May 29, 2010
Last night my plane landed in Anchorage, Alaska at 10 PM. The sun was still in the sky. What jumped out at me the most was how green everything is. It's simply
stunning to see how thick the forests are and it makes me wonder if the lower 48 at one point in time were this pristine. Picturesque has an entirely new meaning to me.
Too exhausted to truly appreciate the Alaskan landscape I made my way to a hostel called Backpacker's Inn to bunk up for the night. The hostel was great and I lucked out in getting my own room. After organizing my things it was still bright as day outside. By 1130 the sun was starting to set, although the dark never settled in.
The preparations for Pedaling for Empowerment will have to take a brief hiatus while I enjoy Alaska for a few days. I've heard from my cousin Dana that the website is well on its way and I'm hoping we will be able to put it up by the end of the weekend.t. I figured I would read while waiting for the sun to set completely but by 1230 darkness had still not taken over. Deciding I needed the sleep I tried my best to crash despite the light but it was difficult. This is something I will have to get used to.
I've been working hard to get into shape recently. It was quite the process bringing a bicycle up here but without a doubt it will pay off when I'm able to put it together and tour around Denali.
May 30 - June 2
Have not been as good about updating the journal in the last few days but busy would be an understatement in explaining these first days. I arrived to Mckinley Village and was immediately greeted by all the awesome people that live and work here. After unpacking my things i was reluctantly convinced to make my was to Panorama Pizza for the first open weekend night. Panorama Pizza may sound like a pizza joint but this cabin located in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness comes alive in the midnight sun. It seemed like everyone from the general vicinity (which up here includes a pretty vast area) had come to see the first real party night. I wasn't quite in the mood to party because I was so excited to get up early and explore but the endless light and awesome people kept me out to around 1 AM. Still light… this is going to take a while to get used to.
The next morning with my bike assembled I made my way to the park road. I pedaled until I ached and still wanted to charge on because around every corner was something new and beautiful. It is interesting riding around here because you constantly have to be careful of wildlife. Moose (which I see daily or at times hourly) will charge anything that moves and bears and wolves are rampant. I've never yelled while riding to warn anything ahead.
After being awe struck by the most pristine wilderness I've ever seen, I made it back to turn around and leave. We headed to the house of Jeff King, a 4 time Iditarod champion. His house is located on a lake with the Alaskan Range in the distance. Not a bad setup. We were able to meet a new liter of puppies who will possibly be the future of dog racing. Then we saw the yard full of doghouses as well as some of their training methods. It was truly a great experience and the King family is a truly awesome Alaskan family.
The next day I started work which I won't bore anyone with the details of waiting tables. However that afternoon I was able to catch a flight in a small prop plane over Mount Denali. What an experience. The weather was overcast and I was concerned with whether or not we would be able to see anything. It is safe to say I was shocked when we ascended through the clouds to see the top 3000 feet or so of great Mount Denali. Not only was the the largest mountain I've ever seen, it is one of the most impressive features of our world I've ever laid my eyes on. I was speechless for a solid 5 minutes while we rounded the peak to see it from several angles.
June 3 - June 6
The first couple days of this journal entry were completely dominated by work. I was able to learn a lot and make a few bucks but didn't have a ton of time for much else. I was able however to squeeze in a hike to Triple Lakes and a little bike ride south.
The real fun didn't start until Saturday morning when it was finally time to make my way up Park Road. With my friend Leah, we headed to Savage River which is where the paved section of Park Road ends 13 miles into Denali National Park. Here we took off along the Savage River headed north. We were given instructions to head a vague distance along a social trail until we found a ridge and headed up Mt Margarete which was to the west. We hiked for sometime and after not seeing a spot that matched the park ranger's description decided it was time to head up the mountain. We were immediately bush waking through areas that are arguable impassable. Deterred by the sliding shale rock, slippery moss, mosquitos, and thick bush we figured a new attempt from a different spot would be smart. We hiked back to an earlier section of the trail after having a nice snack on the river between massive boulders.
Finally we were headed up Mt Margarete from a section that looked passable. The hike was strenuous and beautiful. As we struggled our way near the top we noticed horns on a ridge line to our left and very soon after a Dall Sheep ram appeared. It was stunningly beautiful. However, it is possible he felt threatened by our presence because he began to approach us. We decided this was his space and before making it to the top headed back down the mountain.
