At 2 pm, the captain smoothly landed the plane on the glacier – it was a super smooth landing, and you could now appreciate the benefits of the glides on the aircraft. Barely felt a bump!
I was the last to board and was the first to step out of the plane after the captain. The exit door had a counterintuitive way to operate – you had to lift the handle upwards to open. Safer that way!
(click on images to see it enlarged)
“Be back here in 10 minutes,” the captain said after we all stepped down.
My first question on the glacier was, “Can we see Denali?”
And the captain, looking straight ahead in the direction that the plane was in, said, “That’s the one – you see the peak clearly in the middle. That’s Denali.”
It was quite a distance away, but the tallest peak in the range was clearly visible. Many online posts had said it’s hard to get a clear view of Denali because it is often cloudy at that height. We were lucky – the clouds were just beside the peak but didn’t obstruct our view.
The snow was soft and fluffy on the glacier, so your feet did sink into the snow, but not too far down either. In front of us was this vast track of snow, and further ahead, this track was flanked by the brown shades of the mountains, and above, a few clouds hovered in the blue skies. You could just stand and gaze at the sight – the sheer size of awesomeness in front and all around.
With snow around, you can’t resist making snowballs. Raghav and Rakesh started targeting one another, and we also joined in. It was summer, and here we were surrounded by whiteness. While we were on the glacier, we had the chance to witness another flight landing gracefully near ours.
We took plenty of snaps and videos playing in the snow as well as with our propeller plane. We sat in the snow too, but do expect to get a little wet if you do that!
“The glacier we were on is a 3-mile glacier,” he said as we soared above. “The blue patches you see in the snow are not water but ice – ice after a long time looks blue.”
“There is no wildlife at this height. At lower levels, the snow is melting, and the green tundra is growing. In August, you’ll see blueberry shrubs here, and bears come up to feed on them.”
The captain steered the plane close to the mountain faces, but though we were moving at 150 mph, the land still moved very slowly below, indicating the sheer size of the mountain terrain.
“There are dead parts of the glacier where ice has melted, and the glacier is slowly receding. But there are hundreds of feet of ice below.” The depth of these glaciers can be deceiving.
As we came out of the Alaskan ranges and onto the plains, we saw what seemed like small homes in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by greenery or by water.
“The cabins you see on the swamps are owned by folks. They are next to the lake so that flights can land using floats on the lake, and during winter, the flights can land using retractable skis. Access to these by road is not possible. In some areas, 6-wheeler vehicles and ATVs can help. A lot of aeroplanes have been customised to deal with the terrain in Alaska and Canada – so innovations were done on flights specifically for this region – like modifying the landing wheel.”
The whole trip was around 1.5 hours, including the 15 minutes or so that we spent walking on the glacier.
In Talkeetna, you’ll find a separate bike trail that is off the road – even on highway roads, there’s a stretch of grass to separate the bike lane from the main road, making it a lot safer for bikers. And we also noticed that in some places, there was a “no motorised vehicles” road sign placed on that lane. We did see a few people cycling around. As we drove around, we saw a lot of white pollen floating around – I thought they were pollen, but they were most likely cottonwood seeds (cottonwood is a popular tree in this region).
It was past 3 pm by the time we left the place; we did have to search for lunch and went in search of a small street-side Thai restaurant that we spotted on Google maps while driving to the Talkeetna air taxi, but unfortunately, the place was closed – probably too late for lunch. There was one Thai fan in our group, and he wasn’t too pleased!
Searching for places open nearby, I noticed the Denali Brewing Company was still open – and they also had food. On the way, we came across the Birch syrup and wild harvest shop; we first stopped there at 3:30 pm. They have a tour available at periodic times, but we didn’t opt for that. There are sample treats made using birch syrup available – it feels a lot like liquid caramel. Birch syrup is produced from birch trees; think of it as an alternative to maple syrup – but birch syrup isn’t something you’d find commonly – was supposed to be something unique in Alaska, and I had this on my list of things to try out.
We had two caramel lovers in the group – we tried a couple of scoops of the birch ice-cream, one plain and one with caramel topping added as well! The ice cream was good, and I picked a couple of small birch syrup bottles and also a couple of small birch toffee packs. There are different variations of the syrup – early run, mid run, late run, etc., with explanations on the difference in terms of taste (and the difference is based on the time of the harvest season when the sap is taken). The shopaholic in our group picked a handful of items.
It was 4:15 when we reached the brewery for lunch; there were a couple of families with large dogs outside enjoying their meal. An interesting interior set-up – a mix of a pub on one side and a clothing outlet with its own merchandise on the other side. In between, you had tables with barrel-style seats for sitting! We tried their sweet potato fries, which were good, and also shared a veg pizza between the 4 of us – a wood-fired pizza loaded with green leaves.