this album consists of pictures taken during our trip to alaska in 2006. we went to alaska when i had the opportunity to present my research at my first professional conference. the second day after jason, nick and ryan joined us, we chartered a 10-seater out of talkeetna and flew around the alaska range near denali. the company we went with is called k2 aviation (http://www.flyk2.com/). the pilot was very nice and did an awesome job manuevering through the mountain peaks and valleys (after all, we came back alive, lol!) and also narrating interesting facts. we couldn't fly around the summit of denali because of the weather, but we flew around the peaks of mt. foraker, mt. hunter and others. it was a really spectacular trip, probably one of the most incredible experiences of our lives, and i still haven't been able to get the images of those massive, jagged, beautiful snow-capped mountains and glaciers out of my mind. speaking of glaciers, we landed on one, called the "ruth glacier." the ruth glacier flows down the south side of denali and it's the deepest glacier in the world, carving a total depth that is even deeper than the grand canyon. if you want to learn more about the ruth glacier, visit this website: http://www.nps.gov/dena/pphtml/13highlights217.html or do a google search. being on that glacier was a dream. i can't stop thinking about going back and camping out on it for a few days. the whole experience was like a dream. it's hard to put into words how pretty those jagged, snow-capped mountains are. it's also unfanthomable that people actually climb to the top of denali. the majority of peaks look supremely inhospitable for living creatures. it's a foolish and reckless, yet very envious and remarkable accomplishment to be able to trek and climb to the top and make it back down alive. anyhow, here are the pictures. i took like a bazillion of them and tried to whittle them down. there's still a ton of them. click on them for a slide show or to enlarge. enjoy!