The bus back was very relaxing and I was lucky enough to spot a Lynx on the ride. This was very lucky considering the fact that even the seasoned bus driver had not yet spotted one this season. The animal was beautiful and just as I imagined it would be. I was feeling very lucky.
The next day though Leah unfortunately had work I was able to head out with Lawrence to the same spot. On the way out to Savage I had my first long distance view of Mt Denali. It was 80 miles in the distance yet stood taller than the mountains 10 miles away.
This time around we planned on heading up the other side of the mountain where the passage to the top is much easier. However we were forced to take an alternate route when we arrived because of a grizzly bear. As we arrived in the parking lot we were greeted by what we thought was a male because of the lack of cubs during the rearing season. He lumbered by the bus so we were able to see him from an extremely close distance, probably no more than 10 feet! As he headed in the direction we were planning on taking I realized the strenuous hike from the day before was probably what we would be forced to do.
We made our way down the trail and started heading up the mountain. It was without incidence for the most part. We did see Dall Sheep on the way up and the ridge line near the top was steep and exciting because of the drops on either side. We made it to the top of Mt Margarete in roughly two hours. The view from the top was beautiful but clouds had set in to cover Denali.
On the way down we were forced into thick brush again. This was the general area we had seen the grizzly bear head so we were very vocal on our way down to warn any possible neighbors. As we were deliberating which t
rail to take we hear a roar from no more than 40 meters away. That made up our minds as to which direction to head. We went away from the roar into the thickest bushes in any direction and we made it through very quickly. After climbing across the mountain through thick bush we made it onto a ridge what gave us a vantage point to find the best way down. We never saw the bear but found a great way down.
We made it to the road and as we crossed the Savage River we caught a glimpse of caribou traveling upriver. What a day!
So in my first two days in the park I was able to see Lynx, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Grizzly, Moose, Marmot, and other smaller critters. Not too bad, I can't wait to go deeper into the park.
June 7 - June 12
This was a week that truly flew by. I was consumed by work for the most part. Thankfully I was able to fit a long bike ride south towards Cantwell and had great weather for the trip. I did a fair amount of reading this week which was good but I really need to start contacting people about venues for the Peace Pedalers speeches. Honestly there is just so much to see around here and work consumes so much energy that when I have a minute it is hard to pick up the phone and start dialing people. The highlight of this week didn't even start until
the weekend which started thursday night. After a 12 hour day at work it was time for a couple beers. I sat with Lawrence on the deck of the restaurant with a couple Alaskan Ambers in hand. It was very relaxing but exhausted and buzzed was not the perfect state to pack up for the backpacking trip the following day. It worked out but I need better planning next time.
June 11
I woke early and grabbed breakfast at the restaurant. We headed out to catch an early bus to the Wilderness Access Center. We promptly caught one of the first camper buses headed into the park. Similar to other bus drivers I've met driving through the park our bus driver Thomas was a fascinating guy. He climbed out of the bus to help us throw our bags in the back and the first thing we noticed was his awesome beard. Guys with great beards are almost always rugged and Thomas is no exception. He talked to us about how he ended up in Alaska for the summers after growing up in Santa Cruz, California. He fell in love with Alaska a decade and a half ago after visiting with his grandfather. He's been driving buses here for almost as long. He spoke with us about the many long distance backpacking trips he has done in the past. He also told us about his bicycle trip down the west coast. We seem to have a lot in common. Leah mentioned that she is interested in the flowers of Denali and the plethora of floral knowledge that Thomas has began to roll of his tongue. Leah could describe a flower and he was able to give us the casual name. It was very impressive. At Polycrome overlook he realized his bus had a leak and flagged down another bus for us. I hope that this is not the last time that I see Thomas.
We took the second bus with a crowd of intrigued tourists then were dropped off a mile or so west of the overlook. We took off and found a pond which fed a tributary of the East Fork of the Toklat River. We followed the tributary for a few miles. Along the trip we found a moose rack and spent a lot of time walking over ice up to 5 feet thick. The lower portion of the tributary was ugly. It was covered in ash from a fire, it smelled of rotting flesh, and was full of dead brush. We surveyed the map and determined if we hiked a small mountain to our right we would end up on the East Fork and hopefully in a prettier spot. As we reached the top and were able to look down we were relieved by the beauty we saw. Finding a camp spot was our immediate goal. This proved very difficult because of the swampy marshy landscape that bordered the river bed of the East Fork. We eventually found a spot that looked sufficient although later on it pooled up to provide a very wet wake up call in the morning. After we set up camp a nap was in order. I slept with the rain falling onto the tent and could have continued to do so if it weren't for Leah giving me a guilt trip. Thankfully she did because the sun finally came out to give us a hiking window. We made our way downriver without our packs for an hour or so until we reached a bend and were able to see a completely new view of the landscape below. It was breathtaking. The sun was shining through the clouds to illuminate the taiga forest that was simply stunning. After a day of rain and hiking this was truly and awesome moment. We made our way back to camp and cooked dinner on the 200 yard wide river bed. What a great day.
