North to Alaska!: Up in the air!

Awesome...a word trivialized and greatly overused in our society. I have, however, discovered its true meaning, "capable of causing awe", as in jaw dropping wonderment at nature's power in sculpting this planet of ours.

Upon leaving Anchorage under full overcast conditions, we headed up the Parks Highway on our way to Fairbanks. As we drove, cracks of blue began to open in the sky toward the north. As it continued to clear, we began to hope that Denali might show through the clouds. I stepped on the gas, and we set our sights on the air strip at Talkeetna. We arrived a little before noon and booked a five o'clock flight to the mountain. This had been number one on Mary's Alaska bucket list and here we were signed up on a clear day, which is very unusual.

The ten seat Twin Otter from K2 Aviation lifted off and headed northwest over braided rivers and tundra. Soon, the mountains and glaciers came into view; incredible rivers of snow and ice grinding down rock from the high peaks and slowly delivering it to the flatlands below.

As we climbed skyward, the last wisps of cloud disappeared, giving us crystal clear views below.

After weaving his way through peaks and cirques, our pilot landed us right on the Kahiltna Glacier. This is base camp for the southern Denali climbing routes at around 11,000 feet. That doesn't sound too high, but there is still another 10,000 to go to the summit!

As a great admirer of folk singer Bill Staines, I thought of his song, "Redbird's Wing" and mentioned it to our pilot. To my surprise, he knew it and had, in fact, flown Bill on the Denali flight where he got his inspiration for the song. His name is Doug Geeting, a legendary thirty year plus pilot and folksinger in his own right. We had a great music chat up there on the glacier before turning around and roaring down glacier to cruise among cirques and crowd in close to snow capped rock walls. I knew we were I good hands on Redbird's wing.