Welcome to the Bush!

Most people might picture Australia when they hear about being in "the bush."  In Alaska, this phrase is used quite frequently as well.  Upon arriving in Anchorage from our flight out of Denver, we were now in the hands of "the bush" pilots.  


On January 3rd, we boarded our first bush plane to head to Unalakleet, Alaska.  From Unalakleet, we flew to Stebbins.  For those of you  familiar with the show, "Flying Wild Alaska," Unalakleet is the town where this show is filmed, and I even got to see some familiar faces.  The wife of the man whose family runs the airport there unloaded my bags, and I saw one of her daughters, as well. 

The plane taking us from Anchorage to Unalakleet, AK

I was more nervous than I had expected to be about flying in a small plane, but as it turns out, I felt much safer (and this plane is not even the smallest one we flew on).  The take-off and landing was so smooth, you barely realized the wheels had touched ground.  The plane that took us from Unalakleet to Stebbins was half the size of the one pictured, and you sat right behind the pilot and co-pilot's chair so you could see all the gears and switches of the cockpit.  Still, I felt safer.  I am not one to sleep on a plane.  Mostly, because I have not flown enough to be comfortable with it (this was my second time flying on a trip-the first was to Italy two years ago), but once in the air, it did not take long to doze off.  However, sleep only came after taking in the beauty of Alaska.  

Alaska looks wildly beautiful in pictures, but it is indescribable to see it for the first time up close. There is no sign of human life for as far as your eye can see.  They certainly do not call it the last frontier for nothing!  

Mt. McKinley 

The mountains are what amazed me the most!  They are so high and covered in snow!  The snow was beautiful and untouched (the word majestic comes to mind when looking at them). The land is breathtaking, but treacherous at the same time.  It does not take long to realize your chances of surviving in this type of wilderness.  This was something that Dad and I discussed during our flight (why, I do not know) but we did.  If the plane were to crash, and by some miracle you survive, then what happens next?  

The landscape changed from jagged snowy peaks, to frozen tundra, to landscape covered by a thousand different rivers.

I did my best to take it all in before sleep got the best of me.  All of the planning and preparation leading to this moment was well worth it, and it was as if I could finally rest knowing I had finally arrived in wild Alaska!