Mt. McKinley

Here are two photos taken from our plane as we were traveling north from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Our pilot was so enthusiastic that we would be seeing such a clear, unclouded view.

The mountain peak on the right is Mt. McKinley, tallest mountain peak in North America. It is 20,320 ft. (6,194m.) The mountain peak on the left is Mt. Foraker at 17,400 ft. (5,303m.) For comparison, Mt. Everest in 29,028 ft. (8,844m.)

It is also interesting that Mt. Foraker is 14 MILES away from the peak of Mt. McKinley. Mt. McKinley is 130 mi. (209km) north of Anchorage. It is 155 mi. (249km) southwest of Fairbanks. We think we saw two of the five glaciers, one called Ruth and the other called Kahiltna.

There are some interesting facts and controversies about these two peaks, especially how they were named by various cultural and political groups. Mt. McKinley is located in the Denali National Park and Preserve. Most Alaskans call the mountain, Denali, an Athabascan name meaning "the great one." I recommend looking on Wikipedia for more information.

Restart 4

We just happened to be standing by a big group of fans called "Sons of Norway." They ganged together to cheer on two-time Iditarod Champion, Robert Sorlie #50 (in this photo) and rookie Sigrid Ekran #42. These fans were dressed in Norwegian gear with horned Viking helmets and furs. When it was getting close to Sigrid's turn at the starting line, these crazy people opened up a trunk full of Norway flags and passed them out to everyone around them. I told them that I had some Swedish ancestors, and they said that was good enough! We were commandeered to hold a couple of flags. It attracted quite a bit of attention from the camera crews, so we may have been seen on news stories shouting and waving Norway flags!

Restart 3

Here is last year's Iditarod Champion, Jeff King, taking off. His dogs were running so beautifully together as a team. The crowd cheered with, "Go Jeff!" "Go Doggies!" You just fall in love with all those energetic and happy dogs. This was about the time the wind started - notice the flags. It was so cold!

Restart 2

Here is Tom Roig from Ohio setting up behind the starting line, ready to start his first Iditarod run. His dogs are barking up a storm. You can't see his whole team of 16 dogs in this picture, but I wanted a close-up to show the variety of dogs in his team. There are usually 8-10 Iditarod volunteer Dog Handlers holding them down and keeping them in line. Behind this team there is a parking lot (on the frozen lake) packed with other teams lining up, dog trucks, mushers & their families with tailgate bar-be-que grills going. It took over 2 1/2 hours for the teams to line up and get the GO signal. They took off in two minute intervals. You can imagine the noise of over a thousand dogs (82 teams x 16 dogs) anxious to start running!

Gentlemen (& Ladies), Start Your Sled Dogs! Restart 3-4-07

We dressed in layers upon layers, tucked hand-warming packets in our pockets, greased up our faces, and readied our cameras. Our shuttle bus arrived at the Millennium Hotel to take us around Cook Inlet and on up into the hills of Willow, Alaska. We joined thousands of Iditarod fans and lined up along two construction fences clear across the frozen Willow Lake at the Restart of the Iditarod Race. Small ski-planes landed on the icy surface behind us. Helicopters whirred overhead. Much to the annoyance of many of the fans standing around us, snowmachines zig-zagged all over the lake, sending waves of exhaust fumes billowing in our direction! It was a beautiful sunny day, but about half-way through the race, the dreaded WIND returned. Our feet froze first, then our faces. Luckily, our cameras never failed, and we got some terrific shots!