The morning of the 12th we were woken up to a pool of water in our tent. We mustered enough energy to pack up and cooked breakfast in 100 percent humidity. The Park Road was only a couple miles upstream so it didn't take us long to make our way there. The last 20 yards was the hardest section of the trip. We had to negotiate a wet cliffside with our heavy packs. This was necessary in order to avoid a river crossing. The cliff wasn't overly dangerous but it did make for an interesting moment looking 20 feet down to a rushing East Fork. It would have been an uncomfortable ride home to say the very least if we had fallen in. The bus ride flew by because our driver seemed to be in a hurry. We made our way back to the Village in time to do laundry and grab some dinner. My monday is tomorrow, here we go again...
June 13 - June 20
I won't discuss the majority of the week and just say that I spent a good deal of time trying to get over a cold and working all too much. I did have the opportunity to make my way into the park at my week's end. Friday morning I caught the early bus into the park and was dropped at the Polycrome overlook. We were dropped only a mile from the prev
ious week's starting point but this time around were headed south. It was a completely different kind of hiking. The last trip was spent shuffling though the bush with very little long distance visibility. Taking off from the overlook we were able to see our general destination before taking the first step. It was 5 or 6 miles across the tundra on the base of the Alaska Range. We set off by downclimbing the overlook which had its exciting moments. When we reached the river bed it was simply a jump across the tributary of the East Fork. This was due to the colder weather that had reduced the melting in the highcountry. We
started across the tundra towards the mountains. It was decided that walking the riverbed would be far easier than navigating the uneven spongy tundra so we started descending. As we approached the riverbed Louis warned us to look up. No more than 100 meters ahead was a large sow grizzly and her half grown cub. It was an exhilarating moment. It was the biggest bear I had ever seen. We turned away slowly and made our way into a drainage and starting hiking away. We gradually began to make more and more noise so that if it did see us it wouldn't be startled. I caught a few more glimpses before we hiked out of sight. She was quite the animal.
After the adrenaline subsided we took a break and admired the view. It was an absolutely breathtaking view The colors of the mountains were vibrant with the bit of sunlight peaking through the clouds. After the break we continued on towards the canyon with the wind beating our faces. The hill was only slightly ascending but the tundra combined with the wind made the hike quite challenging. We crossed one more small drainage and dropped a hillside to finally drop out of view of the road after 5 or 6 miles. We set up the tents immediately and took a nap. After sleeping a few earned hours we took off into the canyon in search of the glacier at the end. On the way we saw two Caribou in the riverbed. It was quite the sight.
We turned the corner with a waterfall on the eastern wall of the canyon and straight ahead we had our first glimpse of the glacier. It had a significant amount of rock debris so it was clear at this point we wouldn't be able to see any blue glacial ice. Still a beautiful view and well worth the trip we didn't find the point in continuing on considering the late hour. It was reaching 9 pm and we were hungry. We made our way back with the sun moving its way around the horizon. We made it back to the tundra covered in flowers and set up our stove for some dehydrated pad thai. As we were wrapping up dinner our friend Jake was spotted in the distance walking our way. We had planed up meeting at this predetermined spot and sure enough he had made it the entire trip on his own. We were all very impressed.
That night my cold began to return in the form of shivers and coughing. I made it through the night fine but when I awoke I was ready to make my way home. Louis and I left camp and Kelly and Jake stayed behind. They would meet us back at the Village late that afternoon. On our way out Louis and I saw the same two grizzly in the same general area. We took a large detour to avoid the bears. We made our way across our last river crossing and up to the Polycrome bridge where we would wait for the bus. While waiting we were able to watch two golden eagles flying along the mountain ridge and perching on boulders.
On the way out I met a very interesting guy named Keith from Georgia. Keith is a facilities manager at a university as a profession but a mountaineer and adventurer at heart. We had a great discussion on the long ride out of the park. The people you meet up here are great. Weekend over and the week ahead. I'd say my time off was well spent.
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