BIG DAY - WE RETURN TO CIVILIZATION Part I!!!

 This was a big day.  In fact, there have been a few days in my life that make a deep impression on my psyche as "classically Alaskan" - events or time reflect characteristics of the unique State that we live in and will stay with me for a long time.  This is one of those days.   

If you're an experienced adventurer, you're wondering whether we were really getting anywhere on the river and how we're going to get out of there and return to civilization.  Actually, we were wondering the same thing!  We were supposed to get picked up by Brooks Range Aviation (yep, go with them - they were really nice to us) at Malemute Fork at 10 a.m. in the morning.  But . . . we weren't going to make it despite our best efforts.

Up at 6 a.m. and a record time getting ready - probably because of the prevalence of mosquitoes.

It's routine.  Lather suncreen before the 99% deet bug spray with a final spriz from the pressurized "BUG DEFOGGING" spray can.  I'm starting to like it!

Another beautiful day!  The Alatna river is widening and the terrain is flattening out even more.  We can still see mountains in the background.

MODERN TECHNOLOGY can be a relief in more ways than one.  I'll choose this one today: Satphones.

Ashley is doing all the work calling Brooks Range Aviation while the rest of us are standing around "with our teeth in our mouth" (as our father used to say).


One of the best parts was that we were tagging along on Joey and Ashley's trip!! They had to do the organizing work!! And they did it well.

Thanks, Ashley and Joey.

WE DID IT - fighting through gale winds, hot sun, and mosquitoes.  We arrive at Malemute Fork where the a tributary of the Alatna River joins the Alatna.  But, exactly where do the planes pick us up?  That is the million dollar question.  We check the pick up description that Ashley very carefully wrote down 10 days ago.  Then MODERN TECHNOLOGY shows up again and Joey relents and checks his handheld GPS for the longitude and latitude that Ashley also carefully recorded 10 days ago.  The directions don't coincide with the GPS.  Time to use the Satphone.  We're there!  Right where we should be!   (As an aside, the 6 of us experienced a previous trip where it wasn't quite so easy, but that's a whole different story.)

We had time to take a picture.  Everyone always makes fun of me for my "camera teetering on some log time delay pictures," but this one turned out pretty nice.  Mary Louise is ready for the mosquitoes.

  Rafts deflated and rolled up, gear packed for the plane, lunch eaten, and we were ready.  Most of us are now quite excited about taking a shower.   It wasn't too long before the red and white showed up.    Chuck the gear in the plane and away they went.

Mary Louise and I volunteered for the second flight.    Mary Louise and I were careful to keep bear spray, bug spray, a stove to heat water, and some Starbucks packets.  Fortunately, the peach schnapps was all gone. 

A couple of hours later, the DeHavilland beaver showed up for us.  We didn't even need the bear spray.   If you haven't flown in a beaver, you're missing something.  Make sure you have your ear plugs when you do.

Stay tuned for Part II coming up!

Day 2 on the Alatna, Grit on the Face

Mary Louise got the sunny side of the tent.  It was so hot, she got up and waded around the glacial river to cool off.  Then, back in the tent, she just fell asleep when the wind blew a raging barrage of grit and sand into her face.  Nice wake up - everything in the tent and on our bodies was covered with silt.

This picture shows a sand/grit storm earlier in the day.  The wind was howling!   Try to paddle against that stuff!

In fact, we were exhausted from paddling.  We paddled hard for an hour or more, and then landed on a sandbar and did what you see here on the left.


Whew!

The river curled from one side of the valley to the other and seemed to go nowhere.  Or at least we didn't seem to be going anywhere, but I guess the river did. 

We found a nice place to camp on a sandbar that wasn't too windy but out of most of the mosquitoes.  Joey cut himself a willow branch and tied some light fishing line and a fly on to it and caught himself some fish!  What an angler!

Nice setting to fish in, huh? 

Joey catches an arctic grayling.  The coloring was very pretty.  The picture certainly doesn't do it justice.

Day to Meet the Girls at Circle Lake

Or  . . . the title to this might have been:  Flummoxed and Defeated by Beavers.

But that story is still to come.

