Alaska Family Adventure

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	Alaska Family Adventure By Kurt Kutay August 1, 1999

In August 1999, Wildland Adventures Director, Kurt Kutay, traveled to Alaska with his 9-year old son, Tarek, accompanied by travel writer Eileen Ogintz and her family: husband Andy Yemma with kids Matt (15), Reggie (13) and Melanie (8). Eileen specializes in family travel. She has authored numerous books, writes a nationally syndicated column, Taking the Kids, and is the Expedia.com family travel editor.

"This trip cant get any better. So what if I didnt catch any fish. Im taking home bragging rights to a near impossible score: the perfect family vacation.
~Eileen Ogintz, Taking the Kids

See the excellent articles written about this same trip by travel writer, Eileen Ogintz, published in two parts: Denali Adventure and Prince William Sound.

Denali National Park

Are you going through there? I queried Trent, our K2 Aviation pilot. He directed our miniscule Cessna straight towards a small shaft of light between two towering peaks just below the summit of Mt. Denali. Yep, he replies, sitting up in his seat placing his free hand on the instrument panel, as if a few extra inches closer to the windshield was going to help him see through the swiftly encroaching clouds. The mountain was quickly fading out of sight behind windswept clouds as our traveling companions, the Ogintz-Yemma family slipped through and disappeared out of sight in the first plane ahead of us. We were now committed. All I could do was trust our young military trained pilot. A few apprehensive moments passed and the pilot's voice from the other plane crackled through my headset "Tango Delta Two, this is Tango Delta Five. Come on through, it's clear on the backside."

Seconds later the sky opened up and we were looking down onto some of Earth's biggest glaciers winding their way down the mountain into the colorful Fall tundra of Denali National Park.

Once we were a safe distance out he banked the plane around 180 and we were headed straight into a massive wall of white for a humbling view of the famous North Face just below the towering 20,320' summit overhead.

According to Park Service stats, the summit shows itself about 35% of the time during the tourist summer months. Beyond the mountain itself, Denali National Park offers incredible scenery, wildlife and activities steeped in rich historical background. It's a vast wildland the size of Massachusetts with only one dirt road and very few trails, without the manicured markings and uniformed rangers of national parks in the lower 48. According to Park statistics, an incredible 90% of visitors ride in and out by bus on day trips experiencing nature through a window. Of the rest, most stay in one of the lodges at the Park entrance 90 miles away from Kantishna. That leaves the rest of us very lucky few to experience the wilderness at its core.