Fairbanks. I borrowed a bike from a friend and had a great time exploring. Very bike friendly city.
Smooth Ride
The Bird
Fearless Pilot
Landed in Anaktuvuk Pass
Jimmy, the town chef. He rode in the plane with us and invited us for a bite before we headed out.
A quaint reminder before we start.
We just started hiking from town.
lots of caribou bones around.
Many river crossings on this trip. And I did not bring sandles! Huge mistake
Having slogged over Ernie's Pass, we are about to descend into Grizzly Creek and Ernie Creek.
Plenty of interesting wild flowers up there.
A bit spooked after seeing our first bear, we trudge on with the headwaters in sight.
The taiga turns into a marsh during the summer months resulting in consistently wet boots.
Old bear trap.
Suddenly, thunderous noises in the distance.
The god of the gates appeared...
...and told us to avoid this bear. You can just barely see him in the photo, but he was huge!
Reflecting on what we just saw.
We finally reached the North Fork!
The first part of the paddle was fast and required quick thinking and route finding. Super fun though!
The Gates! We camped between them our third night.
Wolf tracks
Storm brewing
Time to paddle in the rain.
The sun finally came out around 7-8pm and we found a place to dry out.
We paddled until ~3am that night. Didn't even notice. Days and nights blended together.
UFOs
Perfect night to paddle.
More bear tracks on our hike out.
Someone/something took a chomp out of these moose antlers.
hello
Mmmmm....
Slogging into the mining camp of Nolan after some brutal marsh & tussock traversing. Still 3 miles left to the car, but at least we can put our bags down.
Stay fresh
Black gold
Coldfoot camp. We came into town right in time for a buffet. I had essentially been fasting the last two days, so stuffing my face with food for 10 minutes resulted in some uncomfortable rumblings (to say the least). Food tasted great though.
