July 26, 2011 First Adventure in Denali National Park & Preserve

Denali National Park & Preserve

Helicopter Tour

The other day I flew to Fairbanks, rented a car and drove to Denali National Park and Preserve. The drive was only about 2.5 hours long and Denali was very easy to find. The drive to Denali was beautiful and breathtaking, which made it hard to keep my eyes on the road. Denali village is a cluster of hotels, gift shops, and a few restaurants in about a 3-block area. The village is open from May until September and shuts down completely during the winter months. Nothing is open! I checked into my hotel, The Crow's Nest, and made my way to my cabin. Each of the rooms at the Crow's Nest is your own cabin; they were decent accommodations. I had to hurry as I had my first scheduled adventure shortly after I arrived. My first adventure I had booked was a helicopter tour of Denali!

The cockpit of the helicopter. It was really interesting to watch the pilot and all of the instruments during our flight.

I had never been in a helicopter and if you have followed my adventures in previous years, I am pretty uneasy when it dealing with heights! So I was really stepping out of my comfort zone here, but I thought the helicopter ride would be amazing way to see all of the sights around Denali. There were seats for 5 adults, 1 child, and the pilot. Luckily, there were only 4 other adults from Italy and myself on the flight (plus the pilot) and I got to ride upfront in the co-pilot seat! We put on our headsets, used so we could hear each other and the pilot talk, and was relaxed by the sounds of Enya and Frank Sinatra singing "Come Fly With Me". When we took off it was a very surreal feeling being lifted up and watching the ground fade away. He cruised at about 130mph and was anywhere between 200-1000 feet above the ground.

Mountain and snow on my helicopter tour

Remember how I thought the drive out to Denali was breathtaking? The drive wasn't even on the radar when compared to the absolute, majestic beauty I witnessed on the helicopter ride. My eyes were having a hard time to the shear surreal awesomeness of the flight.

This glacier reminded me of a waterfall. The snow looks like waves.

Glacier and mountains on my helicopter tour

Oh did I forget to mention that we landed on a glacier?!?! It was a perfect weather day, 75 and sunny (much different than in Barrow!). There were hardly any clouds in the sky and our pilot said we were in a treat as we were going to make a stop that they can only make about 2 times a month due to the weather (whether he was pulling my leg or not I didn't care, I felt lucky!) In the middle of the flight, the pilot (Nicco from Germany) hovered over the West Fork Glacier and landed the helicopter in the midst of several glacial pools on top of the glacier near Mount Debra. These pools were filled with the most brilliant blue water I have ever seen. We were given boots with better grip than our shoes so we could easily walk around the glacier. We spent approximately 15 minutes on the ground walking from pool to pool.

Me standing beside the helicopter on the West Fork Glacier, near Mount Debra

Me standing next to a glacial pool

One of the glacial pools on top of the West Fork Glacier

Me standing on the West Fork Glacier

The West Fork Glacier, near Mount Debra

Brilliant blue waters of the glacial pool - I really wanted to go swimming!

Flying away from the West Fork Glacier

We took off again and buzzed some of the mountaintops, meaning we flew over the tops of the mountains really low (see the video below). Off in the distance we could see Mount McKinley, the highest peak in the U.S. (20,320 feet tall). The immense size of the mountain was palpable as Nicco informed us we were still over 85 miles away! After 1.5 hours Nicco guided us back to our starting point and gently touched down on the landing pad. What an amazing journey. I hope you enjoy the pictures and video!

Mountain on my helicopter tour

Check out the marbling in the rock - the different layers just seem to melt together

Gray mountain (granite?) on my helicopter tour

Look at the snow on the top of the mountain! It looks like an avalanche is imminent!

Snow-covered mountains on my helicopter tour

I was surprised there was no snow on these mountains.

Mount McKinley - still over 85 miles away. Shows just how monstrous this mountain really is, rising 20,320 feet into the sky

Fact of the Day

Yesterday's Fact of the Day Answer: What are the big chunks of ice that fall off of a glacier called? Hint - it sounds like a baby farm animal being born… Calving!

Today's Fun Fact of the Day: If you cut Alaska in 1/2, Texas would still be the third largest state! Meaning that Alaska is over 2 times the size of Texas!

Mountain and lakes on my helicopter tour

Inuit Word of the Day

Yesterday's Word: siqiniq = Sun Hint: I've been seeing a lot of this lately!!! Did you get it right?

Today's word: ikajunga - Hint: A good word to know if you are in distress!!! What is the word of the day?

Please take 2 seconds and reply with your guesses to the fact of the day or Inuit word of the day in the "Ask the Team" section link below:
http://www.polartrec.com/forum/microbial-activity-in-thawing-arctic-perm...