<< Coming Into The Country - Part 2

09/12/17 - Our First Day at Ultima Thule - Part 1

Everything at Ultima Thule is about flying. We spent most of our first day flying around in little Piper Super Cubs. These are a trick to get in and out of and quite cosy inside. The pilot sits on the front seat at the controls while the two passengers sit in tandem as in a roller coaster. Despite their small size and maneuverability, the planes fly smoothly, almost like a car on a smooth road except in three dimensions. They can take off and land on a strip less than a hundred feet long, so they are perfect for exploring Alaska. Roadless areas tend not to have a lot of long landing strips.

We flew south over the spectacular scenery of the Wrangell Mountains to the Pacific coast where we landed on a small sand beach to stretch our legs and explore. We had been far inland 45 minutes ago, now we were on an isolated beach. There were rocks, sand, barnacles and seals. We were truly in the middle of nowhere, and it was beautiful.


Big mountains, little airplanes

Mountains across the river

Ice

Glacial meltwater

A river - Yes, those are our hiking sticks lashed to the airplane.

The beach

Tidal pool

Seals

and more seals

Another view of the beach

The beach again

Keywords: alaska