Denali color

Day 14: Talkeetna to Fairbanks

After a comfortable, if pricey, stay at the Talkeetna motel we decided to be on our way to make an attempt at seeing Denali from the air, and then proceed north to Fairbanks for a shot at seeing the aurora borealis the following night.

Back down main street once again, the Roadhouse was the place to be for breakfast, bursting at the seams with tourists - someone was making good money over the summer season. A takeout breakfast of hearty quiche, salmon-filled breakfast pastry (strange, but it worked!) and coffee from the Roadhouse got us going.

The view of Denali and the Alaska range from Talkeetna looked just the same as the day before and last week as well: solid gray clouds. North of the Alaska Range, however, the atmosphere was stable, dry, and warm. The plan was to fly north along the Chulitna river, through Windy pass, over the Denali park entrance that most folks would drive through, and then work our way to the north side of the range.

The views as we proceeded north and east from Talkeetna only grew sweeter as we proceeded north. Aspens lining streams at this latitude had their first tinges of yellow leaves, and soon ground and hillsides not covered in water or trees took on a more or less continuous deep red hue from the leaves of shrubs lining the slopes... the scale of it all was mesmerizing. We spotted another airplane going our way, what looked like a Cessna 180, and I decided to slow down a bit and follow.

Approaching Windy Pass

Windy Pass was a place I'd been warned about by the retired airline guys in their own C180 down in Seldovia... don't go through with more than 15 knots of wind. Comparing what the GPS was telling me with true airspeed on various headings, I figured we had just about 15 knots of wind. That was assuming a relatively low altitude, maybe 500-1000' above ground. Thankfully the ceiling was improving steadily and we were able to climb to about 3,000' above the ground while approaching the pass. Airspeed is life, and altitude is life insurance; money in the bank, and that would be enough to deal with a bad turbulence encounter. There ended up being a couple of moderate bumps, but nothing to worry about. Meanwhile I'd take a look at the other airplane we were following from time to time and noticed it was continuing along, maybe 1,000' above the ground or so, without looking like it had any trouble.

Denali

Rounding the corner through Windy we quickly approached Denali national park as is typically visited by someone driving. The weather was continuously improving as expected and we began a slow climb westward, more or less parallel to the park's roads as the ceiling improved, hoping to see Denali off in the distance. Climbing through 11,000' or so and approaching the Toklat River, The Great One finally came into view. Sadly, the angle of sunlight combined with the weather, now hemmed in but desperately trying to spill over from the south side of the range didn't work out for great photos.

Aspens line the Tolkat

From this altitude, our sight seeing was mainly limited to the peaks, glaciers, lay of the land, and abounding color of the region. While it was a fun flight, its a place I'd suggest visiting on the ground given its accessibility. Proceeding onward to Fairbanks, we enjoyed the push of the southwesterly wind on our back to cover ground at three nautical miles a minute. Along the way, the vast Aspen groves lining the Toklat were now a sea of gold; that one extra degree of latitude made a big difference in onset of season, versus Talkeetna.

Back on the ground, landing next to an old DC6 freighter on the parallel runway, we took a bit of time to explore Fairbanks. It offers lots of amenities, a reasonable rental car, but spending time in the town wasn't high on my list of touristic priorities. Still, enjoying a late lunch basking in warm sunshine (finally t-shirt weather!) next to the river that runs through town was fun.

A quick glance through the Milepost and we picked out Gold Dredge No 8 as as suitable tourist trap to go explore. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, but along the way afforded a chance to see the Alaska pipeline (hooray, hydrocarbons!).

One interesting thing about ground exploration here was the trees were noticably petite. We would ultimately not continue further north on our trip, but eventually the trees die out all together as the forests end and the tundra begins. Sort of a timberline deliniated by latitude versus altitude, and nature's march towards desolate tundra was evident here.

On a friend's recommendation, we drove northwest of town to Murphy Dome to camp for the night. This hilltop provided a nice view of the Alaska range to the south. Sunset came around midnight, and I periodically awoke to try to see the aurora, which was forecast to occur at our latitude should the sky be dark enough. A pair of Moose slowly munched their way through dense brush not far away. Though darkness did eventually come to the southern sky, I didn't see the northern lights. The progression of twilight across the northern horizon was interesting, though: The sun set in the northwest, its light traversed the horizon, and rose in the northeast. It was as if just another good push to the north (or being here a few weeks earlier) would let us see the sun shine all night.

So ended our last evening in the state, at 65 degrees north latitude. The trip home would start, albeit way too soon, the next day.