At play where the midnight sun holds court
After enjoying our first cabin trip of the year in October to Donna Lake, Alana and I made plans to head out to the White Mountains and visit a few more on skis. Our plan was to ski roughly 75 miles, making a loop connecting Colorado Creek, Wolf Run, Windy Gap, Borealis and Colorado Creek … Read more
During the summer of 2019, our forestry work regularly brought us over the vast mountain ranges of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park. Based in Glenallen, we regularly worked field plots north of the mountains near the border. This brought about long helicopter rides, flying over volcanic mountains, across large drainages and past dozens and dozens of … Read more
For the past 3 summers, my friend Asa flew out of Port Alsworth for Lake Clark Air. During his first summer there in 2019, he invited me out to spend a few days exploring the area. This offer was like a dream come true and I eagerly accepted it, having been inspired to begin my … Read more
Alana and I spent the weekend at a house in Delta Junction, celebrating our friends’ wedding. We decided to take advantage of being in the area and check out another ADFG cabin nearby. Snow fell throughout the weekend, making it hard to distinguish the road from the shoulder in the flat light as we made … Read more
The wind blew the rain against the tent. The constant, loud pitter pattering of the windblown drizzle against the nylon amplified our perception of the storm’s intensity, making it seem torrential. During the night, the wind had upended two of the stakes, pinching the sides of the outer shell against the inner. As a result, … Read more
Clouds rolled over the ridges and made their way down the valley. Visibility fluctuated with them, and by the time we set down on our sleeping bags the clouds had enveloped the valley. We were about a mile and a half off the road, camping out for the opening of the craziness that is the … Read more
Last week, Alana and I set off to complete the 40th edition of the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic. The event was in it’s third year of the course starting from the Jack River Trailhead on the Denali Highway and ending at Sheep Mt Lodge on the Glenn Highway. I had not participated in any of … Read more
This past weekend, my friend Chris and I took a trip to the White Mountains. The plan was to bike the 29 miles out to the Caribou Bluff cabin and spend the night. From there, our plans would likely diverge. He was going to head back to Wickersham Dome the long way, 71 miles up … Read more
Alana had some extended time off from work and we decided to take a trip south to the Coal Mine No.5 cabin near the Alaska Range. I was borrowing skis from a friend as I had recently broken my bindings on another trip. Alas, at the trailhead I discovered that their bindings were incompatible with … Read more
“OH EM GEE!” Atop Bomber Pass, our view of the Talkeetna’s stretched dozens of miles in the distance. The Alaska Range and Denali lay somewhere beyond, obscured by smoke. Behind us lay the loose scree and boulders we had ascended, with Upper Reed Lake and its lingering ice patches below. One of two formidable passes … Read more