i'm playing catch up with blogging the events of the last few weeks.
three years ago i began planning for a bike trip through denali national park. my original intention was to bike 40+ miles of the park road in the middle of the night on the summer solstice in june 2011. some are familiar with the story- a month before the bike trip i developed a nasty case of sciatica, cancelled the trip two days before i was scheduled to do it, and spent the next 5 months in bed waiting for insurance to approve my surgery. after moving to the st. louis area shortly after my surgery to help my family after my mom's stroke and subsequent 6-month coma, the bike trip that never happened was like a bug bite that constantly itched. i thought about it constantly. when i returned to alaska in early september, the first thing i did was to go to denali to do an abridged version of the original trip i had planned. this time of year the park no longer operates buses through the park and the park road is open to private vehicles up to mile 30 (the teklanika rest stop). i did two 1-day trips on the bike during my week in denali:
day trip 1: i got up at 5a and drove to the teklanika rest stop at mile 30. it was about 35 degrees out and looked to get warmer so i dressed lightly. my goal was to bike to a couple miles past the toklat river (mile 52) where a wolf pack had a den. my sister em and i were fortunate to watch the members of that pack for over an hour in 2010. the road starts out flat for 3 miles, then climbs through igloo canyon to sable pass. at this point i'm about 10 miles from where i started. the warming up that i thought would happen never did, and although i just pedaled uphill for the previous hour- i'm still cold. every article of clothing i packed along was put on. from sable pass the road descends for several miles to the east fork river. midway through this descent is where i saw my first bear- a big, beautiful chocolate colored male grazing on blueberries. i stopped to take a few pictures- not because they would turn out well because he was far away, but because i needed to warm up. the descent is pretty fast, so on a 35 degree morning and cruising downhill at 20+ mph- that makes a windchill of 23-24 degrees. snot covered my face and my arms and shoulders were shivering. mind you- these are not complaints and i wasn't complaining at the time. during the past two summers in st. louis, i was constantly wishing to be cold. i got what i asked for- and i was thankful. i ate several spoonfulls of peanut butter and did some pushups on the side of the road. after 10 minutes i was warm enough to finish the descent to the east fork river. once over the east fork, the road then heads upwards again to polychrome pass.
by that point the road is carved into the side of a mountain with no guardrail to stop you from falling hundreds of feet to the east fork river below, if one were to lose control. to call the views spectacular would be the understatement of the day. the pass- and the mountain- are named for the colorful exposed rocks along the road. by this point i'm using gears on the bike i've never used before. they are the gears that look like you're pedaling fast but in reality you're moving very, very slowly. other than a couple park vehicles that passed me, i'm the only person around. the silence is wonderful. reaching the pass called for a celebration, so i broke out the peanut butter, chocolate chips, and powdered gatorade and had myself a one-man party. the shoulder seasons are definitely the best time to access denali national park. the fall colors were just days past their peak, but still beautiful, and contrasted well with the snow that had accumulated on the peaks. and not a soul or bus in sight.
from polychrome pass the road takes a long descent to the toklat river valley. the wolf den is just a couple miles past the toklat river, so it's not even 10a and i've almost reached my goal. it's warmed up to at least 40 degrees by now and i'm not the popsicle i was on the previous descent. as i crest the hill above the toklat river valley, i run into an impenetrable fog bank. the entire western side of the valley is covered in low fog and visibility is close to 0. realizing that my chances of seeing the wolves are nil, i stopped at the toklat river for lunch and while eating decided that i would head back in the interest of not over-doing it on my first day in the park. i'd already biked 22 miles, so 44 on the first day is more than enough. after lunch i turned back towards the way i came and walked my bike for about a mile to enjoy a slower pace, and allow myself to digest. it was at this point that my right thigh exploded and spewed soft tissue all over the road- at least that's what it felt like. that's fine, i'll just walk a little further and a little slower. ok, now i have a full-bore spasm in my right thigh. it's contracted so hard that i'm certain that i'll be walking the 21 miles back to my rv at the teklanika river. but it felt great while i was biking, so i decide to get back on the bike and take it slow. the spasms stopped and the pain went away immediately- but then my left thigh exploded. i'm pedaling with just my right leg and have my left foot disconnected from the pedal and just hanging off to the side. there's no way i was going to make the climb back up to polychrome pass pedaling with just my right leg, so getting off and stretching sounded like the second best idea (right behind curling up in the bushes and taking a nap). within minutes i had the pain and spasms stretched out of my thighs and was back on the bike. the climb was painfree and easy. after a pee-break at polychrome pass, i did a double-check of my brakes as it was imperative that they were in perfect working condition on the descent down to the east fork river. it was thrilling, biking down the park road along the cliff- not because i was going fast but because of the exposure. there was nothing but a several hundred foot drop to my right for several miles. midway down i encountered the first person (other than a couple park staff members) i saw all morning. he was a 50-something guy with a rip van winkle beard, helmet on crooked, fogged up glasses, and wearing what looked like nothing but shorts and a windbreaker. he was happy as a clam. we stopped and chatted for a couple minutes. he'd been biking the park road once it closed to buses for 20+ years, and every year was just as awesome as the previous one. we wished each other a good day and i continued down to the east fork.
