Alaska Review! Day 5--Denali/Healy to Fairbanks

We had another early morning on tap.  We needed to be ready to leave Denali Outdoor Center by 7 AM for our "scenic wilderness float".  As I mentioned, we were doing this directly with Denali Outdoor Center, so we didn't have to go far to catch the van to take us to the Glitter Gulch office. 

No photos this morning.  I didn't have my Pentax with me, anyway.  I had my water camera, that was fine to get wet.

We arrived at the Glitter Gulch office and signed the paperwork and went to get geared up.  You are provided with a dry suit as well as boots.   I will say that for the most part, we did stay dry.  Of course, we were only on Class II and III rapids, but we'll go with it for now.

We left our shoes behind since we had the boots and headed out for the Nenana River.

In addition to our guide, Michelle, there was another person who was in the safety boat.  They never just have the raft with the tourists, because if something happened in the middle of the trip, it could be problematic.  There was also the photographer who snapped this as we headed out.

It's too bad he wasn't around for the end of our trip, because there probably would have been some good photos of the kids.  Oh, well. We do have a group photo here.

As I said, this was a scenic float and I chose it because Imp is only 9 and wasn't allowed on some of the other options.  I think some of us might enjoyed a little more excitement, but we did have some towards the end.

 You can see the safety boat and how small it looks in comparison to everything else.

This last photo shows some of the "wilder" rapids we encountered.  Michelle was very good at keeping us out of anything more threatening.  She was a very interesting guide, and had worked for five years in Colorado.  This was her first year in Alaska, and she told us stories about having to go two hours to Fairbanks to get groceries.

I can't imagine the strength you need to do this job!

 This is Musher's Monument.  On the right the rocks look like a musher on his or her sled.

 Some more 'intense' rapids.

 Just stick your chair up there and sit.  This seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

Yes, the trees really are leaning.

Towards the end of our roughly 2 hour float, Michelle let the kids move to the front of the raft and lean over a little.  They were splashed and thought that was a lot of fun.

It was over all too soon, and we were met at the end by the van to take us back to the Glitter Gulch office to get out of our dry suits.  We then were brought back to our cabins.

We had an early lunch and I finished my chili.  😛  We packed up the van and departed.