Alaskan Adventure




	8/01/06 We're off! We are at the Denver International Airport, and our flight to Anchorage leaves at 10:00 P.M. We have checked 18 bags, weighing a total of 770 pounds. It's a lot of stuff, but we need it all! We have shipped our canoes in advance, have 300 pounds of food, as well as a variety mountain and other gear. Our next entry will be from Alaska! 8/02/06 We arrived in Anchorage at 2:00 A.M. and were able to retrieve all 18 bags! We took a cab to the train station, where we spent 3 hours before departing on a 12-hour train ride to Fairbanks. We will be stopping to visit the Denali National Park, as well as a variety of historic towns along the way. 8/03/06 We made it to the Arctic Village, picking up Bonnie in Fairbanks. We now have 5 people and lots of gear – 1200 lbs.! It was somewhat of a hectic day, sorting through all of our gear and getting the boats ready. We are supposed to meet Ryan this afternoon, but we have not seen him yet. 8/04/06 We made it in a small plane to the base of the Kongakut River, the main river here in Alaska. Unfortunately and surprisingly, there is no snow here in the mountains due to global warming, so we will not be able to ski some of the glaciers that we wanted to. There is, however, a lot to hike. It is quite beautiful, and the people are incredible. We will set up camp here on the river, and this will become the base camp for the team. One of our goals, which we will set out to accomplish tomorrow, is to reach the Continental Divide, which runs from the base of the River to the Arctic Sea. Right now, we plan to cook dinner and enjoy what is left of this beautiful sunny day. It is 6:00pm, but the sun does not set here until midnight. 8/05/06 We got up at 8 AM, and started hiking at 10. We covered about 4,500 feet, reaching the goal for the day: the Continental Divide. Here, the Kongakut River flows to the Arctic Sea, while all the other rivers flow toward the Youkon territories and Anchorage. We have seen some very cool animals, including some big herds of Caribou. Some were in the hundreds. Others had never seen any humans and would come to few feet away from us, totally unafraid. We had a quick storm that dumped some snow in the higher mountains and made Bonnie's hair stick up like a porcupine. It was an electric storm and we had to move quickly. We made it back to camp at 9 PM, finishing an 11 hour day. 8/06/06 We canoed through an ancient glacier that is still standing in the middle of the river. I was thinking about my skis, but the ice is too flat unfortunately. It took us quite awhile to get the boats ready, so we did not start paddling on the river until about 4:00pm. The water became very shallow in certain sections, and we had to get out and pull the boats in the rain. Due to all of this, we only traveled 5 miles or less today. The Kokatat Drysuits has been working well, as have the Ally boats. We are very appreciative of our sponsors. We plan to camp by the river tonight. The landscape and view is amazing, and we have seen more animals, including some bears. We are in a big valley and are surrounded by many tall peaks, and there is a glacier river flowing by. 8/07/06 We had a long day of paddling, and we are camping along the Kongakut River. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we saw several Caribous, one that was only a few feet away from us. The scenery here is just amazing. The water is getting narrower and faster now at the beginning of the canyon, and goes for 35 miles through the mountains. The team is doing well and is in good spirits. Tomorrow, we will start doing the rapids, which will be fun. 8/08/06 Today, we have seen lots of animals, including a bear coming into camp. It rained all night, as there was a storm coming in from the Arctic Sea. There is snow in the high mountains, and it is beautiful. There is snow right in front of us where we are camping. We are about 70 miles away from the Arctic Sea. It is much colder here, and we have to wear layers. We are going to have dinner now, and then go to bed early. 8/09/06 Today was a difficult day. We started paddling at 9:30am, and did not stop until 7:00pm. We traveled 10 miles, and battled some challenging rapids – class 3 – along the way. At one point, the rapids were so difficult that it took us 4 hours to get through one set. We also had to maneuver around obstacles such as rocks. Needless to say, the team is quite tired. However, we did see some animals along the way such as eagles. We also had the opportunity to hike up to a glacier that was coming down into the rapids. 