the climb back up to sable pass was the part of the day i dreaded most. it was the longest slog uphill, i was tired and i was ready to be done biking. it took me almost two hours (and several stops along the way) to reach the pass. the only thing that kept me going was knowing that if i continued to pedal that at some point i would get there. i thought about how that could be a good metaphor for life. i thought of the times in my life where i kept pedaling, the times where i stopped pedaling, and where those decisions led to. i thought of all the times in the past two years that i was in st. louis daydreaming about this trip, and here i was with my nose running, legs aching, feet sore, and hands cold and it was fucking awesome. i charged up the last half mile of the pass, threw my bike down and was about to roar to the heavens when i realized that i couldn't stand up straight because of the ache in my legs- so i got back on the bike because it was the only steady place to be and continued on. i stopped at one point in igloo canyon to photograph a mother and two cubs up on a hillside. at that point my hands were so cold that i thought i was pressing the shutter button on the camera, but instead i was just pressing the camera body. the bears could've been riding on the back of a moose doing circus tricks with flying dolphins in the air and i wouldn't have got the shot. i got back on the bike and continued downhill. after about 500 yards, my bag containing my telephoto lens slipped out from the bungee net securing it to my rear rack fell off and bounced along the road. shit. thankfully it was in a padded case and no harm done. i got back on the bike and continued on. after 100 yards the bike lurched forward and forced me to a stop. one of the straps from the fanny pack i lashed to the side of the bike had come loose and caught itself in the rear wheel hub. i just want to go home and eat something and be warm. it took a pocket knife, a pair of pliers, a couple strings of profanity, and dexterity i thought impossible because i couldn't feel my fingers to get it unwound from the hub. once i arrived at my home on wheels, i got undressed as fast as i could and climbed into the warmest, fleeciest clothes i had and climbed into my sleeping bag. i was sore and raw and chapped and happy. i watched as cars drove up and the people got out to look at the teklanika, and then get back in their cars and drive away. i was glad that that's the extent of recreating that most people do because it allowed me to have 20+ miles of the backcountry to myself, except for the biker i met on the way down from polychrome. then i passed out for the next 12 hours, and when i woke up- i wasn't sore. i didn't feel like i just biked 44 miles in 30 degree temps in 11 hours. that was pretty great.
i'll be more succinct about bike ride #2 two days later: there was a 1/2 inch of snow on the ground when i left teklanika. there was 1 inch at sable pass. i was dressed for cold weather and a cold thought didn't enter my head the entire time. i took the descents much slower because i did not have tires made for snow. the uphills were more laborious because gaining traction was difficult. it was beautiful to see the park covered in snow. on the ascent to polychrome, the people in the park vehicles that were passing me gawked at the goon biking in the snow. despite the slower pace, i was having a great time. just past polychrome pass (where the snow was 2 inches deep and still falling), there was a herd of male dall sheep grazing just off the road. i ditched the bike and pulled out the camera and tripod. after a few minutes they went about 80 yards uphill, so i went 80 yards uphill. i brought hiking shoes, but i might as well be wearing frying pans on my feet hiking up the route i chose to get the best vantage point of the sheep. they laid down and watched with amusement as i fell my way up the hill. i finally reached a point directly across from them, snapped several photos, and ate some frozen blueberries that were all over the hillside. god, they were good.
it became clear that i should head down to level ground before i injure myself in a location that i likely wouldn't be found until late spring. as i turned to leave, this was staring at me 20' away:
he continued to stare as i fell down in surprise and again while attempting to set up the tripod. it seemed like the slope i was standing on- covered in snow- was close to 90 degrees, maybe 85. he clearly wasn't afraid of me because he knew he could knock me right off the side of the mountain. he also had his two big brothers with him.
