We made the 30% Club! – Visitors who travel to Alaska and see the top of Mt. McKinley.
Trapper Creek
We spent the last two days in a little place called Trapper Creek at Three Bears RV & Lodging. Very tight squeeze for the big rigs – notice our slides almost kiss each other! But hey, we are getting really good at fitting our rigs into tight, narrow, small camp spaces!
Talkeetna
Flightseeing with a Glacier Landing
OK, I have to admit, one of the coolest things we’ve done on this trip (and we’ve done A LOT of cool things so far!) was to book a flightseeing and glacier landing tour with K2 Aviation (their Denali Grand Tour flight). Mark was enthralled to ride as co-pilot in the early 1950’s de Havilland Turbine Otter, considered by many to be the quintessential ‘bush plane.’
We totally lucked out and had a gorgeous sunny day, so much so that our pilot said we also made the 10% club for the skies to be clear enough to fly around and see the North face of Mt. McKinley! We were able to land on the Kahlitna glacier, which is also the Kahlitna Base Camp where they land the mountain climbers. This flight usually doesn’t get to land there, but it was so clear our pilot opted for the Base Camp, instead of the usual Don Sheldon Amphitheater. The Kahiltna Glacier is the longest in the Alaska Range—a 45-mile-long river of ice! During the busy climbing season, there can be over 500 climbers going up and down the mountain.
Sorry, lots of pictures on this post. Just couldn’t get over the “coolness” factor (no pun intended!)
Susitna River Excursion
Our last outing while in Talkeenta was a rainy early evening boat ride up the Susitna River, hoping to see some wildlife. Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky. However, the captain and guide provided great insights into the hearty folks from the distant past and the homesteaders from the 1970’s who lived and depended on this river for survival.
Our jet-driven aluminum touring boat on the left. Part of our shore talk included distinguishing between the various types of Alaskan Salmon (bottom). We stopped along the shore bank to explore, and I had to take a snapshot of the “fairytale” mushroom below right. Known scientifically as Amanita muscaria, this genus is responsible for approximately 95% of mushroom poisonings resulting in death.
On to Anchorage
My next post will be from Anchorage. We plan to spend 5 nights exploring from here. We also say goodbye to three of the group members who will be flying home. One couple is the brother (Steve) of Bill and Steve’s wife (Phyllis) who have been staying with Bill & Sally in their RV since the beginning of the trip way back in June. Cindy is Orville’s girlfriend who flew in and has been traveling with us for several weeks. We are having a Fajita Fiesta Sendoff for them. Stick around for some picks in the next post.
Masters of RVing Adventures 
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