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Destination ALASKA
Mike and Dani

11th-23rd July, 2016

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The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for 7.2 million U.S.
dollars at approximately two cents per acre. The area was organized as a territory on May 11, 1912
and admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was introduced in
the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut, or
Unangam idiom, which figuratively refers to the mainland of Alaska. Literally, it means object to
which the action of the sea is directed.

As I was in the beginning stages of planning our next adventure, which was to take Europe by rail
across 8 countries (Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain)
which included a three day hut-to-hut hike in the Swiss Alps, Dani brought up the idea of going to
Alaska this year instead, and put off the Europe trip for another year. I found out later that she did not
feel safe going to Europe right then with a record number of terrorist attacks that were planned, foiled
or carried out in European Union countries this year including the attack in Nice, France, another on in
Brussels, Belgium, an explosion at an airport in Istanbul and the deadly theater attack in Paris in
November last year. These are just a small number of all the attacks that took place between 2015 and
2016.

So, without knowing her reason, I thought it would be nice to explore Alaska with her. During my
first tour in the Army I was stationed at Ft. Richardson near Anchorage from January 1979 through
September 1981. After I was discharged from the Army I remained in Alaska for another nine
monthsreturning to California in June of 1982. I had an idea where we would go and what we do
during our weeks in the Land of the Midnight Sun. The plan was to have three unique adventure;
(1) we ride the Great Alaska Railroad from Anchorage, through the
wilderness, to Denali National Park and back, (2) spend three
or four days backpacking and trekking in the backcountry of
Denali National Park, and (3) and then fly to a secluded lake
in a float plane on the Kenia Peninsula of Alaska, stay in a
remote cabin for four days, then fly out.

DAY 1 (Monday, July 11th)

We flew to Alaska in the evening of July 11th, arriving in Anchorage 12 midnight. Danielle figured
out right away why Alaska is known as Land of the Midnight Sun, and I started to have flash-backs
from 36 years ago as it was still twilight outside with the sun just below the horizonIt almost felt
like I never left.

Anchorage
DAY 2 (Tuesday, July 12th)

Our base camp, as you will, was the Best Western Hotel in Anchorage. We would stay there three
different times as we traveled around Alaska, always returning to our base camp.
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The plan for day 2 was to relax and explore Anchorage. Alaska was my first duty station when I
joined the Army. I was always adventurous and when my recruiter gave me the choice of Alaska or
Panama, I jumped on the Alaska choice. Panama sounded pretty exciting too, but I didnt know
much about it at the time. As it turned out, I ended up going there some 15 years later.

My three year tour in Alaska was very exciting and eventful. After only two weeks there, I was
deployed to a field training exercise called Jack Frost in February of 1979. We deployed to Ft
Greely in the interior, which is home to the Armys NWTC (National Winter Training Center), and
also the Militarys Cold Region Test Center where they test all of the Armys equipment in the cold
environment. During the two weeks in the field the average daytime temperature was 15 degrees
below zero, with the coldest night getting to 65 degrees below zero. I dont know how this California
boy survived.

So we decided to take the bus into downtown Anchorage and check out the sights. The weather was
sunny and beautiful when we woke up. These beautiful sunny days would be typical during our two
weeks there, which was unusual from what I remember Alaska summers being like. We loaded the
bus across the street from our hotel and it turned out to be the long route and it ended up taking us
through all the little neighborhoods. It was a good thing we were not in a hurry. We were to take the
Alaska Railroad up to Denali National Park, so we dismounted the bus near the train station to pin-
point its exact location in order to find it easier the next day.

After eating from a local food cart and visiting the train station, we found a foot path that lead around
the waters edge. This took us through some meadows where all the wild flowers were in full bloom
and also gave us a good view of Denali. After taking many pictures, we continued along the path that
wound along the Cook Inlet (the bay Anchorage sits on named after Captain Cook who mapped the
Alaskan coast for the first time during his third voyage in search of the Northwest Passage [1776-
1779]).

I remember there was a statue of Captain Cook in the center of downtown and I was destined to find it.
So we diverted off the path and headed back up to 3rd Ave in search for it. However, my quest to find
it was a failure, but we did find many other artifacts and artwork along the route.

Sometime in the afternoon we headed for the bus stop. We still had to do some final packing before
the next day. The only thing we were taking was what we needed, and could carry, in our backpacks
to survive for the next few days in the Alaska wilderness. The rest we left at the hotel since we were
staying there again once we came out of the back country.

