Another day on the pass

Well, I have to say I love this time of year for the soft light on the mountains, lingering sunrises and sunsets, and increasing daylight. Now we are in the midst of a pineapple express to conclusively end 15 days of cold and clear . . . the last day before the storm was pretty darn sweet though. Enjoy the view!!!

photos by Scott Fennell

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Kesugi Ridge

After a summer of cross-country travel, Sherrie and I decided to check out one of Alaska's most amazing trails: Kesugi Ridge. We chose the 28-mile version from Little Coal Creek to Byer's Lake. The trail climbs and then hits a plateau that offers almost unbostructed view of Denali and the Alaska Range.

Sherrie coming up off the first climb, Denali in the background

What a ridge!
The Alaska Range - need we say more?
A truly amazing trail . . . a bunch of cross country really makes a girl appreciate a good trail!
It even got warm enough to wear tank tops . . . looking toward the Susitna River
The descent to Byer's Lake was, shall we say, direct :-)

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The Sanctuary River . . . an Alaskan packraft classic!

I recently did the Sanctuary River loop with my friend Sherrie. We took 3 days so we could hang out in the high country and explore. The route is from Cantwell to Denali Park, where you catch the bus back to the park entrance. It's about equal parts hiking and floating . . . enjoy the view!

Me hiking up the Windy River. I had recently gotten flowers and had nothing to do with them, so I took them on the trip!

Sherrie hiking up over the pass . . . still enough snow to make some turns, and some great recon for amazing couloirs!

On the other side of the pass, heading down to Refuge Valley . . . just as the sun is trying to decide if it will stay or go :-)

Trudling (? sp) big rocks down sweet coolies on our peak bagging afternoon

The view from the top did not suck :-)

The view from the valley was also quite nice, as was the evening light!

On of our many scree descents . . . I actually felt it in my downhill ski muscles!

On the shore of the Sanctuary River, with what looks to be an amazing ridge walk in the background! We were so happy to be in the sunshine!!!

Sherrie floating the Sanctuary River . . . what a day!

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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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Good times in Cooper Landing

So, to anyone considering a trip to Alaska, I highly recommend some time in Cooper Landing . . . It's one-stop shopping for so many classic Alaskan activities. Centered in the Kenai Mountains at Kenai Lake and the head of the Kenai River, with the Russian River confluence forming the southern border, it's the home of much hiking, biking, floating, and animal watching (bears!).

Hiking above Kenai Lake

Hanging by the lake - roadside "nature mcnugget" :-)

One of many bike trails takes you to Russian River Falls where you can watch the sundry of the famous Russian River reds come upstream . . . I'm not a huge fishing/fish fan, but you've got to admit it's pretty impressive to watch these creatures swim upstream. The trail actually goes for 12 miles of singletrack, but the falls are only 3 miles from the trailhead.

The falls We also had the chance to float the Kenai River and fish for trout and dolly varden . . . floating the Kenai is a super great experience, especially on the upper river where there's no developments and no motors! Other people chose the more combat style red fishing . . . classic Kenai :-)
Cooper Landing is also a super fun place to hang out - after a day of recreation, there's tons of great frontcountry campgrounds, tons of places to crash up a trail in the backcountry (lots of National Forest cabins too!), and some great places to grab a burger :-)

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Alaska Do's and Don'ts

I reckon their aren't a ton of 'don'ts' in the great north but it always goes with 'do's'. Leaving in a couple weeks and want to hear from what people have done. It's going to be a fishing/hike around trip centered around a couple days in Denali park and then a place called Lake Marie.

Any clothing, food, places, etc. scuttle would be great. I'm stoked to try out my new Solio Hybrid 1000 since the sun is up for quite a while there. Heard there was a possibility of rafting some class 4? Not sure if I want to go live my Kevin Bacon dream in freezing cold rapids, but hey...prove me wrong.

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Highway to highway . . . the other direction! July 5-6, 2008

After walking from Donnelly to McKinley Village and staying the night in Cantwell, Dylan and I rode the Denali Highway from Cantwell 135 miles to Paxson. We had a mix of rain and sun, saw some incredible country, and made it in 2 days. Thankfully, there were two places with coffee and prepared food, and no bushwhacking!

Dylan headed out of Cantwell

Blurry picture, but a good picture of the fully-loaded bike!

On the McLaren River bridge after 2 hours of eating and coffee drinking. We also gave away some weight, so the last 42 miles were much easier on the back!
Heading toward McLaren, the 2nd highest road pass in Alaska!
Headed toward the storm.
From there, we rode into a huge rainstorm and rode the last 20 miles in October-like weather: rainy, windy, and cold! The combination of 3 downhills pretty much sucked the heat out of my body, leaving me quasi-hypothermic by the time I got to Paxson lodge, but all's well that ends well!

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