Northern Wrangell-St. Elias NP&P

So I am kind of stuck in this awkward middle ground of being a tourist and being a local. On the weekends I am a tourist but Mon-Thurs I need to be a local.

 That truck is my best friend.

So on Saturday I decided to head to Wrangell- St. Elias National Park and Preserve and do a little adventuring. From what I have read (and eventually learned) this is one of the most rugged National Parks there is… no paved trails or roads for that matter like the Grand Canyon. I drove down to the northern end of the park that borders Tetlin NWR. I stopped at the Slana Ranger station (this park is so big they have 2 visitors centers and 3 or more ranger stations). My original plan was to do the northern end on Saturday, camp out, then drive down south and do that area on Sunday and check out the mines and glaciers, I soon found out that would be too much driving in one day and not enough site seeing… so that is going to be saved for next weekend!

 That is officially my favorite picture I have ever taken! I love the reflection. I really abuse the panorama option...

 Some big juju mountain on my way to the park.

 

A big rule- always stop at the Ranger Station. They will help out a lot- i.e. road conditions and bear sightings (thanks to the Forest Service (got sued), federal employees are now obligated to tell a person about any bear sightings on their land recently). I stopped there mainly to find out about road conditions since there are 3 streams crossings on this road and my truck is only 2WD so if the water was high I couldn’t get through… well the water was low. But as you can see by the below video, water being low… is still a lot of water.

 

This park is absolutely beautiful. The road totally sucks and I had to apologize to the truck every other second but the mountains are amazing. I got to where I wanted to go which was about 40 miles in over an hour and a half… yeah had to drive that slow.

 "Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." --John Muir

"The mountains are calling and I must go." --John Muir

 Don't worry. I am still alive.

I decided to hike the Skookum Volcano Trail, which takes you around a non-active volcano.  I would love to say that everything went as planned but it didn’t and I didn’t get to finish the hike which would have been really rewarding. Needless to say when I entered the woods it was about 78 degrees and sunny… hot but perfect. When I got about 45 minutes into the trail a few things happened 1.) my stomach was growling so loud I couldn’t differentiate between me and a bear and 2.) the wind picked up and it started getting overcast very quickly. I have learned weather here changes VERY fast especially the closer you are to the mountains. The Indians have told me to take a lot of caution to the weather changing and follow your instinct. My instinct said it was time to get back to the truck. Quickly in my head I thought about pressing on and ignoring it but then I quickly remembered we are currently in EXTREME fire danger right now to the point that burning is prohibited in Northway, Tok and beyond. Also, I was going up about 2,500 ft in a short amount of time, above the tree line even, exposing me to lightening. It didn’t take to long for my mind and my gut to convince me that it just wasn’t going to happen today. I need to show up to work on Monday anyways. So I went back to the truck instead.

 All geared out. Knife and all.

 Moose poop. You are suppose to talk to yourself, sing or act like you are talking to the animals when you walk in the woods alone (Indians told me) so I kind of look crazy but a lot of times I say "Hey beaaaar!" just in case... but whenever I see moose poop I like to change it up and say "Heyyyyyy mooooose!" Basically it is so you don't surprise any animals.

 A true, glacier fed stream. So pretty.

Wouldn’t you know it I hit storms on my way out! I decided to save my hunger for some REAL food in Tok at Fast Eddies. Another bad idea- I haven’t eat rich, greasy food in a while and that California burger did not let me sleep at all. I stayed at the Headquarter cabins last night in Tok and I am pretty sure it was also the first night I have ever had an issue with it being daylight till midnight- or it was just that stupid burger.

 Found those this morning behind the Tok cabins!!

This morning when I woke up it looked weird out. I know it was suppose to rain but something didn’t seem right. I walked outside of the cabin and it was hazy/overcast/blurry. I couldn’t see the mountains which are always very prominent and it smelled like smoke. Forest fires. I do not know exactly where they are or if it is just the smoke from the fires up in Fairbanks (there are 3 separate fires) blowing down but this was the most smoke I have ever seen. I decided to call off the 12 mile hike I was thinking of doing mainly because I couldn’t tell if it was sunny or overcast. So here I am. Back in Northway- doing laundry, cleaning and perhaps showering… or not.