A taste of the Brooks Range . . . Anaktuvuk Pass to Wiseman

There is such a crazy story associated with this trip, but you'll have to read the whole deal here.

In summary, Chrissy May, Gretchen Roffler, and I did a trip from Anaktuvuk Pass ($170 flight from Fairbanks into the Brooks Range) to Wiseman on the Dalton Highway. It involved about 90 miles of travel, split almost evenly between floating and hiking. The scenery was amazing, and the options and opportunities for exploration endless!!

Enjoy the view!!

Welcome to Anaktuvuk Pass!

An interesting mix of time and cultures . . .

Heading toward the Anaktuvuk River . . . we walked up the right side of the river . . . I recently found out that this trail continues all the way up the left side of the river! Oh well, I guess we just got a better workout :-)
That must be Fan Mountain . . . I mean, it looks like a fan! Oh the ways you can delude yourself into thinking you've gone much further than you have!

Leaving camp, and heading down Ernie Creek

Gretchen, our wildlife biologist, taught us all a great deal about animals, and we loved it!
And then the sun started coming out - hooray!

Can't miss an opportunity for headstands in The Valley of the Precipices!
And then the world opened up a bit, and the Gates of the Arctic could be seen in the distance - Ernie Creek was starting to look pretty darn floatable, but the walking was really great, so we continued on foot!
For those challenged to discern letters from humans, this is a GOA . . . Gate of Arctic :-)
It was so nice, we decided to go peak-bagging/ridge walking for the afternoon up and around Two Prong Mountain


Heading toward the riverPart way down Ernie Creek - it was pretty fun paddling!
Leaving the shores of the Koyukukand heading overland . . .

A truly amazing moment of natural beauty and great friends!

I feel like this picture says it all . . . downtown Wiseman
Hitching north . . .

One thing that shouldn't go without discussion, especially on this blog, is the wonder of freezer bag cooking (http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/ and http://www.harmonyhouse.com/ are great references). Essentially, you put gourmet "just-add-water" foods into a freezerbag and dinner is prepared in the 3 minutes it takes the jetboil to create hot water. Dinner is super easy, tasty, light, and fast. Skipping dinner isn't really even a consideration! On this trip, we had: Organic real mashed potatoes with sun-dried tomaotes and pine nuts, Mexican night (rice, beans, veggies, burrito seasoning), curry rice & lentils with cranberries and peanuts, pesto cous cous with pine nuts and veggies, and Thai with powdered coconut milk, lemongrass, and peanut sauce. Chrissy made one freezer bag last the whole week for 2 meals/day, and Gretchen re-used the Mountain House bag from dessert on night one. We were so thrilled with this system that we intend to write Ziploc a thank-you note :-) We do wonder if we're all going to get cancer from leaching plastics into our system with the hot water, but maybe it's worth it for the joy and simplicity of freezerbagcooking . . .?!?

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JetBoil Recipe - Mushroom Risotto

As promised here is yet another JetBoil recipe for your backcountry cooking adventures this summer.

This one comes from employee Colin Edwards for his delicious Mushroom Risotto which although didn't win top prize in last year's Jetboil Cookoff Contest it's still very worthy of the blog.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil


• 1/4 cup unsalted butter


• 2 shallots, minced


• 1/2 pound fresh chanterelle mushrooms, stemmed and sliced


• 1/2 pound fresh porcini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced


• 3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only


• 1 fresh bay leaf


• 2 cups white wine


• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


• 2 cups arborio rice


• 6 cups veg stock


• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced


• 1/2 cup Parmesan

Directions
Warm Jetboil to medium-low flame. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter and melt together. Add shallots and cook for 2 minutes, or until translucent, and then toss the mushrooms, thyme, and bay leaf into the Jetboil. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have released their moisture and begin to turn golden brown.

Pour 1 cup of the wine into the pan, and bring the liquid to a simmer, allowing the wine to evaporate. Continue cooking until the mushrooms are dry, about 5 to 7 minutes. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove mushrooms from the pan and set aside. Discard the bay leaf.

Reduce the flame to low, and add the remaining butter and oil to the pan and melt. Stir in the rice and coat with the oil until the kernels are shiny, about 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in the remaining 1 cup of white wine and let evaporate.

Add the veg broth, 1 ladle at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid. Do not add too quickly so as to prevent the kernels from exploding. Stir over a gentle flame until each ladle of the liquid is absorbed. Repeat until most of the broth is incorporated and the risotto rice is al dente, about 25 minutes.

Fold the mushrooms back into the rice and season with salt, pepper and parsley. Stir in the Parmesan. Serve immediately.

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JetBoil Recipe - Chicken Thai Pizza

As promised here is the first of a few JetBoil recipies for your backcountry cooking adventures this summer.

This one is from Matt Young who you may recall was the winner of the 2007 Backcountry.com JetBoil cookoff. Good luck and enjoy.

Thai Pizza with hand made crust

Crust

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted margarine (both work fine)


Topping

2 teaspoons ginger, freshly grated (or 1/2 teaspoon powdered)

2 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil

3 tablespoons peanut butter, unsalted & all-natural

1/4 cup tamari

1 lime, juice only

1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Thai green curry paste

8 oz. of Thai-Style marinated baked tofu

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, Fine

1/2 cup pineapple, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, loosely packed


Make the dough as if you would any normal pizza dough and allow to rise in a warm/covered container. Cooking the pizza in the bottom of a JetBoil 1.5L Cooking Pot is the best way to make this happen. It makes for a personal sized pizza. Cook on low simmer with the lid and a touch of oil if available under the pizza dough.

You may have to reduce quantities due to size of jet boil or make 2 pizzas. This is good and a nice break from ordinary pepperoni and cheese.

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Backcountry.com 2nd Annual Jetboil Cook Off

The 2nd Annual Jetboil Cook Off among Backcountry.com employees was a huge success! The 6 finalists and thier recipes were as follows:

Mike Cory: Breakfast Burrito

Ali Thackeray: Salmon Edamame Pasta

Greg Davis: Black Bean yummy goodness, w/veggies

Aaron Carlson: Curry

Colin Edwards: Mushroom Risotto

Matt Young: Thai Pizza

This year's winner Matt Young made a tasty Thai Pizza (even made the whole wheat dough in the Jetboil) that the judges just couldn't pass up.

The Top 6 chosen finalists were graciously given a Jetboil setup directly from Kirk Haskell and Keith DEntremont, our Jetboil sponsors of this event. The Top 6 competed for the coveted Cook Off Winner Apron and a super sweet gift certificate to Market Street-compliments of Kirk and Keith, not to mention all the Jetboil stuff they now own!

Our second place winner Ali Thackeray won an equally delicious gift certificate to the Porcupine Pub and Grill for the "Most Nutritious Recipe"

What type of stuff are you cooking up on your Jetboils? Comment below if you've got a good recipe. (And you thought they were only good for boiling water in 90 seconds)

The Crew of Finalists

Colinrisotto
Thai Pizza! Eggs and stuff....burrrrrito!

Whoa! That looks good. Aaron's curry.

Mmmm, Bacon!

Matt Young is the winner (seen here taunting the other finalists with his spoils - a new Jetboil cooking system)

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