Day 5: Mt. McKinley

Bill & I on Pika's Glacier
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

My infatuation with flying has been present since I was a little girl and has only grown stronger in the past four years. And now my infatuation with Alaska flying is so intense that I am already trying to concoct ways to move to Kodiak in a few years to fly a Beaver on floats. I have had a very supportive family along my journey of becoming a pilot, but there has been one very important person in my success as a pilot and that is Bill. When I was about fifteen, I had come home from New England and declared that I wanted to become a pilot when I grow up. Most people told me that I would change my mind a number of times before I decided upon a profession, not Bill. By the end of the evening that I had declared my professional fate, Bill had handed me a book about flying and since then has encouraged and mentored me. When I became a private pilot, Bill was my first passenger and since I began, when I would come home, I would sit across from him and his wonderful wife Jojo and recount my flying tales and update him on my progress. Always enthusiastic about my chosen profession he would share with me some of the bush stories he had heard or experienced and would give me photos of runways that were in reality swamps and books about the bush pilots of Alaska. Bill has not only been a mentor to me, but a dear friend and I look forward to completing my CFI so that he can be my first student and fulfill his dream to fly. Without Bill, this trip to Alaska would not have been possible, and I am tremendously grateful for all the work he has put forth to make sure my wings were spread many times in the Alaskan sky.

But today, on top of meeting Buck and Charlene, Bill and I went for a flight around Mt. McKinley. It was the most majestic flight I have ever experienced. We flew out of Talkeetna with Hudson Air Service in a Cessna 185. Talkeetna is known for being the departure point for climbers to Mt. McKinley’s base camp. Also, Don Sheldon, a famous Alaskan bush pilot, was based out of Talkeetna. We climbed north and eventually reached an altitude of 10,200 feet and began cruising around the many peaks of Mt. McKinley. Dodging clouds and mountains Bill and I saw the beauty of Mt. McKinley and all that surrounded it. It’s greatness makes one feel pretty insignificant. We nearly circled the top of Mt. McKinley, but a cloud prevented us from circumnavigating the entire peak. Instead, our pilot Jacques decided to fly directly toward the south face of the peak, I know it made me slightly nervous because we aimed right for the south face and all there was in front of us was a mass of rock and snow that filled the windscreen. Luckily he turned and we continued on to land on Pika Glacier. As we contacted the glacier traveling up hill, it was a bumpy ride until we came to a stop with the 185 turned down hill. We all climbed out of the 185 and viewed the beauty and massiveness of the mountains that encompassed us. After throwing a few snowballs and making a miniature snowman, I climbed back into the 185, only to return to Talkeetna that much more enthralled with becoming an Alaskan bush pilot.

Bill, I know that I will say this many times, but thank you for giving me my one way ticket to Alaska, I don’t think I will ever really make it home.