after a few photos i reached my bike with just a few scuff marks on my butt and knees from falling. i decided that was a good point to turn back towards teklanika. it was still snowing and soon it would be impossible to bike through the snow. as i loaded my gear on my bike, i noticed that the back wheel had come off. i don't know how or why. i certainly wasn't going to bike the descent from polychrome to the east fork, through snow, with a back wheel that might come off at any time- so i walked. as luck would have it, an employee of one of the private lodges at the end of the park road driving a load of supplies to the park entrance stopped and offered a ride. of course i took it, that meant i could be back by lunch, get a nap, and be warm and well-fed for the second half of the day. he was just out of college, just spent his first summer in alaska, hadn't been out of the park since may, and dreaded having to leave and fly back to maryland. he'd been bitten by the alaska bug and vowed that he was coming back next summer and staying for good that time. when he dropped me and my bike off, i offered him two beers for picking me up (earlier i had asked him what he was most looking forward to on his return to civilization and his response was "a beer").
with all the new snow and more in the forecast, i knew that was the end of my biking in denali on this trip. it wasn't exactly how i had daydreamed it to be so many times the previous two years, but it was perfect none-the-less. i look forward to doing it again next spring before the park opens to the tour buses, and again on the summer solstice, in the middle of the night when it's bright enough that no flashlight or headlamp is necessary.
friday morning (10/11/13) graeme and i will be leaving anchorage and heading north for the next couple months. our goal is to photograph the aurora borealis from several different locations between trapper creek and fairbanks. we'll decide where we'll go first based on where will have the clearest skies this weekend. internet access will be sporadic, but will update when i can. here's a snap of the northern lights from last night. it's taken from the driveway of the house i stay at while in town. anchorage is to the north between us and the lights, so it casts an ugly orange glow that i look forward to not being present in the near future.
i'm tired, was up until 3a watching the lights last night, and ran around like a moron today trying to get ready to leave. i've just typed a lot, there was a lot to remember, and i'm sure there's typos and abuses of grammar. i promise future posts will not be so long-winded.
three years ago i began planning for a bike trip through denali national park. my original intention was to bike 40+ miles of the park road in the middle of the night on the summer solstice in june 2011. some are familiar with the story- a month before the bike trip i developed a nasty case of sciatica, cancelled the trip two days before i was scheduled to do it, and spent the next 5 months in bed waiting for insurance to approve my surgery. after moving to the st. louis area shortly after my surgery to help my family after my mom's stroke and subsequent 6-month coma, the bike trip that never happened was like a bug bite that constantly itched. i thought about it constantly. when i returned to alaska in early september, the first thing i did was to go to denali to do an abridged version of the original trip i had planned. this time of year the park no longer operates buses through the park and the park road is open to private vehicles up to mile 30 (the teklanika rest stop). i did two 1-day trips on the bike during my week in denali:
day trip 1: i got up at 5a and drove to the teklanika rest stop at mile 30. it was about 35 degrees out and looked to get warmer so i dressed lightly. my goal was to bike to a couple miles past the toklat river (mile 52) where a wolf pack had a den. my sister em and i were fortunate to watch the members of that pack for over an hour in 2010. the road starts out flat for 3 miles, then climbs through igloo canyon to sable pass. at this point i'm about 10 miles from where i started. the warming up that i thought would happen never did, and although i just pedaled uphill for the previous hour- i'm still cold. every article of clothing i packed along was put on. from sable pass the road descends for several miles to the east fork river. midway through this descent is where i saw my first bear- a big, beautiful chocolate colored male grazing on blueberries. i stopped to take a few pictures- not because they would turn out well because he was far away, but because i needed to warm up. the descent is pretty fast, so on a 35 degree morning and cruising downhill at 20+ mph- that makes a windchill of 23-24 degrees. snot covered my face and my arms and shoulders were shivering. mind you- these are not complaints and i wasn't complaining at the time. during the past two summers in st. louis, i was constantly wishing to be cold. i got what i asked for- and i was thankful. i ate several spoonfulls of peanut butter and did some pushups on the side of the road. after 10 minutes i was warm enough to finish the descent to the east fork river. once over the east fork, the road then heads upwards again to polychrome pass.