During our repacking at the hotel, I came across our first obstacle. It seems I had forgotten to pack our
climbing stove we would need to cook with along with a few other items. This is an item we could not
go without, so I immediately started googling outdoor outfitters in Anchorage. I found an REI store
about 1.5 miles away. After a 10 dollar taxi ride and a $130 stove, I headed back to the hotel. I
choose to walk the 1.5 miles instead of spending another 10 dollars.

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After getting back to the room, I continued to pack for the back country and within 10 minutes I found
my stove, you know, the one I thought I left behind and spent an hour and a half and $140 getting
another. I also found the other items we were missing. Of course they were in the cooler we used as a
suitcase (because we will need a cooler at the cabin later), the one I looked at and assumed it was
not in there before my quest to get another one.

The Great Train Ride

DAY 3 (Wednesday, July 13th)

Wednesday we boarded the bus early and debarked near the train
station. The Alaska Railroad is a railroad that extends from Seward
and Whittier, in the south of the state of Alaska, to Fairbanks (passing
through Anchorage), and beyond to Eielson Air Force Base and Fort
Wainwright in the interior of that state. It carries both freight and
passengers throughout its system, including Denali National Park.
The railroad has a mainline over 470 miles long and is well over 500
miles including branch lines and siding tracks. It is currently owned
by the state of Alaska. The railroad is connected to the contiguous 48
via three rail barges that sail between the Port of Whittier, Alaska and
Harbor Island in Seattle, but does not currently have a direct, land-
based connection with any other railroad lines on the North American
network.

As soon as the train left Anchorage city limits, we were in the

wilderness. The train has a rooftop viewing area with dome windows
all around. From there we had great views of the surrounding
Riding the rails wilderness and the wildlife that lives there. The day was clear, sunny and
beautiful. There is only one point on the railroad line that has a great view of Denali which was the
time we were able to see the mountain completely due to the low ceiling. The mountain is so huge it
is normally obscured by clouds. We watched the mountain until it was out of view.

We arrived on schedule at Denali National Park. The last time I was here at the park (1979), I had
hitch-hiked up from Anchorage (Ft Richardson) with an Army buddy. Our plan then was to climb Mt
McKinley by taking the wilderness bus to Wonder Lake 75 miles into the backcountry, hike the 20
miles across the tundra (3 days) to the pass that gave us access to the Muldrow Glacier. We then
climbed the north route up the glacier, through the Lower and Upper Ice Fall and up the summit ridge
and onto the summit. This was in August and the snow level was down to 2,000 feet. This is another
story; see The White Mountain. Fast forward 37 years and I am back with my beautiful wife of
three years to give her the great Alaskan wilderness experience. I had really been anticipating this trip
and it would be 180 degree turn to the Panama trip we took two years earlier.

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Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain peak in North America with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet
above sea level. With a topographic prominence of 20,156 feet and a topographic isolation of 4,629
miles, Denali is the third most prominent and third most isolated peak after Mount Everest in the
Himalayas and Aconcagua in South America. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S.
state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

The Koyukon Athabaskans who inhabit the area around the mountain have for centuries referred to the
peak as Dinale or Denali. The name is based on a Koyukon word for "high" or "tall". In 1896, a gold
prospector named it McKinley as political support for then-presidential candidate William McKinley,
who became president the following year. On August 30, 2015, just ahead of a presidential visit to
Alaska, the Barack Obama administration announced the name Denali would be restored and issued
the order changing the name to Denali, its indigenous name, on August 28, 2015, effective
immediately. So, although the mountain was called Mt McKinley while I was stationed there, I will
refer to it by its current official name, Denali, from here on.

Once we arrive in Denali National Park, we headed straight for the ranger station to get our permits.
The first thing we had to do was to watch a short film about how to survive the wildlife, mostly how to
survive in bear country (such as storing food in this bear proof drum they issued each one and to store
it 100 feet from our tent, dont get to close, stay your distance, dont camp near watering hole, etc.,
etc. etc). Then we had to go through a briefing by one of the park rangers; all the dos and donts.
She began the brief on the outside porch where there is a huge map of the backcountry and benches for
the backpackers and climbing parties to sit on. But sometime during her briefing it started to hail; the
more she talked, the harder it hailed until we could no longer hear herthe tin roof was not helping
matters. All three of us could not hold back our laughing and she brought us inside to finish up the
brief.

