FLASK August 26-September 3 (Denali NP)

FLASK August 26-September 3
Aug 26:
Rest & prep for Denali. Breakfast sandwich at market, laundry, calls to Rae (so in love), mailed 49th State Brewery beer glasses to Steve & Rae, then realized I'd missed the 130 shuttle from Healy to the park. Got a ride with my thumb out to Canyon - a very touristy town 2 miles from the park - then got on a resort shuttle into the park. Brad was so helpful. 1st in calming me down as I introduced myself by saying I was gonna pee myself I was so excited to be in Denali NP. 2nd, he was a knowledgable, enthusiastic, engaging young ranger, totally willing to listen to my broad outline (shuttle in, bike out, backcountry on the way out, 2-4 days for each excursion, short hikes in with loaded pack, set up base camp, day hikes up ridges & through tundra!) & then start lining out options & recommendations. Awesome! Fun! I wish Rae were here, too - she'd dig it the most! Bought bus tickets, paid for maps & wrote notes all over them, & caught a shuttle back to Canyon's World Famous Salmon Bake (overpriced, not awesome but Rogue River Dead Guy & my sponsor's Deschutes Mirror Pond on tap!) Chatted with young Bulgarian shuttle driver back to Healy (interesting, ambitious, friendly kid finishing a marketing degree) then did the 1st bit of food sorting & grouping (need more breakfast stuff). Talked to Rae again, though she sounded tired. Bed. Denali tomorrow!
Aug 27:
12 miles to Denali NP (5506 miles to get here from Panama City, FL. 4 months & 9 days.). Up early, packed camp, market breakfast sandwiches, bought market sandwiches for lunch & dinner today (I'm on the 200 shuttle & won't get to the end of the 92 mile park road at Kantishna until 830), & pedaled easily into a cold stiff headwind. Pictures at NP sign. Broad smile on my face as I pedal the last bit of pavement. From 1100-200, I sorted food, sorted clothes, repaired a latch on the pack, put stuff I didn't need in a locker, packed the backpack, wrote 20 of 30 postcards, & talked to Rae. She gave me her perspective on something I'd done recently, essentially scolding me. She's right but I'd rather have been coo-ing at one another since we won't talk til Sep 11. Ah well. She still loves me. The bus ride into & through the park was really something. If that'd been all I did, it would've been worth the ride to get here. It's a cold, beautifully sunny day with high clouds. Colors here are bright, rich, complex - purples, oranges, bright yellow, fiery red - all constantly morphed by passing clouds. The Alaska Range is steep & richly adorned with white snow. Mount Denali is nearly fully visible, with the South Summit in full sun. Staggering. Rivers become veins of mirrored glass with the reflection of an angled sun. A grizzly! Lone female walks right to the bus, passing in front with our engine off & all 23 of us quiet as mice. She feeds & wanders on the opposite side, oblivious to us. Dark legs and tan body. Bighorn sheep! 8 of them on a small pinnacle just 20 yards off the road. Again, we are silent & enjoy the proximity, color, musculature, horn diversity, & calm. 3 grizzlies! 1 2nd year cub wanders quite a ways from mom & sibling as they amble down the road away from our stopped bus. Then the wanderer lopes at a good pace toward us! It's lovely watching a wild beast move powerfully & unfrightened. Reunited, they inspect then knock over an orange safety cone before wandering into berry-filled scrub. A beaver! Swimming across a large pond, trailing a long "V." 2 moose! Big cow & a big calf are wading in another pond, nimble & gangly (they remind me of Pat Johnson). Uh oh, the weather's changed. Denali is now obscured & rain is approaching. It's raining steadily at Kantishna when I disembark (raingear already on) & I quickly adjust & cover the pack. Marie runs the Kantishna Roadhouse & graciously finds a spot for me to stash the bike. An immediate mid-thigh crossing of Moose Creek is required. Sandals on, I wade in. It's cold but not awful &, though there's potential for me to fall anywhere (ask Hogan), I manage to make it across. 5 minutes of thrashing through thick alder & I find the old mining road next to El Dorado Creek. Good portions of this unused rough track are covered by the creek & my feet become bright red with cold & my pants remain soaked to the knee (I'm planning to be wet everyday & will keep seperate clothes dry for camp). After an hour of walking, it's nearly 1000 & I pick a spot right on the bank of the tainted-orange-by-mining river, set up the tent in a diminishing sprinkle & clearing skies. Alarm set for 1AM so I can look for Northern Lights. I am here. In Denali NP. In the wilderness. Wow.