The advantage to the return trip to Circle Lake is our packs are lighter!   The food is nearly gone.  All eaten, and damn good it was.  It's time for "resupply" of food, and even better - Glenda and Mary Louise are arriving complete with food and rafts for stage two of our trip.  Of course, the best part is to see our wives!

First we have to get there.   We go a different way, but in the end, we find that there is no good way to get from Arrigetch Creek to Circle Lake.  You still have tussocks, mosquitoes, marsh and bog, brush, and other fun stuff.  But, there is always a bright spot.  Here is one - the sun shining through white birch bark setting off an orange glow in a sea of green.

We get to the right spot on Circle Lake and the day picks up speed.  Although we had seen lots of moose poop and tracks, we hadn't seen a real animal in person.  Literally 3 minutes after we dropped our packs at what we were sure was the right spot, Ashley says, "I hear a plane!  Maybe it's Mom and Mary Louise."  Just after that, Joey says, "Hey, there's a moose!" 

Ashley and I run down to where Bob and Joey are hanging out by the Lake.  Joey was right!  There's a real moose.

Then, we see the plane fly by behind us.  It has the distinctive yellow and blue colors of Brooks Mountain Aviation.  It banks its wings in a tight turn and comes back our way.  It's the girls!  But what about the moose?

It flies low and there goes the moose in the bottom of right side of the picture.  What you can't see is that it is followed by two more meese skeedaddling for all they are worth. 

But it works and after another circle (is that why it's called Circle Lake?), the plane lands and it's great to see Mary Louise and Glenda.

They bring more food and two rafts.

In amazingly short order, we've had some lunch, the rafts are blown up, gear is packed and loaded, and we're off.  Now how do we get out of here?

Dan, the pilot, said go by the beaver house.  So we did.

It was the biggest beaver pond/lake/ocean that I ever saw.  Those beavers had cut off every possible exit to the Alatna River. 

How do we get out of this pond?

Yep, you figured it out.  Carry all our stuff, including the rafts, the 200 yards from the beaver pond to the Alatna River - amid numerous mosquitoes to keep us company.

But, we did it and got on the river - and headed for the first sandbar to feast on fresh steaks that Mary Louise and Glenda had brought. 

What a great change from freeze dried food - and we were on the river for a nice leisurely float!

Back the Way We Came

Our 4 days of base camp are done!  It's time to fold the tent, roll up the sleeping pad, stuff the sleeping bag, and cram everything into the pack for the day and a half trek back to Circle Lake.

Since we've already been on this route, it's time to look around.  The "spring" flowers are amazing, as are the lichens and other plant or "semi-plant" life.

It was also fun to follow the Arrigetch Creek back out of the mountains.  It's a beautiful cold clear creek.  The other evening I washed myself and some of my clothes.  When I washed my hair, my whole head hurt from the cold.  Glorious.

The sound of the river had been with us for 6 days.  It was early enough in the spring that considerable water was running.  The few times we were beyond hearing the stream, it almost seemed strange.

This video is taken at our lunchspot on the way back down. 

Here are a few flowers for you to look at.  Mary Louise identified them all with a book when we got back but I didn't.  She's a lot better at that.  

These on the right were just so pretty in a generally bleak landscape. 

The lichens, or at least I think they were lichens, were just amazing.

I confess that I know almost nothing about them.

But look how these on the right grow in concentric circles on top of the rocks.  How come?

I don't think I've ever seen such brilliant lichen colors as in the Arctic.  What a pretty yellow.

This picture doesn't lend itself to the brilliant orange lichen that was prevalent on the rockscapes.  Pretty neat, huh?

I can't describe the profusion of this brain-web white lichen.  That's all I can think of - the connected dendrites of a brain in huge form - all in a mass.

OK, you come up with something better.










These are just a few of the flowers and growing things that we saw. 

Day Hike #4: Up the Mountain, Straight, No Chaser

Woke up during the night to hear rain on the tent.  Thought about getting up to put my almost dry laundry in the tent, but was too lazy.  When I got up a couple of hours later, it was dry anyway!  Just like Arizona or Utah and here we are above the Arctic Circle.

Joey entertained us at breakfast with a pancake "style cooking" treat.  What talent!  It's not easy to make pancakes in a pot.

