McCarthy & Kennicott AK

Gentle rain is falling as I sit on the long deck of our lodge in the early morning and look out on umpteen zillion acres of lakes, rivers, forest, and the Wrangle Mountains of SE Alaska. Real and surreal -- words fail me. Healing, feeling, peaceful, pleasant to the soul. 

A few other lodge residents are starting to stir and come to the deck, coffee in hand, to peer into this humbling, quiet expanse as they await breakfast inside. Few words are being uttered.

 Yesterday was an excellent flying day in the local area. When I say local area I remind myself that the Wrangle-St. Elias National Park is five times as big as Yellowstone, and larger than Switzerland! It’s easy to get alone here. To feel small and awed.

Of course walking on a nearby glacier or wandering around the massive old Kennicott copper mine is the normal way and has it’s own “up close” appeal, but flying and flight seeing is what we came to do and our modus operandi, for which we are joyful and grateful. Yet one still feels small and humble as we fly between towering mountains like the legs of  colossal giants unlike any the earth has seen, with streams, granite, forest and glacier seemingly, quietly peering back at us.

Those are my musings and reflections as I sit on the deck this morning in a gentle rain, coffee in hand, and quietly thank God for what we saw yesterday and apparently will continue to see as we journey…