Saturday and Sunday, July 9 & 10, 2016 - Ketchikan to Denali National Park

Those of us that had early flights leaving Ketchikan (5 of us) were dropped off at the float plane pier at the airport. It was a two minute walk to the terminal. There was no one in line at security so I was there with about 1 1/2 hours to spare.

I had the milk run from Ketchikan to Anchorage. 

- Ketchikan to Wrangell, 38 minute flight & a 48 minute layover, stay on plane

- Wrangell to Petersburg, 23 minute flight & a 41 minute layover, stay on plane

- Petersburg to Juneau, 47 minute flight & 49 minute layover, stay on plane

- Juneau to Anchorage, 1 hour 56 minute flight & 2 hour 29 minute layover, change planes

- Anchorage to Fairbanks, 1 hour 6 minute flight

That's a lot of up and down for the relatively short distance between Ketchikan and Fairbanks. Upon landing in Anchorage I did receive some good Karma. As I walked off the jet bridge I looked for a schedule board and noticed the the next gate had an Alaska Air flight to Fairbanks leaving in five minutes. I was able to get on that flight and arrived in Fairbanks two hours earlier than expected. I only have carry-on luggage so the transfer was easy. I called Jim and told him of the earlier pickup time. Jim and Bet were waiting near the airport entrance so after I got to the outside of the airport I was picked up in minutes.

We went to dinner within walking distance of the campground and then I did my laundry. We didn't get to bed until 11:00 and the sun was still up. 

This morning after a leisurely breakfast we drove the 150 miles to Denali National Park. The road into the park is approximately 80 miles long but you are only allowed to drive on the first 15 miles. The Park Service provides buses, for a rather large fee, to take people into the park proper. Jim reserved spots for us on Monday on the tour bus and on Tuesday on the shuttle bus. The tour bus has a Ranger along and is basically a guided tour and is twelve hours long. The shuttle just goes out and back but you can get off at any of the stops and pick up the next bus in either direction. They run at thirty minute intervals. It has been raining on and off all day and this is supposed to continue until midday tomorrow.

No pictures today.

ILYB