OT - My trip to Gates of the Arctic National Park

MaskedMarvel · February 18

This is the kind of journey where you really get to know someone..…..

… and really get to know one’s self…

kl8ton · February 18

Bump. I want to keep this on the first page of my mobile.

Edit to add: also if anybody is an infrequent reader on the forum .... The story will make their day.

RRP · February 20

And another bump!

buzd504 · February 20

Freakin amazing

ColbyLang · February 21

Friday AM Bump

Sea2Ski · February 21

The trip continued for us. While the clock ticked at the same speed all the time, in some ways the time flew by, but in others, it was as though it was standing still. The time between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm all seemed the same when the sun does not set. And that is why we tried not to look at our watches very often, but we were ever mindful of that one commandment: stop by 6:30 pm.

Instead, we measured progress by short breaks. We would walk 100-200 yards then stop. During that break, we would hunch over with the weight of the packs, and seemingly our world, pushing our feet into the arctic tundra moss. We stopped a few seconds, then continued. As stated before, it was a marathon. We had to finish to win. There was no other option. There was no waiting for some help or for a ride. There was no waiting for the rain to stop or for the sun to go behind a cloud to cool down. The only thing worth waiting for was for you to catch your breath and your beating heart to slow down a bit. Sometimes you waited a hair bit longer for that drip of sweat to drip from your nose. Then you trudged on.

We also learned that if you push yourself, that just when you thought you needed to stop, a higher power put a reward another 20 yards ahead. Then you could bend over, let that weight of the pack balance on your back, but if you chose wisely, you could get a good handful of the most delicious blueberries you ever had. If I did not eat 2000 on that trip, I did not eat one.

On and on we pressed. Step after exhausting step. Ridge over ridge. The biggest goal was to make it the next hundred yards. If you did that, you were doing great.

Slight sidebar- for whatever reason, when I got to the site of this kill, I thought of @S@Stormbringer Same spot, pictures from different directions and perspectives.

Eventually we made our way back to the lake we started.
Success was ours. We immediately set up camp then we gathered more blueberries, cranberries and gooseberries, made a huge dinner, and took a long deserved break.

Shortly after we ate, we fished. It was great to know the next walk we had to take was either to try a new spot to fish or to get to our plane.

So we fished, and foraged and thank God we made it to where we had to be without injury.

We even had a moose swing by from a distance just to remind us that we never were really alone. The good thing is that it stayed that far from us.

That evening we slept wonderfully. We just hoped for clear sky’s or high clouds for the next day.

We woke up and we we socked in with low clouds. We called our float plane pilot and they said it was not looking good for the day, but if things cleared, they would come for us.
So we packed, waited fished, waited, ate, and waited. Morning went by. Then the afternoon hours flew by as the clouds just hung around seemingly mocking us. We tried calling to see if we should set up camp, but no answer. So we waited more. Then waited even more. All of a sudden, just like the ending in a suspenseful movie, as we lay looking up in the sky, we hear an engine in the far off distance. We look and we see the alternating flashing of our float plane. The plane landed and we helped beach it.

We loaded up, Keith got to sit upfront, and just as we were going to take off, he turned and let me know he was happy to be going home.

The flight was tricky, and we had to double around a few times to avoid low clouds, but we made it.

We made it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/bh/x6hqxdif0tvr.jpeg

But the story does not end there….

MaskedMarvel · February 21

I’m grabbing some blueberries from the fridge here.

Foraged from Fresh Market a few days ago…

This is AWESOME

Sea2Ski · February 21

We hung around Coldfoot for a day as we waited for our flight to Fairbanks. During this time, we shipped back all but 40 lbs of our gear. When I say we did it all, I mean we did it ALL at the post office.

The rest of the day we walked around the area.

A day later we ended up not on our nonstop flight, but one that had 2 other stops. The 1 hr flight took 4. We were on Alaska time. But it was beautiful.

Eventually we got home back to Pa. Our boxes of equipment took another 7 weeks to arrive.

It was the most wonderful trip. Despite not succeeding in our original plan, 17 lbs lighter, we adapted, had a medical incident, pushed ourselves harder and further than I ever thought we could go. I would not have changed a thing.

Not one thing…

Thank you for letting me share this experience with you. I had a great time reliving it and sharing some of it with you.

Buckwoody Egger · February 22

awesome! congrats to you and your friend and thanks again for sharing

i am sure that your generous sharing of this story will motivate many people to make a more assertive effort, even if slight, in some way in some area of their life.