8/10/06 We paddled a total of 20 miles today, and we are now 1 mile downstream from Caribou Pass. The weather is beautiful – 60 degrees and sunny. We went through some rapids, but nothing huge. We camped about 20 miles from the Arctic Sea, and climbed 2,000 vertical feet up the mountain to get a view of the sea. We are in a huge valley now. It is beautiful here – the sun never goes down – it is up 24 hours a day, and last night, we could see both the sun and the full moon at the same time. Overall, things are going very well. Generally, we are surprised by how warm and nice the weather is. 8/11/06 We traveled 17.2 miles and are 13 miles from the ocean. We came out of the canyon and hiked up the last mountain of the canyon. From the summit, we could see the Arctic Pole. Part of our team did hit a rock and flip their boat, but no one got hurt… just wet! We caught our first fish and ate it, and also saw some falcons. 8/12/06 We paddled 12 miles today. Fortunately, there was enough water to carry us, so we could paddle all the way without having to push the boats. We went through a huge glacier that was amazing. There was blue ice all around us, with the river cutting through the glacier down to the Arctic Sea. We camped about one mile from the Arctic Sea, and could see it clearly. It was windy, wet and cold yesterday, and is still quite overcast today. We can see the waves crashing into the iceberg that is not very far away from us. 8/13/06 We got into the Delta today. We had to drag the boat for about a mile into the sandbars of the outer banks, but once we got through the sandbars, the water was deep enough, and we were able to paddle. We put of feet in the Artic Ocean, which was very exciting. We saw a lot of icebergs and driftwood all around us. There was also a buoy that had washed ashore. We are taking lots of pictures of the setting sun over the icebergs. The airport is 11 miles away, and that is our goal for today. The weather is pretty good – windy, but warm. 8/14/06 We paddled 11 miles yesterday along the Artic Sea. While paddling, we saw a polar bear about 100 yards away. He has just killed and eaten a seal right in front of us! It was amazing. Now we are at a landing strip, waiting for a plane. We are not sure if it will be here today, or 3-4 days from now. Last night, 3 Artic foxes came through camp. They were not alt all afraid of humans – perhaps because they may not have every seen any before. We are going to Kaktovik today and spending the night if the plane comes and then heading to Fairbanks. 8/15/06 When we woke up, the sky was clear, and we had an amazing view of the mountains, the sea, and the icebergs. We packed quickly because we heard that the plane was coming to pick us up. However, we ended up waiting all day, as the plane didn’t arrive until 4:30 in the afternoon. As the plane arrived, the fog was rolling in, and we were concerned that everyone was not going to make it across to Kaktovik. But, all 3 planes arrived, and we all made it safely. We landed late at night in Kaktovik, and stayed at the only hotel in town, called Walts Arms Hotel. It is a very small town with a population of only 284, and the weather there was cold and foggy. The polar bears came at night to feed on a whale carcass just outside of town. Also, the people in town caught a seal, and butchered it in the streets in front of us. 8/16/06 We are nearing the end of our trip now. We spent the night in Kaktovik at Walts Arms Hotel, the only hotel in this small town. It’s not even like a real hotel – it is more like a “mobile home.” It is very strange. There were polar bears in town, and we walked around town talking to the locals. We had an interview with the Arctic National Refuge which was very interesting, as they shared information about the different birds and migration. The plane arrived about 5:00pm, and we flew to Fairbanks where we spent the night in a camp ground. 8/17/06 Today, we are taking the train to Fairbanks to the Denali National Park where we will have a private tour. We will then spend the night in the park. 8/18/06 Spent the full day in Denali Park. Saw a pack of wolves that used the vehicle as a moving shield to hunt birds and small rodents. We also saw 2 bears, moose, mountain goats and many other animals. It rained almost all day, but cleared right at sunset. We took the train from Denali Park to Anchorage and ran into a huge storm North of Talkeetna. The tracks were covered by 2 big mud slides and the river next to the tracks was flooding dangerously. We made it to Anchorage at 2 AM. We later learned that the river swept away the railroad, and we were very fortunate to have gone through. 8/19/06 Team has safely returned to Denver, Colorado.