Our last day at basecamp, we had decided to climb the ridge behind us - just to give us another perspective or where we had been the three days before.  It was a direct walk up 1800 vertical feet just behind camp.  It was worth it.

Ashley took a bit of a nap after lunch.  The Brooks Range extends off to the east.









 When I turned the camera around the other way, here was the view.  Cameras, or maybe this photographer, can't give it the true impact it has when you're there.

Day Hike #3: To the Right

Each day, as we shouldered our daypacks and trudged off into the distance, we walked backward through Spring.  With the 24 hours of light and most of that with direct sunlight (the only time we didn't have direct sunlight was when the sun went blessedly behind the mountain to the north of us), the plants grew fast at basecamp.  But as we climbed higher in altitude, the plants would have fewer and fewer leaves until they had no leaves and might be just emerged from the snow.

This was accentuated by the fact that as we climbed, the gouging of the glaciers was so "new" and much of the rock so bare and steep, that plants were not established yet.

We walked up the right tributary of Arrigetch Creek today.  The walking was great and we actually felt like we were going somewhere fast.

The creek was slower moving than farther down near basecamp and was clear and cold.  There is something about cold clear streams that I love, and this one was pretty with the occasional reflections of the mountains surrounding it.

 


The mountain on our left was so high, it blocked the sun for awhile.

We walked back into the bowl on the left where there were multiple glaciers hanging on the mountains. 

After walking back into the bowl, our little group couldn't let well enough alone, so we decided to climb a mountain that had a rushing stream with a pretty good waterfall coming out of it.

Here comes Bob.  

It got fairly steep for awhile.  You can see the nice ridge on the opposite side that blocked the sun earlier in the day.

Joey and I decided to walk up to see if we could see a small lake that was supposed to be up at the end of the bowl.

On the way back, he did some rock climbing on a "little" boulder.

Day Hike #2: Left and Left and the SUN!

 I had been above the Arctic Circle before, but hadn't spent any time there.  And, I did know that we were in the "Land of the Midnight Sun."  But, I was unprepared for the whirling feeling of the sun going round and round and round in a circle - and its omnipresence.   It just doesn't let you up - it just keeps beating on you.

I lucked out on my outdoor gear.  I feel confident in what goes in my backpack in Southeast Alaska - good raingear and clothes that are warm when wet being the most important items.  But Alaska is so huge with different environments that I felt very confused when I packed my gear to go to the Brooks Range.  According to the National Park Service, precipitation averages between 8 and 18 inches, depending on whether you are on the east or west side of the Range.

I was prepared for the light, but I wasn't prepared for the heat.  With the sun shining so much of the time, sometimes it was downright hot!  I also didn't really think about the fact that the air was dry!  It was downright easy to wash and dry clothes!  It felt more like Utah or Arizona than Alaska.

On the other hand, it did cool off between 10 p.m. and midnight.  In fact, the first night we were at base camp, there was frost on the backpack covers. 

A laundry tree!  It doesn't take long to dry.











It still feels good carrying just a day pack.

They look a lot happier than with their big packs on, huh?

Today was a bit steeper, but still nice climbing.  It was rough and tiring, however, to continually hop and balance from rock to rock.

A rain squall interrupted a well deserved lunch.  We crawled under a big rock and it was definitely more pleasant.  Some people say I was born under a rock . . .

It was fun to watch the water cascade and drain off the big granite cliffs. 

Day Hike #1 - Up the Left Fork

The Arrigetch Mountains are unique in their granite faced cliffs.  This was our goal - to check them out.  The picture below is a attempt at a panorama.  You get the idea, anyway.

You can't see this picture on the right very well, but it gives you some idea.  Our base camp is labeled.  If you follow the Arrigetch Creek (proceed left and down on the map), you can see it forks soon after our base camp.

We had four days for four days hikes.  Today we decided to go up the left fork of the creek and then go up the valley on the right when the creek forked again.

It felt good to be walking with just a day pack!

The day was beautiful!

The falls on the right are mirror imaged by a big snowbank next to it. 

We walked up the stream to a series of frozen lakes. 

Looking back the way we came.