Aug 28:
The gurgling (tainted orange by mining runoff) El Dorado Creek dampened the sound of the rain but the odd tent flap from the infrequent wind would briefly panic me each time - "Hey, bear!" Haha! It was raining & cloudy at 1am so I went back to sleep. I didn't get up til late for oatmeal & cocoa but quickly packed food, clothes, maps, filter, & bottles into the daypack. Boots off & sandals on when it was obvious that thrashing through the creekside trees & shrubs. The creek was excrutiatingly cold & it consumed the Tractor Trail road frequently. Glimpses of the Alaska Range set my direction. For lunch, I clambered up a soft, pillowy hillside of moss, sat in the sun, & meditated. It was hard to ignore the building chorus in my head to head home NOW! I'm so lonesome for Rae & my head has become sour company. About an hour after lunch I passed the creek origins & put on boots for an arduous tramp. A startled caribou paused on the hillside above to snort displeasure. 2 different sets of ptarmigans with bright white underwings flashing as they flew away. Came across several moose & 1 caribou antler - mice-eaten moose antlers are like styrofoam inside. With moss underfoot over rock & shrub, the tramping was exceedingly difficult - tricky foot placements, variable sponginess, & sometimes chest deep, it was halting, dirty progress into the Kantishna Hills. At a nice series of ponds, I could see the southern end of the Alaska Range with dark, billowing clouds as backdrop. The water filter is broken so I gathered water to boil. My hip gave me increasing trouble on the long, tired trudge back. The cold creek made my head hurt but there was full sun in which to take a 20 minute nap when I made camp. My feet are trashed by scrub, & blistered from wet sandals & boots. I break down crying for Rae again while stretching. Perhaps it's also because I'm lonely, intimidated, sore, & worn out. It's hard to imagine my head coming back together enough to stay here through Sep 11 as planned.
Aug 29:
When the alarm beeped at 1am it was clear but very dark - no moon OR stars, oddly enough - so I brought out the mat, bag, & liner to sit outside & struggle to stay awake to look for Northern Lights. No luck. I got up early to a beautifully clear, crisp morning with frost on everything & the sun lighting the top of the crag across the creek. The backpack is heavy & the creek is so cold that my head hurts & I'm near to whimpering out loud. Crossing Moose Creek was mid-thigh at a different crossing, too, & no easier. Packed the bike. Thanked Marie. The ride profile printed in the park paper said it was climbing all the way to Eielson & I left it in granny gear the whole way. The cloudless view of McKinley & her sister peaks was so beautiful, especially when I saw their reflections in Wonder Lake & Reflection Pond (made famous in an Ansel Adams portrait). I talked a hiker into snapping a picture of me riding in front of McKinley early, thamkfully, as clouds built slowly during the day. The park's shrubs, alder, poplar, & aspen present an orgy of bright, vibrant colors - like an impressionist painting rendered by nature. Surreal. 3 separate caribou sightings, with the 2 beasts initially on the road moving off when the heard the bike approach. Around the corner are 4 Dahl sheep, including an adorable ewe & kid on a tall, slender 80 ft pinnacle. The ride on gravel is taxing after the heavy pack & my wrists take a severe beating. I contemplate bagging the adventure but a kind, reassuring ranger boosts my spirits by taking me outside with the map & just talking about the wilderness here. I am assured that this was the best weather day since May & encouraged to go up a steep, short ridge trail to terraces above the Moose Creek headwaters. Several kind tourists chatted with me & took pictures near the bike as I packed 2 days food into the pack, including a gal who asked what the hardest part was. When I burst into tears, her husband wrapped me in a big bear hug & told me Rae'd be there when I got back. So nice. The climb was 45 minutes & I walked to a terrace below, sluggishly put up camp, stashed food, & stretched as my mood improved. Lonely but in a beautiful spot in Denali, less exposed (being so close to the VC), & with a great day of weather. I stretched in the soft moss & late but still high sun. Mountain House Chicken Chow Mein was tasty. After stashing food, I wandered to another terrace to meditate then watch clouds play in front of & around McKinley, & a fierce storm develoing to the south. With sun behind it, the showers were gauze curtains, & the reds & purples in the long sunset were wonderfully complex. I wait expectantly in the bitter cold for alpenglow on McKinley - more than worth it - as lightning flashed in the distance. Thank goodness I stayed in the park!
