In Talkeetna

Wes and Curtis began their Alaskan journey yesterday. They arrived in Anchorage about midnight and stayed at the Marriott Hotel. Before going to bed they decided to take a little walk around and check out their surroundings.

Denali Overland picked them up this morning at 11:00 a.m. to drive to Talkeetna. They stopped off in Wasilla at the Fred Meyers there to get more group food for the trip. They arrived in Talkeetna at about 2:30 p.m. They went out to the hangar to get all their gear ready. They unpacked everything and then combined all the group gear and food. All together, they will carry about 120 pounds each!

They had dinner tonight at Mountain High Pizza Pie and then got some cobbler at the Roadhouse. They are staying at the House of 7 Trees Hostel. They were lucky because they got an upstairs room with just two bunks so they have the room to themselves.

Tomorrow they plan to head back to the Roadhouse at about 7:00 a.m. for breakfast. They will then be off to the Ranger Station at 8:30 a.m. for their orientation. The orientation should last about an hour. Once they are done with that they will head back to the airport to pick up their sleds and fuel. Weather permitting they hope to fly out tomorrow morning to be on the glacier by noon. Depending on how all of that works out they hope to start their trek to their first camp in the afternoon.

They met a couple of guys from France today who are also planning on heading up to base camp tomorrow.

The weather in Talkeetna was about 54 degrees during the day. Looks like it will be about 34 degrees tonight. Hope they enjoy the "warm" days before they head up the mountain!