Denali: The Great One

First frost of the journey. And Alaska frost is like frost on steroids. I essentially woke up in a frozen tomb of ice. The sun shattering across the icy exterior made the inside of my tent illuminate, making me feel like I was sleeping inside of a giant lightbulb. I was pretty confused at first but when I got out of my sleeping bag and was FREEZING, I finally put two and two together. "Oh...its literally freezing outside. Wait...in August!?" I tapped on my tent to see if my tent had frost on it. Unexpectedly, when I went to knock on the tent walls it actually made "clink clink clink" sounds when I tapped it. "Oh good! I'm trapped in a cocoon of inescapable ice! YES!" *shakes head*

Ok it wasn't THAT dramatic...I could totally still get out of my tent but man it was cold. Or at least back in August I thought it was cold. A few months later and I'd really get a proper introduction into what COLD feels like.

Anywho, I exited my tent and was blown away by the view just outside my zipper. Can I just stay here? Like forever? When I finally came to my senses, I noticed there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Realizing that today may be a very very rare opportunity for me to see any of Denali (the mountain...The Great One herself) I scrambled down Igloo Mountain as fast as I could. My speed was hastened by the realization that I had run out of water and was beginning to feel overly exerted and without life-replenishing H2O.

Long story short, I made it to the bottom and made my way towards Mt. McKinley, trying my best to get as close as I could to the mountain by road. Before I would continue into the backcountry I was struck dumb by the size the park's namesake. As the bus turned a corner...I dropped a mental deuce. Before my eyes was the biggest and tallest THING I have and probably ever will see in my entire life. Denali. Mt McKinley. The Great One. Taller (not higher) than Everest and the largest object on the entire continent of North America. And I was blessed to have the clearest possible view of her and all her glory. Considering the nearly impossible odds of ever seeing Denali (which, by the way, is so big that it creates its OWN weather) I didn't even consider it as an expectation for my visit. Only 10% of the visitors to the park ever get to see any of the often-cloud-consumed behemoth. You could tell it was a very rare and special occurrence by all the Park Rangers who were out taking pictures of the mountain.

Was it a pain in the arse to carry this clunky camera? Yuuuuup! But never have I been happier that I did...

I present to you...The Great One

 

 This song is titled the Grey Havens...should be pretty self-explanatory why I selected it for this post.

My tent...entombed in ice!

Super Frost

BOOM! Igloo Mountain ain't got NOTHIN' on this sucka!

Ladies and gents...Denali...

Seriously...not else even comes close! It dwarfs these otherwise enormous surrounding mountains

Hmm that looks like a good place to sleep...except for the family of bears I saw at the bottom.

The cascade of colors is so cool....white, brown, green...

Lets not forget the non-snowy peaks!

Sweet sweet life-replenishing water!

Man, I love looking back at these pictures

...wish I could go back to these moments.

Ok this doesn't look too ominous...one step in there and you'd easily be ripped away

Geeeerrddd Bleeessss Amuuuuuurica!

The only side of bears I like to see in the wild.

See...the importance of family meal time.

Inching closer. Its hard to point out...but if I go back, I want to camp out on that large ramp like feature to the far right. Which is actually part of an enormous glacier (which I cannot remember the name of - its written down)

...

I'll take the high road....and I'll be at Denali beefoooooore you!

See! Not a cloud in the sky! 10% club! Whoooot!

A close up of the glacier, careening down Denali

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Sorry, am I in the way?!

This photo brought to you in part by wind!

Lets keep it that way!

Reflection Pond...little wind on the far end

Closest I got to the mountain

26 miles away and I STILL can't fit the whole range in the frame

The man and the mountain

Blooper...what do you expect from a bush taking a picture

Bushwhacking to some berry patches...thought I'd take a load off and enjoy the view with some of the most delicious blue berries imaginable. No wonder the bears love this place.

Orioles aren't native to this part of the world! What a rare find!

So the next several pictures are closer ups of the entire Denali range from the Northwest side...I don't have panorama capabilities so I wanted to take a series and eventually stitch them together...anyone know how to do that?

Man, they're pretty even on their own

 

I've spent my day with the mountain...now the great backcountry awaits my return...

The Great One