Aug 30:
When I stepped out early to pee, the valley was filled with dense fog so I slept in. After breakfast I napped again since it was a drizzly, foggy mess in all directions. Pounding rain woke me briefly, then I managed an awkward tent stretch focused on my ailing hip. When it cleared I tramped to a narrow terrace to meditate. A herd of 14 Dahl sheep rested & grazed on the slope above camp for hours & the binocs were a nice treat. When I used them to scour the valley I developed motion sickness but not til after I saw 2 distant caribou. I dragged the mat & bag out to rest on the tundra in a spot out of the bitter wind until another storm develops. Nap in the tent, trying to rest my weary body. It clears for dinner & McKinley is only partially obscured, sparkling in low-angled sun through another distant storm system. Mtn House Mexican Chicken & Rice (yummy, actually), sitting & pondering in the cold wind, then Larsson's 3rd book before bed. What a lazy day. I again contemplate leaving as I'm desperate to be with Rae & adventured out. Very lonely.
Aug 31:
Socked in with fog at 1am so no Northern Lights. The wind made the tent sound like an animal again so I got up to tighten tentlines. McKinley was again only partially obscured as I sat for an early breakfast but it was shrouded by the time I finished. The bear canister was well down the hill from where I'd securely stashed it ... interesting. Fog in the valley below looked like a white, cottony sea. Long meditation. Packed up & hoisted the lighter pack (no food & minus 5 liters of water) easily. I chatted with a nice Aussie family - Ian, Suzy, & Megan - on a tramping vacation & passed on desert SW beta for their next planned segment. A large golden eagle startled me when it swooped 15 ft below me, it's light golden head flashing bright enough in the sun to trick me into thinking I'd spotted a rare-in-Denali bald eagle. An approaching ranger confirmed it was a golden & we watched it twirl in the updrafts overhead until it disappeared over a ridge. Serene yet powerful. Threatening weather continued to hold so I ate & packed the 3-day food cache slowly while chatting with Claire & Sam, a young couple from Dallas who'd been thrashed by the harsh tramping terrain in Polychrome & were heading toward Wonder Lake. They let me try their homegrown, home-dehydrated pasta sauce & left me with 2 homemade, very tasty granola bars. I confirmed plans to go into Wolverine Creek with another enthusiastic, encouraging ranger, then got on the bus for the 2 mile ride to Grassy Pass. I hefted the heavy-again backpack, slipped down a muddy social trail through willows, & walked on the wide, braided gravel channel of Thorofare Creek (draining Sunset Glacier) toward Glacier Creek & the tundra-covered Muldrow Glacier. Water coarsed over the top of my still-dry boots on the last crossing. Ah well. As I entered the morraine channel next to Muldrow my hip pain reached its threshold. When the drizzle began to intensify, I put on raingear & a road-schwag airline plastic bag over the pack. The hip pain was intolerable when I got the pack back on & I hobbled for 10 minutes longer, settling on a decent gravel patch on the morraine ridge with a sigh of relief. Ouch! Unpack & set up camp & am halfway through a stretch when it begins to rain. I read until 9pm then hunker over the stove in a downpour. Mtn House Mac'n'Cheese is just OK (crunchy noodles). More reading. Bed in a downpour.