Once the brief was complete, we had to go and get our permits. The park is broken up in sectors and
there could only be so many people in a section, usually 6 to 9. After studying the maps, we chose our
section. We were allowed two, but with only three days out there, we only needed one. Each section
is pretty big, covering thousands of acres each. We also had to get our bus ticket and reservations.
There are two types of buses that run into the park-the tour bus and the bus that takes backpackers and
climbers; they called it a camper bus, but it wasnt a camper bus, just a normal bus. The difference
is, the tour bus will make a lot of stops during wildlife sittings for the tourists to take pictures and the
camper bus is just to get backpackers out to their section and drop them off.

After we received our permits, we jumped on a shuttle that took us to a local camp ground. The
campground was nice, with a small store and laundromat. I was really surprised by the lack of
mosquitoes, although not complaining. One thing I forgot to bring was flip-flops for the campground,
so I bought some from the store. I had a blister from them within the 5 minutes it took to walk back to
the campsite from the store. The only ones they had were the one that are secured between the toes. I
never wore them again. I gave them to Dani afterwards. We set up camp, built a fire, repacked our
food into the bear drums, cooked dinner, had a couple of cold ones, and settled in our tent for the
night.

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Into The Wild

DAY 4-7 (July 14-17)

We woke early, packed up and boarded the shuttle bus back to the
wilderness access center where we would catch our camper bus into
the backcountry. We boarded around 9 AM and headed east via the
wilderness access road with a few more people who were heading
into the wilderness to do some trekking. The bus made a few stops
as we were able to view dull sheep, caribou, bald eagles and bears.
We arrived at our destination after about 3 hours on the bus and
disembarked.

The famous ice climber yvon Chouinard once wrote The word
adventure has gotten over used-for me, when everything goes
wrong-thats when the adventure starts. So, I think this is where it
started for us. The bus driver told us there were two good locations
where there was access to Denali National Park basin; at one
location we would have a river bar to cross right from the get-go, but
it was easy access; the other, which is where most climber choose,
included a 300 foot down climb of a ridge to the valley, and a small
stream crossing. We choose that one since we did not want to start
off the day with getting our feet soakedplus, it didnt look to bad Dani crossing one of the
from the bus. We off loaded the bus, put on some light rain gear as numerous streams/rivers
it started to rain lightly, waved good-by and headed down the ridge. Yes, it looked easier than it was.
Not only was it steeper than we thought, the sun came out and we began to cook in our rain gear. We
stripped off some gear before finally getting to the bottom.

The vegetation on the basin floor included these four foot high brush that we had to navigate around
like a maze. We came
across a river bar and
decided to walk along
the gravel to stay out of
the brush. While
walking along this bar,
we turned and saw a very
large grizzly bear near
the ridge we had just
come down. He was a
little way up so we could
see him well. Within a
few seconds of spotting
him he stood up on his
On the basin floor hind legs looking in our
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direction. We couldnt tell if he was looking at us or not but we both just stood there, not saying a
word to each other, wondering what his next move was going to be. Within a minute, a tour bus on
the road above spooked him and he started running down the slope, full speed, right in our direction.
Danielle was carrying bear mace, and I was carrying a 40 caliber handgun just for this reason. The
mac would have been our first line of defense, followed by the gun. But neither one of us wanted to
kill a bear unless our lives were in danger. We did not feel that threatened yet, until the bear
disappeared into the brush as it came down the slope. We were not sure where he was, or if he was
still heading in our direction. We waited it out for a couple of minutes before turning and continuing
on our route south, towards the mountainskeeping eyes in the back of our heads.

The mountains to the south of us was the Alaska Range. This range has
some of the highest mountains in North America, including the highest
mountain in North AmericaDenali (20,320 feet). We were right at the
foot of this range. Because of its northern locations, the Alaska Range has
numerous glaciers. These glacier wound down through the mountains and
emptied out on the basin floor creating river bars. When crossing one
river bar, you really end up crossing numerous rivers that all crisscross
each other along the route it takes. They never crisscross at the same
point, so it takes some navigation to try and cross the fewest, and to
locate the shallow ones. The force of the water will knock you over if it
gets too deep.
The river bar Bob and I crossed back in 1980 (The McKinley
River Bar), was a mile wide and it took us one full day to cross.
The water was deeper then and much more dangerous to cross
even though it was in August.
We eventually had to cross the bar we had been walking on, since it was
taking us up a valley we didnt want to go. We made it across and headed up the far
bank back into the brush.