Eggdicted_Dawgfan · February 22

Amazing! Thank you for taking the time to share with us, in such detail. I hope to someday have the time and energy to attempt a journey like this.

lousubcap · February 22

Da-n. The last page of an incredible journey.
So as to get out of the selfish mode-You have personally pushed your limits of challenges and likely never knew how much you could mentally and physically achieve when confronted with such adversity. Impressive planning, preparation and execution of such a demanding undertaking.
The personal benefits (never mind the weight loss..

) will stay with you both forever.
Heartiest thank you for sharing.
P.S. You have a book ready story to tell. Go for it!

kl8ton · February 22

Thank you for sharing. I liked that it was broken up into "chapters." What an excellent adventure.

MaskedMarvel · February 22

It’s been incredible, and I genuinely feel you just brought us along for the entire trip.

Whenever you feel like passing some one-off stories that got culled from the primary tale, I’ll be eagerly watching and reading.

Thank you for sharing this. Welcome home.

RRP · February 22

Iffin...just Iffin you have not already sold your whole story to some adventure or man's magazine I have to ask... WHY NOT???

johnmitchell · February 22

This is why I love this forum. Thanks a ton Mark, amazing experience and congratulations to you and Keith 👏👏

Stormbringer · February 22

The most amazing account, thank you.

ColbyLang · February 22

Awesome story and beautiful photos. Thanks again for sharing

Sea2Ski · February 22

Thank you all. It was a fantastic experience. I had rafted for 3-4 days. I had camped for a week at a time. I had been to Alaska 2 times before this trip but with my wife and those trips we drove around in a a rented camper.
This was the first time I/we put everything together, then tripled the length, added in a floatplane ride and decided to go to such a remote location. I mean, go big or go home, right??

Sea2Ski · February 22

MaskedMarvel said:

Whenever you feel like passing some one-off stories that got culled from the primary tale, I’ll be eagerly watching and reading.

Here is a short one for you…
As you might recall, we had 20 mins to get my stuff packed to be flown in a day earlier than planned or there was a good chance the trip would be delayed 3-4 days because of a weather front. So we get dropped off, have the “Oh $h1t” moment watching the one thing that connected us with civilized life and the ability to have access to what you need almost instantly fly away. We got camp all set up, we had eaten, and we climbed on our tents for the first time of the trip. The area was wide open, and I had never been in such a remote location. Not an animal other than fish had been seen to this point.

The adrenaline reserves were depleted. The bear spray was on both sides of the tent and one hanging from the ceiling of the tent. I lay there in my sleeping bag excited, nervous, anxious, tired, and ready for adventure. 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes go by. Then the first hour. Then the second, and I do nothing more than lay there with my eyes closed. Then I did fall asleep for a few minutes only to be awoken by a noise.

I remember it exactly as it happened. Laying there on my right side, eyes still closed, I hear something outside my tent behind me. There are moments of noise and periods of silence. What do I do? Do I stay still? Slowly make increasing noise? Get loud? What is the right decision? If I make the correct decision, I make it to the next day. The wrong one and I am dead and nothing more than a statistic. I have to make a choice and I make up my mind.

Over the next 5 minutes (which in hindsight it was probably 45 seconds to 1 minute) I agonizingly slowly turn over. On my way, I grab a can of bear spray silently from a pocket. I take off the safety and I lock my fingers around the can ready to deploy the spray that will surely choke me, blind me and trigger all my mucus membranes once I pull the trigger. I make it around and I lay there listening. The noise is right there in front of me. Despite the midnight sun allowing me to see as if it was late afternoon, I can not see this animal that is surely going to try to kill and eat me. I slowly and silently start to sit up, and there was the hairy beast. His eyes locked on mine and his ears stood at attention. Who was going to move first? We were in a state down.

They say you should never stare at an angry or aggressive animal in the eye, and I knew this, but I could not look away. Then suddenly the field mouse which was sitting on top of my pack in my tent vestibule looked at me, let go his roar, which to us is a squeak, and took off. I had won!

Funny how everything you hear is louder at night, and your mind instantly takes you to worst case scenario.
That story still makes me laugh to this day.

alaskanassasin · February 22

Bourbon helps with that scenario ^^

shtgunal3 · February 22

Your ability to tell this story and recount events is simply amazing. You told it in a way that I could see what was going on almost as if I were there. Thank you for that.

MaskedMarvel · February 22

Sea2Ski said:

… Then suddenly the field mouse which was sitting on top of my pack in my tent vestibule looked at me, let go his roar, which to us is a squeak, and took off. I had won!
…

I’ve been lucky to backpack a good portion of the Appalachian trail and the field mice in the shelters are.. opportunistic and brave..

I was hoping for a Farley Mowat style response from you! ;p

Stormbringer · February 22

I’m picturing all of the actual journey content and pictures in a single printable PDF file.

OT - My trip to Gates of the Arctic National Park

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