North to McKinley

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Wednesday dawned as a beautiful sunny day, so the direction was north. The plan was to head to Talkeetna, then continue somewhat further into Denali State Park where there is a Princess Lodge with great views of Mt. McKinley.

But first we stopped at the museum in Wasilla, which is located a little north of Anchorage. The main reason for visiting the museum was to see Dr. Lee McKinley's former dental office. Dr. Lee was Bill McKinley's father, and was known as the flying dentist, as he learned to fly to visit patients scattered throughout southern Alaska.

Kelly and her new friend - a stuffed bald eagle in the Wasilla Museum.

To Talkeetna

Talkeetna is a little town with a glorious view of Mt. McKinley. My main interest in going there was because the town was featured in a book I listened to some years ago. The book's author left New York City to establish residence in the wilderness of Alaska. Talkeetna turned into his base of operations. Alas, I don't remember either the author's name, or the title of the book. But he still lives in the area, and his (divorced) wife and son are also there.

Ah, the Talkeetna turn off!

The first sighting of Mt. McKinley. A bit fuzzy, but we're still some 65 miles (100km) from the peak!

A frozen lake - hmmm, still not that warm, obviously!

There's a great view point just before reaching Talkeetna. So we stopped to take photos, and to call Bill McKinley (yes, there was excellent cell phone coverage!) and Judy Bennett while appreciating the view. Kelly was talking to Judy while this photo was taken.

The three peaks (left to right) are Mt. Foraker (17,400 ft/5304m), Mt. Hunter and Mt. McKinley.

Mt. McKinley (right!) and Mt. Hunter. In front of them is the Tokosha Mountains, peaking at 6,148ft/1874m. Mt. McKinley is 20,320 ft/6194m (that's 50% more than Mt. Rainier!) and Mt. Hunter is 14,573 ft/4442m. Mt. McKinley is still 60 miles from here!

A closeup of Mt. McKinley.

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