It was amazing to see various caribou horns and poop from years previous.  I assume that the caribou poop was from the fall before and was well preserved.  Maybe freeze dried?
I couldn't figure out why caribou would be up this high, but Ashley set me straight - getting away from mosquitoes.  She said they they go high on the mountain ridges to escape the devil bugs.

This gives you an idea of the "big country" nature of the area.  You just can't tell how big or how far distances are.  It's just big.

Here's our lunch spot.  Nice view.

"Up the Creek" to Basecamp

To be honest, although exciting, the first day of walking was miserable.  By the time we started out in Fairbanks, done all the organization and repacking and getting ready in Bettles, and arrived at Circle Lake, I was tired.  In my mind, our packs were HEAVY with bear barrels of food and all the other stuff you think you need.  Plus, we were met right away with mosquitoes - although we were lucky there was a breeze for awhile.  In fact, little be known, the outside screening of our tent was crowded with mosquitoes, and I was thinking that this was going to be a LONG 7 days.  Fortunately, in my old age I've worked hard at the realization that everything is temporal.  In other words, what I think I know will certainly change.  And it did. 

I got up in the middle of the night to pee, and voila!  This picture was taken at 2:48 a.m.

We are now above the Arctic Circle and it's truly the "Land of the Midnight Sun."






Joey and Ashley eat some oatmeal while looking back at where we had come from.  The mosquitoes had departed - for the most part anyway.  No headnets is a good sign.

But the walking was still difficult.  First of all was the occasional stretches of tussocks.  More about that later. 

Secondly, was the walking on rocks that you can see on the picture.  To the right is the Arrigetch Creek.  In the background is our goal - the Arrigetch Mountains.

Thirdly, we did find a "path," but the path is rough - to say the least. 

We found a really nice rock to eat lunch next to the clear and cold Arrigetch Creek.  Not a human, as far as we know, for miles and miles.  Nice.

A little brushy too. . . which is a little nerve racking - particularly for the person in front.  If you haven't followed bear tracks into thick brush where you can barely see in front of you, you have yet to live life to its fullest!

The stream crossings were fine, but slowed us down periodically.  The water is cold if you take the wrong step. 



Ashley and Joey were bright eyed and bushy tailed when we finally made it to the fork in the Arrigetch Creek.  Bob and I were a little less so . . . 

All in all, it was a great day.

Getting there, Day 2!!

After a day of Alaska Airlines 737 jets, it was nice to switch airplanes.  Alaska is a flying state, since it's so big.  I still love flying in a small airplane where you can see where you're going.

We live in a rain forest in Southeast Alaska.  May and the first week of June had been cold cold cold.  I'm not sure it had gotten above 50 degrees in the last 5 weeks.  It was a shock to be in Fairbanks and 80 degree weather.  I had to take this picture.  It's gonna be hot!

First, 170 miles northwest and an hour from Fairbanks to Bettles on a Cessna caravan - a great little plane.  Now we're above the arctic circle.

Small towns are small towns, but Alaska small towns are often in the middle of nowhere.  Bettles sure is, but they have a nice airstrip built in the late 1930's.  It was originally settled by Mr. Bettles who made his fortune selling things to gold miners.  You can just barely see the mountains of the Brooks Range in the back of this photo.

Don't worry, you can drive there on an "ice road" in the winter - about 8 hours to Fairbanks in minus zero temperatures.

We are met by friendly Brooks Range Aviation staff and a collection of other vehicles and people.  No security buffer here, thank God.

We're also met by hordes of mosquitoes.  Out come the headnets and DEET.  Spread it on thick!


The National Park Service has a very nice building in Bettles. You're required to do "training" and carry your food in "bear barrels."  We did the training thing and got our bear barrels.  Doggone things seemed awful heavy to me and aren't made to be packed on or in a backpack.

Then we board all our gear in a 1956 de Havilland Beaver aircraft and with a deafening roar, off we go.  An hour later, we land on Circle Lake along the upper Alatna River. 

 

Throw our gear onto land, make sure we get the gas for the stoves and the two bear spray canisters from the pontoon and Dan, our pilot, shoves off.

With a roar, Dan is off and we're left alone.  And I mean really alone.  Bettles is the nearest "civilization" at 120 miles - and there aren't any services there either.



We have nothing to do but shrug into our heavy packs and hope for the best.