by that point the road is carved into the side of a mountain with no guardrail to stop you from falling hundreds of feet to the east fork river below, if one were to lose control. to call the views spectacular would be the understatement of the day. the pass- and the mountain- are named for the colorful exposed rocks along the road. by this point i'm using gears on the bike i've never used before. they are the gears that look like you're pedaling fast but in reality you're moving very, very slowly. other than a couple park vehicles that passed me, i'm the only person around. the silence is wonderful. reaching the pass called for a celebration, so i broke out the peanut butter, chocolate chips, and powdered gatorade and had myself a one-man party. the shoulder seasons are definitely the best time to access denali national park. the fall colors were just days past their peak, but still beautiful, and contrasted well with the snow that had accumulated on the peaks. and not a soul or bus in sight.
from polychrome pass the road takes a long descent to the toklat river valley. the wolf den is just a couple miles past the toklat river, so it's not even 10a and i've almost reached my goal. it's warmed up to at least 40 degrees by now and i'm not the popsicle i was on the previous descent. as i crest the hill above the toklat river valley, i run into an impenetrable fog bank. the entire western side of the valley is covered in low fog and visibility is close to 0. realizing that my chances of seeing the wolves are nil, i stopped at the toklat river for lunch and while eating decided that i would head back in the interest of not over-doing it on my first day in the park. i'd already biked 22 miles, so 44 on the first day is more than enough. after lunch i turned back towards the way i came and walked my bike for about a mile to enjoy a slower pace, and allow myself to digest. it was at this point that my right thigh exploded and spewed soft tissue all over the road- at least that's what it felt like. that's fine, i'll just walk a little further and a little slower. ok, now i have a full-bore spasm in my right thigh. it's contracted so hard that i'm certain that i'll be walking the 21 miles back to my rv at the teklanika river. but it felt great while i was biking, so i decide to get back on the bike and take it slow. the spasms stopped and the pain went away immediately- but then my left thigh exploded. i'm pedaling with just my right leg and have my left foot disconnected from the pedal and just hanging off to the side. there's no way i was going to make the climb back up to polychrome pass pedaling with just my right leg, so getting off and stretching sounded like the second best idea (right behind curling up in the bushes and taking a nap). within minutes i had the pain and spasms stretched out of my thighs and was back on the bike. the climb was painfree and easy. after a pee-break at polychrome pass, i did a double-check of my brakes as it was imperative that they were in perfect working condition on the descent down to the east fork river. it was thrilling, biking down the park road along the cliff- not because i was going fast but because of the exposure. there was nothing but a several hundred foot drop to my right for several miles. midway down i encountered the first person (other than a couple park staff members) i saw all morning. he was a 50-something guy with a rip van winkle beard, helmet on crooked, fogged up glasses, and wearing what looked like nothing but shorts and a windbreaker. he was happy as a clam. we stopped and chatted for a couple minutes. he'd been biking the park road once it closed to buses for 20+ years, and every year was just as awesome as the previous one. we wished each other a good day and i continued down to the east fork.
the climb back up to sable pass was the part of the day i dreaded most. it was the longest slog uphill, i was tired and i was ready to be done biking. it took me almost two hours (and several stops along the way) to reach the pass. the only thing that kept me going was knowing that if i continued to pedal that at some point i would get there. i thought about how that could be a good metaphor for life. i thought of the times in my life where i kept pedaling, the times where i stopped pedaling, and where those decisions led to. i thought of all the times in the past two years that i was in st. louis daydreaming about this trip, and here i was with my nose running, legs aching, feet sore, and hands cold and it was fucking awesome. i charged up the last half mile of the pass, threw my bike down and was about to roar to the heavens when i realized that i couldn't stand up straight because of the ache in my legs- so i got back on the bike because it was the only steady place to be and continued on. i stopped at one point in igloo canyon to photograph a mother and two cubs up on a hillside. at that point my hands were so cold that i thought i was pressing the shutter button on the camera, but instead i was just pressing the camera body. the bears could've been riding on the back of a moose doing circus tricks with flying dolphins in the air and i wouldn't have got the shot. i got back on the bike and continued downhill. after about 500 yards, my bag containing my telephoto lens slipped out from the bungee net securing it to my rear rack fell off and bounced along the road. shit. thankfully it was in a padded case and no harm done. i got back on the bike and continued on. after 100 yards the bike lurched forward and forced me to a stop. one of the straps from the fanny pack i lashed to the side of the bike had come loose and caught itself in the rear wheel hub. i just want to go home and eat something and be warm. it took a pocket knife, a pair of pliers, a couple strings of profanity, and dexterity i thought impossible because i couldn't feel my fingers to get it unwound from the hub. once i arrived at my home on wheels, i got undressed as fast as i could and climbed into the warmest, fleeciest clothes i had and climbed into my sleeping bag. i was sore and raw and chapped and happy. i watched as cars drove up and the people got out to look at the teklanika, and then get back in their cars and drive away. i was glad that that's the extent of recreating that most people do because it allowed me to have 20+ miles of the backcountry to myself, except for the biker i met on the way down from polychrome. then i passed out for the next 12 hours, and when i woke up- i wasn't sore. i didn't feel like i just biked 44 miles in 30 degree temps in 11 hours. that was pretty great.
