August 3rd, 2026
Yesterday, as we approached the Anchorage airport I looked to the North and could see Mt. Denali (Oops…someone renamed it back to Mt. McKinley) clearly – such a beautiful day. I wish I could have scheduled my fly around that day. I knew the weather was not going to be iffy today, but it seemed sunny in Anchorage, so I headed North to Talkneeta, for the flight tour with K2 Aviation. I was really excited – I was going to pass thru the town of Wasilla, former home of Sara Palin. Remember her? She of the famous quote about Russia – “I can see Russia from my back porch”. Well, maybe that was Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live who said that. It was hard to tell them apart.
At any rate, I passed through the town without stopping to see her former residence, and motored on to Talkneeta – a really cute village right on the huge Susitna River. K2 was a major tourist attraction, it was packed with people waiting to take their flight – there were at least a half dozen 8 passenger DeHaviland Otters on the runway.
And then I found out that my “Grand Tour of Denali” was cancelled – the peak was socked in and the winds were too dangerous at high altitude. Crummy buttons! I was offered a shorter, lower elevation flight instead, which flew around the lower peaks and over many of the glaciers. What the heck, I was there after a 2 hour drive.
After waiting a bit, the pilot called out our group of 8, and we headed out to the plane. I got dibs on the copilot seat, and crammed in – a bit roomier than the float planes, but still difficult to get my big feet past all the control handles.
The flight was fantastic – the glaciers were incredible, the peaks we flew around were all around 10-12,000’ and incredibly jagged, and we had this nice gray layer of clouds just above. Interesting lighting. I thoroughly enjoyed the flight. The pilot was also our guide, so unlike the float planes, they kept up a conversation throughout the flight. I’m glad I decided to stick with it, even if I did not get to see much of Denali.
If I get back to Anchorage earlier in the summer, I’d do this again, but try for the high altitude version – they have one flight that flies over the top of Denali – that’s over 20,000’. They provide oxygen for the passengers.
Here’s a bunch of photos.
Now if I had only spotted a moose on the way back to the airport.
Peace
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