Shenefield Denali Alaska 2024

What a thrill I had today - a flight inside the Arctic Circle!  I've switched to working 4 days, 10 hours per day, so Tuesday was my first day off without Susan.  While disappointed we weren't doing something together today (though we are riding the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage for our days off this weekend), I took Arctic Circle Air Adventure flight from Healy Airstrip to Coldfoot and Wiseman, 60 miles inside   the Arctic Circle.  This flight was the highlight of Susan's summer in 2018.   Air Arctic flies Piper Navajo Chieftain , a twin-engine prop plane used by many excursion companies because of its reliability.  Over 3700 built by Piper, the Navajo is a 9-passenger plane piloted by Ben Calhoun, a Certified Flight Instructor. Thousands of hours in the left seat for sure!   The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line around the earth at 66 degrees 33 minutes north latitude. It marks the southernmost point from which the sun's rays can be seen o...

What a joy to get into a car and drive somewhere with no timetable or schedule.  We borrowed a car from a friend we met this summer and drove to  Chena Hot Springs Resort , just east of Fairbanks.  First drive north 2 1/2 hours to Fairbanks, then another hour east to Chena.  Freedom of the open road, and Susan did all the driving!  A win-win!!     After checking in, we got into our bathing suits and soaked in the 104 degree waters of Chena Hot Springs. Besides the hot springs, at the other end of the temperature spectrum, Chena features the Ice House,  kept at a frigid 25 degrees. and where Heather and Steve Brice are ice sculptors.   The Aurora Bar serves Appletini's in sculpted ice martini glasses. When we were done, we took our ice glasses outside and threw them on the ground...where they shattered and eventually melted.  That's one way to avoid doing dishes.  😀 Besides the fascinating ice sculptures, it is possible to spe...

The Riley fire is 90% contained and Denali National Park will reopen at 4:30 am Wednesday July 10th.  In retrospect, this means Denali was closed for 11 days in the heart of the vacation season.  I'm so sorry for the folks that this was on their life list...50th state...63rd national park...vacation of a lifetime, but I hope they will come back to experience Alaska and Denali.  For the latest, here's a link to Alaska Wildland Fire  (this is the most comprehensive info) and National Park Service Denali website .  NPS changed the amount of area burned to over 400 acres.  I took these pictures on Monday.  While these look like innocent, puffy clouds hugging the hillside,  they are actually smoke.  It was a rainy day, and the moisture was reaching these hot spots, causing this steam.   Talking with a ranger who was staffing the checkpoint on the park road, he said that getting these last hot spots extinguished was one of the hard p...

Whatcha gonna do when the one place you've traveled thousands of miles to see is suddenly closed?  That's the dilemma faced by thousands of visitors who have come to Denali National Park.  Fortunately as employees in this immense park, we can take the long view, though our plans were disrupted as well.  Susan and I (along with Diane and Jan) had planned to take the green shuttle bus west into the depths of Denali to hike around Mountain Vista, Sanctuary Creek, and Savage River (again).  At this time, the Riley Fire is 25% contained, estimated size just under 400 acres, and almost 200 fire fighters still on the scene.  Here's the latest from Alaska Wildland fire .   So we stayed closer to "home" and hiked the Nenana River Trail and Oxbow Trail.  Behind us are the layers of rock that have been cut away by the Nenana River.  Amazing!  This picture reveals a small peek into why geology is such a complex science.   The Nenana River ...

I was working on this blog last week when the Riley Fire erupted in Denali National Park.  Quick fire update, then a look back at our days off last week.  On Wednesday, the fire was about 25% contained and held to just under 400 acres.  Today has been significantly cooler but the winds have kicked up a lot.  Firefighters actually have a water hose from the Nenana River to one of the fire lines.   These fire crew members below are on this side of the river, radioing the helicopter and air tanker pilots where to drop their load of water.  Quite an operation.   After a busy day, we decided to forgo dinner at the EDR and went across the street to the Thai Food Truck.  Pad Thai was flavorful; the spring rolls and sweet/sour sauce were delicious; and the beer tasted soooo good.  Susan had the Alaskan Brewing Company's Amber and I had the Coors.   So now going back in time to last week's days off - The rhythm of the summer is settling...