Denali Peaks

Our last morning in Alaska, the girls and I took a flight seeing trip over Denali. We were originally supposed to take a flight out of Talkeetna and land on a glacier inside the park but the weather did not cooperate so we scratched that trip. Lee opted out (not a fan of small planes) but the girls and I had a remarkable experience. Our flight reached altitude of 12,000 feet and the pilot told us that our flight was among the top five he'd ever done - there was visibility as far as the eye could see and both peaks were remarkably clear. It was the experience of a lifetime and I was so glad that we had the opportunity to see the majesty of Denali up close and so clearly.

The two peaks are 2 miles apart.

             

Talkeetna

The next day, we began to make our way to Denali. The landscape is indescribable, just massive mountains everywhere you look. We drove from Seward to Denali, which is about 250 miles, and spent the afternoon in Talkeetna, which is located where the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna rivers. Talkeetna is the base for expeditions to Denali (Mount McKinley). 

The point at which the three rivers meet.

 

We stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and the views of Denali were amazing. 

The morning we left for the national park, we saw a brief glimpse of what we knew to be the peaks of Denali - we were really hoping that we would get a better view in the park, but knew that this might be the best we got.

Kenai Fjords and Seward

Our last day in Kenai, we had a really nice morning nature hike, despite the rain.  After lunch, we hiked back to the beach at Resurrection Bay and boarded the boat back to Seward. This was a much larger boat, thankfully, and the weather was much nicer. We saw sea otters everywhere, as well as Dall porpoises.  We spent the evening in Seward before starting the trip toward Denali.

Much larger boat on the way back to Seward.

 

Seward Windsong Lodge

Potter Marsh