With a base of 3,000 feet, Denali is said to be the highest mountain in the world above its own base. It
raises from 3,000 to 20,320 feet in such a short distance. That is about a 17,000 foot elevation gain.
The summit of Mt Everest sits at 29,029 feet which uses the Tibet Autonomous Region as its base at
an altitude of 15,000 feet. That means the highest mountain in the world raises only 15,000 feet from
its base. Its about 4 or 5 miles across the tundra from the park access road to the base of the Alaska
Rangethen it just shoots up out of the valley below. As soon as you hit the base of the mountain
range, you are in the alpine area and the mountain climbing begins.

We had set a route that would take us up a hill that sat at the base of the range. If we set
up our base camp here, it was high enough up to give us a great view of the mountains
and the basin below. We navigated around the brush, crossed river bars, walked through
the gravel and tundra and eventually reached the foot of the hill. The hill was only
a couple hundred feet up from the basin floor, but high enough for a great view of
the valley and any wildlife in our area. It was also near a small stream of snow run-off.
There were glacier rivers everywhere, but the problem with that is glacier water is very
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cloudy, which is silt the glacier pickup as it makes its way down the mountains, and not very good to
drink. We set up our tent, filled our water bottles and settled in for the night.

The summer Alaskan nights did not really feel like night time with the sky always at a twilight, never
seeing a star. I reminiscence of times long pastall the summer nights I spent in the Alaskan
wilderness while stationed here in the Armyboth military training and venturing out on my own. 30
years have passed, but upon returning, it seems like it was so recent.

One particular event I

recall back in 1980 was
when my Army/climbing
buddy (Bob Boston) and
I crossed the basin for
the first time (at a wider
point20 miles from the
access road to the base
of the Alaska Range) on
our approach march to
climb Mt McKinley (what
is now Denali). It was a
three day hike which
included a whole day to
Great view from camp cross the McKinley
River Bar. We set up
camp at the edge of a fresh water creek (about 10 miles from where we were camped now) at
the base of the Alaska Range to rest of for a couple for days before starting our climb. We
awoke in the middle of the night to a sound and a very large shadow moving back and forth
across the tent and realized there was a bear roaming our campsite. Bob pulled out his .357
and asked me if he should shoot through the wall. Of course I stopped him. One reason is I
didnt want to trigger the bear to attack if he was just looking for food outside and two, I didnt
want him to put a bullet hole through my $400 tent (it was bad enough we ended up having a
tent fire high up on the mountain two days later putting a hole in the floor).

The bear wondered around for a bit before walking off. We stayed in the tent and slept with
one eye open for the rest of the night. That morning we saw the bear paw prints in the sand by
the creek we were camped nearnothing ripped apart though. We did go for a hike up a
nearby hill that day just to relax and stretch out our legs a bit before heading up the big
mountain (the land of snow and ice) and saw that same bear walking around about 300 yards
from the tent. We were certain to make a lot of noise as we hiked back to the tent to ensure the
bear knew we were aroundhe knew.

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The next day Dani and I decided to hike farther up the mountain from our camp site where we thought
we could get an awesome view of the mountains to the south and the glaciers coming off of them.
There was a summit to just to the south that was our goal for the days hike. It was about another
1,000 foot elevation gain and we figured we could get there in about 3 hours. So we packed a lunch
consisting of crackers, beef jerky, candy, granola bars, and water then headed up. The climb seemed a
little easy, probable because we are used to carrying a heavier load up a steeper mountainbut we
were not complainingonly enjoying. It wasnt until we crested a ridge before we realized our goal
was out of reach. There was a smaller mountain top in front of our targeted mountain top we had to

Dani hiking up towards the Alaska Range as she crests the top of the hill where we could not go any farther

summit first. Upon summiting, we noticed the mountain drop back down 4 or 5 hundred feet before
climbing back up to our summit goal. The slope was very steep on both sides and nothing but scree
(very loose rock). We did not set our motivation level this high, so we opted out and called it good
herethe view was still awesome. After lunch and a photo op, we headed back down to camp.

That night the rain came in (the very little rain we saw in the two weeks there) and we found out our
tent was getting worn and now leakedtime for a new tent. We had a 5 dollar poncho we bought at
Wal-Mart as an emergency shelter, or ground cover, so we threw it over the top of the tent. It saved us
from getting wet that night.

The next day we woke up, packed up, topped off our water bottles at the fresh water creek nearby and
headed back down the mountain towards the access road to the north so we could flag down a bus ride
out. Instead of shooting towards the ridge we came down, we headed more to the left (west) to where
the road came almost all the way down into the basin. We had more river bars to cross, but at this
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point we really didnt care. We must have ended up crossing around 10 rivers in all, some of the same
ones twice. I know we had to stop at least once so I could remove all the rocks and gravel out of my
shoes. Just before we reached the road,
we came across some hikers (the only
other people we saw out there) who
were out on a day hike. A bus was
approaching just as we reached the road.
I made it up to the road first as Dani was
still beating brush up the hill and ran up
the last 100 feet to flag him down. We
loaded up and headed back to the park
entrance.

