>North to Alaska – 17
>
>July 6, 2007
>
>Another easy day. There was a possibility of rain and with the thunder 
>storms from last night we were not sure what to expect. We had a flight 
>scheduled for 8:00AM with Denali Air to fly 90 miles into and around Mt 
>McKinley (Denali), at 20,300 ft, the highest peak in North America. We 
>woke at 6:00 and were out the door by 7:00.We arrived at the airport at 
>7:30 as required. Then we checked in and got ready to go. There were 6 
>of us on the twin engine Piper Navajo. We were the first of 4 aircraft 
>to leave the boarding area for the runway. We led the procession to the 
>downwind end of the 4000 ft. runway. We stopped and started the takeoff 
>power up. The brakes were off and we were on our way down the loose 
>gravel runway. We were glad we didn’t have to ride our bikes down the 
>runway! We picked up speed and felt the aircraft lighten. Then we saw 
>the pilot pull back the throttles, brake and pull into the staging area 
>to let the other three planes take off. Our pilot ran each
>  engine up and said that we had a slight carbon buildup on the plugs 
>but now it should be OK….it wasn’t. We did the same thing again. This 
>time though the pilot had us deplane and cancelled the flight. He saw 
>and felt a fluctuation in RPMs at takeoff power. We actually saw it on 
>the tachometer since we were directly behind the pilot. The other 4 
>people had schedules to meet so they lost their chance for a flight to the mountain.
>
>Jim and I went for breakfast a few miles down the road and returned for 
>a 10:00 flight. IT WAS GREAT! It was a 1 hour flight to an environment 
>few of us ever get a chance to experience. The aircraft could not fly 
>to 20,000 ft with no oxygen but we did see the peaks, glaciers and 
>surrounding mountains as we flew in and around the peaks. We felt we 
>could almost reach out and touch them. Neither of us will ever forget the experience.
>
>Then it was back on the bikes to the small town of Talkeetna, about 
>half way, 125 miles, to anchorage. We decided to stay here for the night.
>Tomorrow we’ll get to Anchorage.