Tuesday 7th Sept we set off from Seward to head towards Mt.McKinley (highest peak in North American) which lies within the vast expanse for Denali National Park. We had no accommodation booked for this part of the trip but we were aiming for Talkeetna or the Denali National Park entrance. The weather had been very good and we were hoping it would hold. Apparently the whole mountain is only visible about 1 in 4 days on average during summer and we had just had 3 good days in a row!!!

The first part of our drive took us back towards Anchorage. On the way we stopped into the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre, near Portage, and for $5 each we saw moose, elk, caribou, deer, bison, balck bear and grizzly cubs - bargain!!! We also stopped along the roadside near Turnagain Arm to watch Beluga whales feeding just offshore.

From Anchorage we headed north. We hit the township of Talkeetna (100 miles north of Anc) about 5pm in bright sunshine with Mt.McKinley in full view. We were in luck!! By 7pm we were boarding a small twin engined Piper Navaho aircraft for a summit flight over the mountain. We decided to do a flight that evening because we weren't going to risk the weather changing on us the next day. It was awesome!!!!! It is so difficult to comprehend the size of not only Mt.McKinley but also the surrounding mountains and glaciers. McKinley peaks at 20,302 feet and for those of you who know Adelaide, Mt.Lofty peaks at about 2,300 feet. The pilot flew over and around the summit (both the north and south peaks) a number of times. We also flew down Ruth Glacier which is a mile wide and if all the ice melted it would be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon!!!! I could write a whole lot more about this flight but it wouldn't do it justice.
The summit of Mt.McKinley.
Another view of the mountain.
A view of Ruth Glacier.

We stayed overnight in Talkeetna which is a fantastic little town that was apparently the inspiration behind 'Northern Exposure'?? The next day we decided to start driving towards the entrance to Denali Nat Park and see how far we got. We knew we didn't really have time to do the full 8 hr school bus shuttle ride into the park but the scenery in the early morning light was so good we just kept on driving. When we arrived at the park entrance (approx 120 miles north of Talkeetna) we decided on just doing the 15 mile drive into the park. This is the limit for private vehicles and if you want to go further there are school bus shuttles available. It still took us a couple of hours to do this 15 mile stretch in & out by the time you stop at all the viewpoints and do a bit of walking around. The colours of the landscape were fantastic as the fall colours were starting to come out.
Part of the Denali landscape.

With some time left in the day we decided to start driving back towards Talkeetna and see how far we got. You wouldn't have thought it was the same road as what we drove that morning. The sun was high in the sky and all the colours of the scenery had changed. We ended up driving all the way back into Anchorage. A lazy 400+ miles for the day.
Mt.McKinley from a distance.

Our last day in Alaska was spent in Anchorage. We drove around the float plane bases at Lake Spenard and Lake Hood before heading downtown. We parked in a ticketed car park and in the time it took us to get to the ticket machine, fill it with all our loose change and get back to the car there was already a parking fine on the windscreen. Man, this guy is good!!! Do you think we could find him??? He had vanished into thin air!!! A concerned citizen lent us his mobile to ring the car park company but they were based in Seattle and I had to send them a copy signed in triplicate by a Siberian ice cream salesman before they could help me. Frustrated, we set off for our walk around town, which included walking through numerous car parks looking for this bloke!!! Note to all tourists- - there is no shortage of car parks in Anchorage. There must be one space for each person living here!!! This issue was not done with yet... but we had to move on so we visted the Great Alaskan Experience theatre. They had a film on Alaska and one on the Good Friday earthquake of 1964 (9.2 on the Richter Scale). The films were a dodgy version of imax but the footage and displays were still interesting. Thankfully it wasn't expensive :-) After buying lunch we went back to the car to eat... and wait.... Just as I was finishing lunch he appeared. Silently and swiftly I approached from behind a row of cars and pounced. Got him. Crikey, he's a strong one... But he was actually very helpful and took the fine back - woohoo!

With our faith in the people of Alaska restored we decided to spend what was left of the day at the zoo. Unfortunately I had mentioned to Michele that the zoo had 4 kinds of bears so I had no say in going or not ;-) So we headed off across town to where Michele thought the zoo was. 30 mins later we drove back across town to where the zoo actually was. It is not a big zoo but it was worth the effort because we got to see their Polar Bear up and about and swimming in his pool. To finish the day we went for a short walk through 'Earthquake Park where a whole section of land, with houses, slid into the Cook Inlet during the quake. An interesting sort of day...