We spent the last night at the Denali

National Park campground; the same
walk in camp site we spent the first
night where we were able to clean up
and do laundry.

The next day we packed up our camp

and boarded the shuttle bus to the train
station. The train ride back was mostly
a commute rather than a site-seeing tour
like it was on the way up as we slept
quite a bit. Once we arrived back in
Anchorage we walked to the bus stop
and boarded a bus that would take us
back to our hotel where we had left
some of our belongings, and where we
would stay for the night.

Mike, looking to the South toward the Northern edge

of the Alaska Range

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Cabin by the Lake

DAY 8-11 (July 18-21)

We had to get up early to get to Lake Hood, the worlds largest float-plane airport, as we had chartered
a float plane to fly us to the Upper Russian Lake where we rented a cabin from the forest service. We
arrived at the charter plane service (Ellison Air) 15-20 minutes early, as required by me, in order to
sort out our gear and determine how much room there would be for our gear. Anything that was not a
necessity for our cabin stay we stored in the air services office for the next few days.

This cabin laid along the Russian Lake Trail about 12 miles from the Sterling Highway on the Kenai
Peninsula. The cabin was built back in 1950 but has recently been refurbished; however, it was still a
primitive cabin with no running water, power, cooler or stove. So we took all this into consideration
when planning and packing for this trip. We always end up taking too much gear with us on trips
because we do so much. In Panama we would stay in hotels, bungalows and camping on the beach
and in the jungle. So we needed to pack the gear needed for survival in the jungle such as ponchos,
hammocks, utensils to cook with and stuff for activities like snorkeling gear. This time, we needed
backpacking gear to survive in the backcountry for four days, and equipment to live in a primitive
cabin for four days. For the cabin, we brought a cooler, stove for cooking, four days of food, water,
sports drinks, fishing gear, and other camping gear to make our stay in the backwoods more
comfortable (at least a little more comfortable than we were living out of what we could only carry on
our backs like we did in Denali).

The seaplane company we chartered through was Allison Air, a family owned company who has been
flying in Alaska for more than thirty years. We met John, our pilot, who has been in Alaska since I
left 30 years ago. During the winter months (off season) he spends his time skiing in Idaho while his
wife earns money as a school teacher. He also had two teenage daughters that he is teaching to run the
business and a couple of yellow labs that hung around.

John loaded the plane with our gearthen

usand off we went with me in the front seat
and Dani in the back (not before banging my
head on the wing as I entered the plane of
course). Two things I never did the three years
I spent here; ride the Alaska Railroad and fly
in a seaplane. Of course, as a young soldier I
didnt have much money to spend so my
means of transportation outside the city of
Anchorage was to hitchhike. When I talk
about it today with family and friends, I always
get the same response...Oh, I would not do
something like that todayits too dangerous.
Thats the same thing people used to say back then

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The flight to the lake mostly consisted of us snapping pictures and videos. It was a beautiful flight.
The flight path took us along the border of the Chugach Mountain Range which is the northernmost of
the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North
America. The position along the Gulf of Alaska ensures more snowfall in the Chugach than anywhere
else in the world, an annual average of over 600 in. These are the mountains I learned to both ski and
climb in.

The Russian Lakes are imbedded within these mountains along the Kenai, the southernmost peninsula
of Alaska and are a popular spot for sports fishing and bear watching. We wanted to do a little of
both.

John flew a couple of laps around the lake to observe the location
of nearby bears as to not sneak up on any. Most of them were at
the southeastern part of the lake where the head of the Russian
River laid. This is where the lake empties out and flows into the
sea and the where Salmon were currently spawninghence the
reason for the large turn-out of bears in that area. This was not a
problem since the cabin was on the other side of the lake. We
wanted to see bears, but we did not want bears to visit our cabin in the middle of the night.

John landed the plane and we off loaded our gear. The cabin was only a hundred yards from the
waters edge so we carried our equipment from the plane to the cabin only to find it was already
occupied. After greeting the current occupants, we found that we were a bit too early as they did not
have to vacate the cabin until noon. It was about 1030. They let us store are food in the cabin, away
from wildlife, and use the row boat (comes with the cabin) to kill some time on the lake. We said
goodbye to John and he took offwe wouldnt see him for another four days.

