Anchorage, AK - Some Days are Just Longer Than Others

We headed towards Anchorage today. Now, from Talkeetna, you might think that we headed south since that’s the direction on the map. Well, that’s not how we did it. We headed north - well, we thought it was a clear day and we wanted to get a 4th day of Denali viewing in before we headed far away. We only had 15 miles to go, not too far, to what is called the South Viewing Point. And, yes, we could see Denali between the trees that lined the road.

But when we got to the official spot, Denali was clouding in, As we stood there, more and more clouds surrounded it and we knew that we weren’t going to get a better shot.

Denali really creates its own clouds as this poster from the viewing site explains.

This viewing site has dozens of people in it and more are sure to stop by as the day goes on. All looking for a great view of Denali. All to be disappointed since the best has passed.

As we were standing there I happened to overhear a conversation between a guy and a woman. He was telling here that he had climbed Denali in 10 days. Oh, sure, I said. It usually takes 15 - 21 days. Then I caught a glimpse of the back of his shirt.



Hmmm. Sure enough, this guy has climbed all those mountains that are listed. He’s climbed all 14 of the mountains over 20,000 in the Himalayas. You can look him up on line. Radek Jaros from Czechoslovakia. There is even a Wikipedia article about him. He had just finished Denali and was getting a last glimpse of it before he headed back home. Cool.

As we were heading back to our RV, we saw two RV’s in the parking lot each with a map on its side.

WOW. Check out the routes these two RV’s have taken.

And, then the adventurers strolled up - 2 couples - well into their 70’s. What a group. Hmmm. Maybe I’m not so old after all.

Alaska gets hit with lots of forest fires and it’s hard to travel through Alaska and not see one. Here is one form last summer. I remember our friends Shirley and Jerry telling us that they had to follow a pilot car through a fire zone last year south of Denali. This must be it. Burned trees for miles. But, note that flowers have already started growing.

Approaching Anchorage is this view.

And, in the campground is this view.


Gary’s iPhone has an weather app that has lots of other information on it, too. It also shows the sunrise and sunset and number of hours of sun each day. This is for today. First light at 2:33 and last light at 11:42. 19 hours and 22 minutes of daylight.