Getting dropped off in the rain sucks. It sucks more when an airplane is dropping you off in a remote wilderness and then you have to wait for the plane to go fetch the rest of your party and all you can do is stand around and wait. Or put up a megamid, get out of the wind and make hot drinks. Or walk around in circles to stay warm.
Also, it was cold. Last time I went backpacking in Alaska it started raining promptly as the bush plane flew away. But it wasn’t that hard, it wasn’t sustained, and it wasn’t that cold. None of that applied to this day.
I spent that night with my feet on Rebecca’s stomach they had gotten so numb. I explained that that had not happened in two decades.
But I was happy to be on the Tundra. I was happy to breath the ANWR air. I just wanted to also be warm.
On our hike we encountered Auf Eiss. It is very blue. I think I would have been even more impressed if the sun had been out. Or if I could have felt my toes. Better luck next time. But I have photos.
We were dropped off at Collins Strip on the Chandalar River. I feel like I had heard Michael say Chandalar 100 times, and now I have a picture and a sense of where it belongs in the scheme of ANWR and my mind.
We didn’t hike very far the first day, we needed to strike camp. It was cold, we were wet. And cold. I think I said we were cold. But there was a lot of cold on this hike.
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