali hikers and flightseers.  We arrived in the late afternoon at our wonderful cabin, perched on a mountain above town and offering the promise of Denali views from our windows.  Not yet, though, as the clouds have persisted…

We’ve been in touch with our friend April throughout the day and she and her husband, Bobby, are still waiting the all-clear for their flight to the glacier to begin their ascent of the mountain.  Tom and Mel left our mountaintop digs and ventured into the small town to meet them for drinks.  We had a wonderful reunion with April, whom we’ve known since she was five years old, and were delighted to meet Bobby for the first time. 

They amazed us with tales of their planned three-week trek and we were just thrilled to have this unexpected reunion in this remote part of the world.  Who would have guessed?!? If the weather doesn’t cooperate tomorrow, we’ll probably see them again, as they’ll have nothing to do but wait!

We, too, have flight plans for tomorrow!  Even the one among us (guess who??) who has said she’d never get in a small plane has a reservation for an hour and a half flightseeing tour of Denali and the surrounding glaciers and peaks.  Somehow, it just seems like the thing to do but, if bad weather forces a cancellation, at least one of us will be smiling!