Gates of the Arctic

We made it back from north of the Arctic Circle! 

First, click here for a link to our Picasa album, and thanks to Heather (we stole a couple of your pics!)

We arrived in Fairbanks on a drizzly day. We toured the Museum of the North, ducked in and out of the shops downtown, and walked along the Chena River. We were graciously greeted by fellow Great Falls folks, Mark and Donna Miles - they were wonderful hosts! We stopped at the Alaska pipeline on the way to the Silver Gulch Brewery (the northernmost brewery) and Ivory Jack’s for a real Alaskan experience (you have to see it to believe it). The next day we stepped out their backyard to the Chena river and kayaked under sunny skies. 

That night we met our Alaska Alpine Adventure group at a local hotel to gather our gear. 
We immediately knew our group would be amazing!  Five words to describe them would be: determined, hilarious, cohesive, resilient, and outgoing. Our guides Nick and Gus were a perfect fit. Very quickly it felt like we were a group of friends coming together on a great Alaskan adventure, not individual people from Sweden, Virginia, California, Anchorage, New York and Minnesota. 
On day one we took a small plane flight from Fairbanks to Bettles, waited patiently for our pilot, and then flew the ten of us and all our gear in two float planes, the Beaver and the Otter.  

We landed in Circle Lake in Gates of the Arctic National Park. There we stashed some food and our inflatable kayaks for the second part of our trip. Our trusted guide Nick told us we needed to gain elevation quickly as it would be easier hiking in the long run. So up we went bushwhacking or bushcrashing (this is extreme bushwhacking, we swear) up the side of the mountain. 

Remember there are no trails in Gates of the Arctic! It took us a few days to figure out how to hike in brush that was anywhere from knee high to over our heads.  The tundra was also a little tricky but overall the best surface to hike on. Trekking poles were a must. We got a late start on day one so we hiked to the first water source we could find and set up camp. Even on the first day we were sneaking glimpses of the Arrigetch Peaks with spectacular views over every ridge. 

We can’t get too far into this Alaskan adventure with our stopping and telling you about the food. To all you backpackers out there - we didn’t have one breakfast of oatmeal in eleven days! The food was unbelievable, they know what they are doing (keep your eyes open for Adventure Appetites). Ryan’s jaw dropped when Nick whipped up egg, cheese and reindeer sausage burritos one morning. 

On day two, we hiked up and over two ridge lines and arrived in yet another beautiful valley where we would stay for two nights. The next day we were still enjoying sunny skies as we hiked up the valley to an alpine lake at the base of two amazing peaks. Ryan and some other brave souls took a dip in the chilly arctic waters. 

The next day we packed up camp and headed up and over yet another ridge where we got our first full views of the Arrigetch peaks. We crashed through at least seven foot high alder brush to get to camp three along the Arrigetch creek. We could not wait to get up to that cirque beneath those mountains the next day. We decided to hike just ahead of our group the next morning. As we hiked Lisa pointed out bear tracks along the river and was getting a little nervous when Ryan told her “we’re probably not going to see any bears here Lisa - don’t worry so much!” Not 30 seconds after he said that and as we rounded a corner we looked up the hillside and found a grizzly bear looking down at us from ~30-40 feet away.  We did what we were told to do, Ryan got out his bear spray, we talked to the bear fairly calmly and then backed away slowly. When the bear was out of sight we high-tailed it back along the trail and thankfully found our group not far behind us. We climbed high around the area that we spotted the bear, and by that time the bear had crossed the river and was busy eating on the other side. We stopped to watch him eating and digging, totally unconcerned with the ten people gawking at him. 

After watching the bear for an hour or so, we headed back up the valley. The spires of granite were phenomenal! They were like the monoliths of Yosemite but north of the Arctic circle. We could see present glaciers and the work they did on the rock in the past carving out the valley. It was a spectacular day! 

As we headed back down the valley to camp, riding high on the views of the peaks, we came across the bear again. The bear was initially spotted about 60 feet away as he was rooting around in the bushes up the small hill in front of us. We all stopped (standing our ground) and as the bear slowly started walking toward us, probably getting within 15 feet of us, we all got a little more nervous.  Guns came out of holsters and bear sprays were ready, but thankfully the bear decided that he did not want to investigate ten smelly hikers so he laid down and rolled over in the creek. What a day in Alaska!

The next day we got our first taste of nasty Arctic weather, but for the record we had six days of sun and blue skies north of the arctic circle and we all felt extremely lucky. The winds that howled through that high alpine cirque were fierce, shaking the tent walls and keeping most of us up much of the night staring at the tent ceiling. 
We finished our last day of backpacking, hiking along the ridge line where we could savor the views. Hiking back down to Circle Lake felt pretty easy with lighter packs and a few days of experience bushcrashing and tundra hiking. 

At Circle Lake we loaded up our inflatable kayaks and headed around the lake to the beaver ponds that we knew we were going to have to navigate to make it to the Alatna River. After a few wrong turns we found the beaver dam we needed to cross and the swampy ditch we were supposed to float the kayaks through. As the second boat went over the dam we almost blew out a kayak, and the water in the ditch turned to thick cement-like mud before we found the portage trail. We finally made it through the unforgiving mud and across the Alatna River around midnight. It was a crazy fun day!

We awake to rain and were thankful as the river had come up and the current would take us along. We had never experienced paddling for 6-7 hours per day but it was super fun. It was easy paddling, with great views of the southern Brooks Range.  For the most part the rain was not too miserable, except when the wind came up. Our three and a half days on the river were perfect, and overall the whole trip was quite a total body workout. 

When the float planes landed we were sad to leave such an unique and remote place, but happy to finally shower and use a flush toilet. 
It was one of the most memorable trips we have ever been a part of and we feel very lucky to have had the experience. We would do it again in a heartbeat!

We can’t say enough good things about our guide Nick and Alaska Alpine Adventures.  If anybody is considering an exciting expedition to Alaska, check them out at www.alaskaalpineadventures.com .. They were totally professional, all the logistics went off without a hitch, and the food was amazing!