Thursday, June 21, 2007

Today is summer solstice - the longest day of the year. It is a big deal up here and the locals throw solstice parties, etc. We have no solstice plans, but we do have flying plans.

There were thunderstorms last nite and Barb is frustrated b/c she can no longer get online to update her blog. The wi-fi at the park got fried in the power outage so it is useless!

Our flight is at 10:15 so we headed over about 9:45. Barb and Frank going to wait on us when they check out of park. There were film crews there and a crowd and we found out why. A kid had succeeded in climbing Mt. McKinley -but what is special about him is that he had been diagnosed w/ Hodgkin's disease and given 6 months to live, then got some other infection and was given 2 weeks to live. He managed to survive both and has book out called "Keep Climbing" which is all about his chemo, etc. The first thing he did when he finished his chemo was to spend 7 months training to climb mountains and his first climb was Mt. Everest! He has climbed 7 peaks so far. This was his second attempt at McKinley - the first they were stranded for 20 days on the mountain because of weather and having to ration food, etc. He re-stocked and tried again 3 weeks later and was successful. We met his parents and his dad was telling us a bit about his story. I think the special they are doing on him will air July 1. We don't have access to a TV, but I think it will be on ESPN. We had seen the group come down...the air service we had our flite on had flown them out. After all the interviews, filming, etc, he was walking by us barefoot and his feet were a mess! He had blisters and his little toe was bloody, the bottoms of his feet were white and I don't know how he did it. It is a wonderful story and I will certainly get the book when we get back home, although the climb to McKinley won't be in it.

After all that excitement our names were called and it was our turn to fly. There were 6 of us plus the pilot and I was lucky enough to get the back seat. The pilot said that was the seat preferred by photographers so I jumped at that chance. It was a tight fit! Jerry sat behind the pilot and off we went! We flew up over glaciers and through the mountains surrounding McKinley. It was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the very best things about the trip so far!!!! We have tried to do a glacier flight on each of our cruises, but were unable to because of weather. The weather today was perfect except for some smoke from the forest fires. We were flying in and out of canyons and at the highest point we were at 11,200 feet. At one point I was beginning to get a bit short of breath, but it passed quickly as I concentrated on taking pictures.

We flew over the base camp for the climbers and then flew between these rock faces that were covered in snow on one side and sheer rock on the other. We flew into what is called the amphitheater at the 5500' level at the base of McKinley and landed right on Ruth Glacier. It is a 25 mile long glacier. We got out of the plane and spent about 30-45 minutes walking around on the glacier. Off to one side was a hill w/ footprints going up and on top was an outhouse as well as a cabin. You could rent the cabin and stay the night up there. I think that would be awesome to do!!! It was just beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!

I could go on and on - I will post several pictures but the pictures don't capture the immensity of the place. At one point there were 7 planes up there! Our pilot said the busiest he has ever seen it was 12 planes there at once! We got back on the plane to fly out and I gave up my back seat to another passenger from Louisiana....LSU folks! The flight back was pretty much straight back to the airport, but there was some spectacular scenery too. The color of the glaciers is incredible and the pools of water on top were the deepest turquoise color I have ever seen!
We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the trip!!! Would do it again in a NY minute!!!

When we got down the dogs were glad to see us and we met up w/ Frank and Barb and drove on through Anchorage to Portage Glacier. Kind of took scenic route thru Anchorage as we missed our highway, but that's ok....drove along Turnagain Arm and the tide was way out. Saw some beluga whales we think, but the wind was horrendous!!!! It was a spectacular drive. Continued on to Portage Valley RV park where we spent the nite. Got in about 5:30 or so. It was a neat place as it was in this valley surrounded by peaks that still had snow in places. We saw an eagle, but still no Bullwinkle or Yogi! This place had a covered area where you could BBQ or build a campfire. It is much colder here and the wind is still blowing very hard. After dinner, we went over to the campfire area and talked to some folks staying here. some from Anchorage and others just passing thru. To bed about 11. Great day!!! HAPPY SOLSTICE!!! Linda