Sep 1:
It rained steadily all night & well into the morning. Low fog nearly obscured the tundra-covered terminus of the Mudrow Glacier, which was just across Glacier Creek from camp. The tent had developed a leak near it's apex but I couldn't find a hole in the rainfly so I think that the rainproofing may have disintegrated there? More trouble, as well, with the already-thrice-repaired headlamp, which was much harder to get working again in full dark last night. Laying in the tent, hip still throbbing, I resolved to head home. The rain let up around 1000 so I packed up & hefted the pack for the 2 hr walk out, stopping to harvest unique rocks along the creek & gravel bed. Once on the broad, braided Thorofare Creek I saw a gal walking toward me. Marcia asked how far it was to the glacier &, misunderstanding that she meant Mudrow (another 30 minutes) not Sunset, I said it was 1 1/2 hrs. She didn't have time for the longer hike & we decided to hike out together. Fantastic gal - 61, fit, working as a program manager for Oregon Freeze Dry (the folks who make Mountain House), & on a self-guided Sierra Club excursion. She invited me to their group camp at Savage Creek CG, offering wine, dinner, & breakfast. Heck, yea! Once we made the road, the 1st bus didn't have room for both of us so we continued walking & chatting the 2 miles to Eielson VC. In the last mile, my hip exploded & it was a real struggle to finish. I limped around the VC until we found a bus with room for us, my bike & trailer. As we drove south we stopped for 2 grizzly sightings. One large boar playing in a nearby creek &, later, 2 large sows & 1 cub on a distant scree slope. Marcia's binocs were fantastic, though, & we got to "see" them up close. When we walked into camp she explained who I was & what I'd been up to & everyone immediately & warmly welcomed me, even though all except the 2 host/guides (Sara & Don) had paid a pretty penny for the excursion. I was handed wine, peppered with questions, had dinner (ham, coleslaw, corn on the cob, cornbread, & beans), walked down to Nanana River at twilight, & got a chance to talk with everyone 1:1 throughout the evening. Their generosity was over the top & they all seemed geniunely pleased to have been included in my adventure. Wow! Up late by the fire with Don (guide, organic farmer, heavy equipment operator, & gentle soul), Sara, Marcia, & Richard (traveling furniture salesman).
Sep 2:
15 miles from Savage Creek CG to Denali train station, Denali NP. 900-1030. I heard "Coffee!" & got up to oatmeal & ham for breakfast with the SC gang. They are so nice, so friendly, so generous. We were all packed up & heading out by 900, they to the shuttle stop, me biking out. Beautiful morning with clearing weather, great fall colors, moose (the 1st I've seen with a rack!), & a huge smile plastered on my face - I'm heading home to Rae! I arrived at the train station & discussed getting the bike & trailer on - all that was required was to remove the trailer's tow arm. Yea! A quick ride down to the Wilderness Access Center to return the bear canister (Brad was there & I thanked him again for his enthusiasm) & retrieve gear from the locker, then back to the station to re-sort gear & remove the tow arm. I called Rae & she's thrilled to have me on my way. Yea! There were some wonderfully funny & engaging Mississippians in the observation car & they dug it when I told them Mississippi was, by far, the friendliest state I'd ridden through. Then one of the SC gang spotted me & I wandered down to their car to share family pictures & chat. A great, long chat with Marcia, who I really dig. They got off at Taklinika for the next 2 days of their adventure. I got lucky finding a room in Anchorage late on Friday at the Bent Prop Inn & Hostel that was less than a mile from the train depot so, after piecing the trailer back together & loading the gear, it was easy to pull everything uphill. Shower, nice long chat with Rae, then a cheeseburger & 2 Mirror Ponds (Yea! Deschutes Brewery!) at Humpy's. Hip still throbbing but improved.
Sep 3:
Hostel folks are always interesting & here is no exception. 74-year-old Ron has been travelling his whole adult life, using a MA in ESL to teach & live all over the world. He's settled in Turkey for winters the last 15 years & goes wherever he wants in summer. Brazil & Argentina in 2012 ... cool. Booked train to Whittier for Sep 5 & Inner Passage ferry Sep 5-10. On my way to Rae for real! Eventually I walk 2 miles to downtown to return the REI pad & get shoe goo & a new headlamp. I also pick up brownie mix & return to the hostel to make them before the end-of-season cookout at 7pm. Brief stretch in the wet grass, then off to Humpy's for too many beers while watching a decent blues band & chatting with a local. Joe, a 46-year-old NY cop, & I sit outside & chat until 2am, enjoying a mild evening & a trickling parade of guys in drag leaving some party down the block. Ha! Good social distortion!