i'll be more succinct about bike ride #2 two days later: there was a 1/2 inch of snow on the ground when i left teklanika. there was 1 inch at sable pass. i was dressed for cold weather and a cold thought didn't enter my head the entire time. i took the descents much slower because i did not have tires made for snow. the uphills were more laborious because gaining traction was difficult. it was beautiful to see the park covered in snow. on the ascent to polychrome, the people in the park vehicles that were passing me gawked at the goon biking in the snow. despite the slower pace, i was having a great time. just past polychrome pass (where the snow was 2 inches deep and still falling), there was a herd of male dall sheep grazing just off the road. i ditched the bike and pulled out the camera and tripod. after a few minutes they went about 80 yards uphill, so i went 80 yards uphill. i brought hiking shoes, but i might as well be wearing frying pans on my feet hiking up the route i chose to get the best vantage point of the sheep. they laid down and watched with amusement as i fell my way up the hill. i finally reached a point directly across from them, snapped several photos, and ate some frozen blueberries that were all over the hillside. god, they were good.
it became clear that i should head down to level ground before i injure myself in a location that i likely wouldn't be found until late spring. as i turned to leave, this was staring at me 20' away:
he continued to stare as i fell down in surprise and again while attempting to set up the tripod. it seemed like the slope i was standing on- covered in snow- was close to 90 degrees, maybe 85. he clearly wasn't afraid of me because he knew he could knock me right off the side of the mountain. he also had his two big brothers with him.
after a few photos i reached my bike with just a few scuff marks on my butt and knees from falling. i decided that was a good point to turn back towards teklanika. it was still snowing and soon it would be impossible to bike through the snow. as i loaded my gear on my bike, i noticed that the back wheel had come off. i don't know how or why. i certainly wasn't going to bike the descent from polychrome to the east fork, through snow, with a back wheel that might come off at any time- so i walked. as luck would have it, an employee of one of the private lodges at the end of the park road driving a load of supplies to the park entrance stopped and offered a ride. of course i took it, that meant i could be back by lunch, get a nap, and be warm and well-fed for the second half of the day. he was just out of college, just spent his first summer in alaska, hadn't been out of the park since may, and dreaded having to leave and fly back to maryland. he'd been bitten by the alaska bug and vowed that he was coming back next summer and staying for good that time. when he dropped me and my bike off, i offered him two beers for picking me up (earlier i had asked him what he was most looking forward to on his return to civilization and his response was "a beer").
with all the new snow and more in the forecast, i knew that was the end of my biking in denali on this trip. it wasn't exactly how i had daydreamed it to be so many times the previous two years, but it was perfect none-the-less. i look forward to doing it again next spring before the park opens to the tour buses, and again on the summer solstice, in the middle of the night when it's bright enough that no flashlight or headlamp is necessary.
friday morning (10/11/13) graeme and i will be leaving anchorage and heading north for the next couple months. our goal is to photograph the aurora borealis from several different locations between trapper creek and fairbanks. we'll decide where we'll go first based on where will have the clearest skies this weekend. internet access will be sporadic, but will update when i can. here's a snap of the northern lights from last night. it's taken from the driveway of the house i stay at while in town. anchorage is to the north between us and the lights, so it casts an ugly orange glow that i look forward to not being present in the near future.
i'm tired, was up until 3a watching the lights last night, and ran around like a moron today trying to get ready to leave. i've just typed a lot, there was a lot to remember, and i'm sure there's typos and abuses of grammar. i promise future posts will not be so long-winded.
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