I Can Fly Twice As High- Our Helicopter Ride Up to the Glacier and Dog Kennel
When our traveling group got together to plan our land tour of Alaska, we had some bucket list items that we wanted to see if we could check off of our list. We wanted to put our boots down on a glacier, we wanted to take a helicopter or small plane ride, and we wanted to visit a dog sled kennel. As we were spending most of a day in Seward before spending the night and heading to the port for our cruise, we looked for an adventure that seemed to check all of those boxes. Thanks to the internet, we found Turning Heads on the internet that seemed to offer all of those things.
Even though we were planning on being in Seward May 23rd, we made sure to go ahead and book our adventure in January. We paid a 50% deposit knowing that we would then pay the rest on the day of our adventure. Now, I will say that this adventure was not cheap. At $600 per person, we knew that this would take up a big chunk of our vacation fund, but since it checked so many boxes and was comparable to other similarly advertised adventures we felt that it would be worth it. Also, even though we booked it separately from our friends, we made a note that we were together so that we could be scheduled for the same time.
On the day that we arrived into Seward, we passed the little airport where we would be later taking off from. Seward is a small town so it made sense for Turning Heads to offer pick up and drop off at the in-town lodging, and we, of course, took advantage of this. The person who picked us up was very friendly and chatted with us as we drove to the little airport. Once at the airport, we signed our lives away, paid off the rest of what we owed, and got geared up. While there, we met a sweet puppy who had some eyesight issues so instead of being on the dog sled team, he gets to hang out there each day.
As the helicopter holds 3 passengers as well as the pilot, Patrick and Amanda went up first. The helicopter then returned and took us up. The ride itself lasted about 20 minutes each way and took us over the river, past some amazing landscapes, by the only maximum security prison in Alaska, over the ridges and landed on the glacier. Once on the glacier, we got to pet a baby puppy and become friendly with the dogs who were not currently working on the dog sled. When the dog sled returned with our friends, they traded out some of the dogs and then we set off for a ride. We stopped a couple of times to give the dogs a rest and to pet the team. We learned a lot about the dogs, how they are taken care of, how they are trained, and how it is decided who goes where on the dog sled team.
Back at the camp, we got to pet the dogs some more and chat with the people who work there on the glacier. We learned that there is a group of them that stay out on the glacier for 5 or 6 days straight. After that time, they cycle through with some others. It sounds like a really exciting and unusual job to have. Chris just happened to have a mini bottle of rum on him, which he offered to these guys and they gladly accepted. On the helicopter ride back, we got to see some more amazing views and even saw some Dall sheep hanging out on the Moutain side. The helicopter ride was really exciting and had bumps to it as it was very windy that day. We were grateful that our pilot was very experienced. During the ride back to our hotel, we were accompanied by the dog we met at the airport, which was fun, and we got to hear some recommendations on where we should eat the next couple of meals while in Seward.
If you have the budget for it and are spending some time in Seward, I would highly recommend this adventure. For it, I recommend that you have good boots (although you put these boot covers over them), a good warm jacket, sunglasses and sunscreen (the sun shines down on you and reflects off of the glacier). Everyone we encountered during this adventure was very knowledgeable and friendly, which made the cost that much more worth it. While you might find similar excursions offered during your cruise, I feel that this experience was more genuine and probably a greater value.
Does it sound like something you would like to do?
