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Our third day at Denali was our 15th wedding anniversary. You can spend a lot of money here on organized activities - rafting, ATV safaris, Zip lining, Kayak tours, bear viewing on the Denali highway (that's not the Denali park road) a helicopter land on a glacier and more. To celebrate our anniversary we decided not to do any of those but instead book a 70 minute flight over the backbone of the Denali mountains and around Denali itself. The skies had been clear our first two days and the forecast was still good, it was an ideal time to make the flight. There was only 5 of us on the plane plus the pilot of course. Everyone got a window seat but you couldn't choose where you sat, we all got weighed and the pilot worked out the seating arrangements. Donna and I sat separately! I had the best seat onboard in the co-pilots seat. Donna had an empty seat next to her so she got views out of both sides, we both did well. The scenery was breath taking. From our hikes we had seen snow clad Denali but during the flight we discovered there was a whole white world of peaks, seracs, crevaces, glaciers and cornices that we hadn't seen. It was a twin prop plane, we all donned head phones so we could hear the pilot's commentary. We were going to get some rough air and we did, the plane seemed to momentarily drop out the sky or jolt left and right. One of the passengers (sitting behind Donna) had to use a 'bark bag' to have her breakfast for the second time around. The North side of Denali was hugged with cloud but as we circled round the south summit was clear. To ensure everyone got good views and the same photo opportunities we made several zig-zags. Donna prepared herself every time a zig-zag was announced - wing up, wing down, drop, bounce, nose up, bounce again, jolt, and finally it would be smooth again, she was glad we hadn't had a fried breakfast. At one point it seemed we were getting dangerously close to a near vertical face but we were still a mile away from the mountain. There is nothing manmade in sight for your brain to calculate the scale on the landscape around you. The scenery was breath taking, that's twice I have said that but I simply cannot convey in words the magnificence of it all - The photos and video hopefully will. The pilot tried to find a smooth air route back, not all the air was smooth but the landing was. The flight was fantastic. What a way to start the day. Our pilot (Dan the Airplane man) has made this flight over 4000 times but he was still taking photos on our flight - with differing light, clouds & changes to the route to find the smooth air no two flights are ever the same. Now that's what you call a day job.
- comments
Justin Truly spectacular. Lucky people.
Ant Donna met a lady yesterday who spent 5 days in Denali and got no views just rain, They stayed a day extra, a day extra and so on hoping the weather would improve but it didn't! We were very lucky. Self-timer photos - yes we should get mor of us together i agree.