Morning Glory

Woke up at 4am, and heard the sound of the generator humming by the Kluane River. John, owner of Rocking Star Adventures, was still at it. With work lights on the dock, he had been working through the entire night fixing his new engine. It began the evening before as a little check up, and as he went on he discovered that those who put this engine together were rather lazy. John’s other business is as an aviation mechanic, so no issues there fixing his planes, but we have plans for a 5am take off for one last flight before move on down the Alaska Highway. This was going to be a special flight if the weather co-operates. And boy has it ever. One chance for it, and its clear and calm, a perfect morning to go revisit the Kluane ice fields in the air at the crack of dawn.

The sound of that generator makes my hope of seeing the icy mountain peaks again begin to fade, along with one more view of Mount Logan from a new perspective. I meet Jamie in the yard in the pre-dawn light and we walk down to see how John’s making out. I wait by the truck and as Jamie heads down the dock. A couple minutes pass and Jamie reappears. We’re going up after all! John managed to get it all back together it time. Awesome!

Jamie takes the pilot’s seat so John can get a few hours sleep at the lodge and as we enter the front mountain ranges, alpenglow catches the peaks as far as the eye can see. It’s jaw dropping. For 2 hours, we take in the sunrise on the largest non-polar ice field in the world. We glide smoothly to Mount Logan and see it up close as never before. We take in the vastness of this landscape, so enormous, beautiful and dangerous all at the same time. Words cannot do justice. Finally exhausted from filming I just look out the window, and try to grasp it all.

We then pass over the Donjek route that we just hiked. The place where we stood and looked up at the huge glacier. Over Hoge Pass I spot the cliff point where I sat and painted and the place where we pitched camp for 2 incredible nights. We see where we traveled by horse for 9 hours, around Amphitheater Mountain, and along the Duke River and across miles on land in between.

I arrive back at Rocking Star to fresh coffee, and sit for a while elated. Now I think I’m ready to move on down the road a little further.