Denali

I've lived in Alaska on and off for almost a year now, and still haven't seen the Northern Lights, so when I checked the University of Alaska-Fairbanks aurora page and it said the aurora was going to be active the next few nights, well, let's just say that I'm throwing some food, water, and clothes in the car at 8:30 p.m., and heading farther north, in search of clear skies.

Adios, amigos ...

Wow, I just ran across this picture of Denali that I took from Talkeetna, and just had to share it here. This picture was taken while looking across the Talkeetna River (and partially the Chulitna River) looking to the northwest at Denali.

Here's a quick video of the Denali mountain range, as seen from alongside the river(s) in Talkeetna:

The Denali range, from Talkeetna

I only have a few days left here, so it's a real treat being able to see the full range at least one more time before I go.

After staying a few days in Healy, Alaska, accompanied by some long rain storms, I drove back to Talkeetna this morning. I hadn't thought about it too much, but when I looked up in all of the mountains I saw the same thing: snow.

Wow, I was incredibly lucky that the last day you can ride a shuttle bus in Denali was a very beautiful day. Like all the days lately it was very windy, and it was also cold, but it was well worth it.

I walked into the Wilderness Access Center at 7:15 a.m. and was lucky to get on a bus at 8:00 a.m. That's not something you can normally do during the summer, but this being the last day I thought I'd be able to get a ride at the last minute, though not quite this fast.

This first picture is from somewhere along the bus trip to Fish Creek:

September 11, 2007. On a very cold and windy night in Healy, Alaska, the sky has gone crazy. Here are two of many pictures that don't look much like things on planet Earth to me.

Here's the second one:

The Alaska vacation for the ladies will be ending soon, but there was a beautiful sky in Healy, Alaska this morning:

Later, just a few miles south of Denali National park, we spotted a few moose having a breakfast by the railroad tracks:

Day 5 of the trip finds us inside Denali National Park. While I have a ton of pictures of mountains and wildlife, I'll just go with these three.

First, a peak we got at Denali on the drive in:

I'm going to post this sign on the cabin when I get home. Nothing worse than a squirrel that knocks on the window at 8 a.m. expecting to be fed.

Day 3 of the trip landed us in Talkeetna, Alaska. I've already posted pictures from here, so I'll skip those.

Day 4 took us farther north, up to Healy, AK, about 11 miles north of Denali National Park. On the way to dinner at the local golf course we ran into a female moose and a few of her babies. Unfortunately my camera was in the back of the car, so I had to park the car and get out and get the camera, but they didn't leave.