Travel

Mt McKinley Flightseeing

Today Ryan and I took a flightseeing tour of Mt McKinley.  It was the most fun thing we’ve done so far on this trip!  It was breathtakingly beautiful and we LANDED ON A GLACIER!!

From left to right….Mount Foraker, Mount Hunter, and Mount McKinley.  Today, all images are straight out of the camera, no photoshop, no processing.  It’s just that amazing!

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Ryan and I having a good time on the flight16_McKinley0075

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These granite cliffs on the right protrude 5000′ from the top of the glacier below.  The glacier extends 3000′ below the surface for a total of 8000′ of depth of the crevasse.  18_McKinley2816

Heart shaped glacial movement.  Aw…..19_McKinley2836

Landing on the glacier.  Getting there was so amazing.  It wasn’t a straight line right to the landing site, we flew in circles and all around the mountains.  We were really all over the place.  Sometimes I looked out of the front window of the cockpit and all I could see is mountains.  Kind of freaky, but very cool.20_McKinley2850

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First steps on that glacier….

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Ryan took this shot….he makes me so proud!24_McKinley0118

Getting a cold and wet dupa, but so worth it!  Those booties were essential.25_McKinley2892

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Fun!  It was so bright with the reflection coming from the snow.  I could not take off those sunglasses.

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The flight on the way back down to earth…..29_McKinley2944

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Glaciers are the main source of water for these nearby rivers and they have lots of sediment from rocks they have crushed.

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Photo by our pilot, Will.  Should have taken this on the glacier, but we were having too much fun!32_McKinley2991

We visited this rest stop yesterday, but it was too dark to see both the rock and the mountains.  Someone was nice enough to label them on this rock.33_McKinley3002

As soon as we entered Denali National Park, Erin mentioned that it was a protected area and we were more likely to see wildlife.  About 4 minutes later, we saw this mama moose and her moose cub by the side of the road.  We couldn’t move too much because we would frighten them both (away) or mama would charge our car.  So we watched for a few minutes and they got bored and left.  So there you have it….our animal sighting in the wild!

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A view from the side of the road in Denali.  The pink plants in the foreground are “Fireweed.”  Erin says that a few weeks ago they were vibrant, very bright pink. I think they still look good but she claims I’d be disappointed if I saw them before.  34_McKinley3042

I'm Randi Voss, a professional wedding and portrait photographer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I specialize in photographing fun, happy weddings working throughout the wedding day as both a photojournalist and a portraiture artist. Have a look around my blog to see what I've been doing lately, both personally, and professionally, and get to know me better. View the Galleries to see some of my favorite photos. Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. Sincerely, Randi

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