BACK!

I am headed back to the Tundra. I do not want to count the number of too few days I have been home. I will feel more guilt for leaving my daughter behind. But, my husband and I did manage to figure out how I could get onto another tundra trip.

I am going on a river trip in ANWR, on the Kongakut. It is the same river I floated on my first trip to Alaska in 2009. This time we are likely to encounter large numbers (as in tens of thousands) of caribou while we float.

I am excited. I am worried that I won’t be able to deal with being away from Xo. This will be my longest backcountry trip since I had her. I will be in the field 10 nights. Previously my longest was my first since she was born which was 7 nights. But her and I have been spending a lot of time together, a lot of good time. It makes me happy to have those moments with her. It makes me happy when I am having them and after, it’s like the benefits of exercise. My whole soul is warmed. By my daughter, not the exercise.

As with any trip like this that I embark on when I am getting out with strangers, I have concerns. Concerns I will be out with insufferable people. Or that I will be insufferable. That everyone will be too polite. That I won’t enjoy myself. To prepare for this I tell myself it’s a trip about introspection, I bring extra journals, pens, and books to read, just in case. I brought headphones so I can listen to music if I want to. I brought booze. I might even bring a bottle of wine (packed in a soft case), it is a river trip after all.

If I were less tired, I would write about feeling the tundra. Rolling around on it during days that promise to be warm and dry. At least in the current weather forecast. I would write about the majesty of caribou. But because I am on a late night flight to Fairbanks, I am getting to the point where I can’t think that deeply. And it is time to shut this down. I can post when I get to the hotel, it always makes me happy to actually get this posted. It makes for a good start to the trip. Then when I write on the trip I know I can type it up on the way home and get it posted ASAP. No nights left behind.