The cabin tenants, who were on mountain bikes, gave us a break and departed a little early. We
occupied the cabin and began to organize our gear. The cabin consisted of a hand-crafted wooden
table, bench seats, food preparation table, shelves for storage, a wood burning stove and four wooden
platforms for sleepingtwo lower and two upper. We used the two upper for storing our gear. Inside
also contained numerous items donated or left behind by other tenants such as games, books and
magazines. Outside was a fire pit with a couple of bench
seats around it, two hand-crafted wooden seats on the
porch, a firewood storage shelter (no wood), an ax and a
tree saw and lots of biting flies. We had to ensure the door
remained closed in order to keep the flies out. They were
pretty tough too. It took half a can of insect repellent
before it began to take effect. We brought plenty of bug
juice, and there were two or three more cans left behind by
previous occupants. Within a few feet of the cabin was a
running stream that proved useful for storing our drinks to
keep them cold. We put them in a net we had and tied it to
a branch or rock.
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The first day was mostly collecting firewood,

preparing meals and relaxing on the shore of the
lake. We also had some reading to do. We were in
the middle of taking our Outdoor Emergency Care
Course and had a mid-tern exam right as soon as we
got back. In fact, it was the very next day upon
returning home. We ended up having to reschedule
the mid-term because our flight was push back twice
as we waited in the airport in the wee hours of the
morning.
Our cabin by the lake
The rivers are mostly snow
and ice runoff and are much colder than the lakes because of it. The lake
tends to warm up a little and it felt refreshing to put down our books and
wade in the water a while as it was nearing 80 degrees that day. I cant
believe the weather weve been havinggot so lucky.

The next morning I got up earlier than Dani, as I always do, and took the boat
out to try my luck in catching us a little dinner. I managed to bring in two
medium size touts (and told Dani about the big one that got awayit wasit
was way bigger than the ones I brought her to cookwell, it was!). The rest
of the day was spent relaxing, reading, cutting firewood and preparing meals. Dani preparing dinner

The next day we went for a hike down the trail to get some exercise and to
explore a little. The meadows were beautiful and we took quite a few pictures as the wild flowers
were in full bloom. We returned to the cabin a few hours later. That evening a hiker stumbled upon
our cabin looking for another cabin on the lake. We showed him where it was on the map and he
scurried off up the trail.

On the day of our flight out of there we packed up and moved everything down to the shore of the
lake. He was supposed to fly in at 9 AM. It was 10 AM before we began to worry a little. What
could be holding him up we thought? There were so many things going through our minds. Did he
forget about us? Was there an emergency he needed to attend to? Did he crash? Danielle thought she
felt an earthquake during the night and now we began to discuss scenarios such as the world was
destroyed, everyone was dead and we were the only humans left and stranded in the wilderness. It is a
strange feeling when you are out in the back country and you have no way of communicating with the
only person you can rely on to get you out of thereand he missed his pick-up time. Things start
going through your mind. It has been raining that morning but not much. Was he unable to fly in the
weather? It didnt seem that bad. The ceiling did seemed low however. The mountains we had been
admiring for the last four days was now obscured by the clouds.

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11 AMNo plane. We began to discuss what we will do if he does

not return. The highway is 12 miles to the west. We can hike it if we
need to. But we would have to leave much of our equipment behind.
We would only take what we would need to survive for a couple of
days. We would leave a note in the cabin for whoever arrived before
we could return. We left our equipment at the lake and went back to
the cabin to wait.
Dani waiting for our ride out

Around 11:30 Am we heard a plane land on the lake. We both rushed

to the waters edge to see John taxing to the shore. What a relief! It turned out that it had been raining
much harder in Anchorage than at the lake. The ceiling was much too low and visibility was limited.
He waited for a couple of hours before determining it was safe to fly in. The flight was about 30
minutes. We loaded our gear with relief and was on our way out of the wilderness.

We stayed in the Best Western that night and repacked all our gear for the trip back to Oregon. The
next day was our flight back home, but it wasnt scheduled to leave until midnight. We had to be out
by noon so we headed to the airport and set up camp in the terminalliterally. We spread our
blankets on the floor, inflated the air mattresses and kicked back.
Since the flight was delayed twice, we ended up camping out in the
airport for about 11 hours. We watched a lot of Netflix on our phone.
There were some others who were camped out nearby also.

We arrived back in Oregon sometime the next dayand went to bed.

Camped out in the airport

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