Eight Friends from London, Colorado, Homer, Fairbanks and Anchorage all dressed up with nowhere to go . . . . . .until the weather clears.
A man can only really play so much cornhole, you know. So, when Alaska skies are low and you’re stuck in a hangar with bags on the plane – you do what you can. Mike and I couldn’t resist a plea from two young lads in another group, “you guys ready to lose?” Ready – yes. Lose – no. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mike lose at cornhole. But when the pilot burst in and said “We’re trying again, let’s go,” we left the cornhole and the vanquished youngsters behind.
I was on this trip as a new Friends member courtesy of my best pal Mike, who is on the Friends Board and my guide to Alaska for a long time. Alaska doesn’t see enough of me and vice versa and this float on the Kisaralik was a special chance to go somewhere I knew little about. Not to mention I am now the first international member of the Friends – so something of a celebrity – with a very small ‘c’!
London has been my home for 23 years so although I’m very familiar with low, white clouds, I was delighted to see them breaking as our floatplane headed southeast from Bethel. What was my first impression of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge from the air? What a great place to be a duck – or a moose! We were lucky enough to spend the prior afternoon at the Refuge offices with Refuge Manager Spencer Rearden and some of this staff who gave us a real sense of the challenges they face in managing such a vast area on very limited resources. But their commitment and love for this land was unquestionable – they are true public servants and that left a real impression.
A perfect morning on Kisaralik Lake at the start of our float.
We joined Marty Decker and his fantastic group of guides, including his daughter Emily, that afternoon at Kisaralik Lake and even landed a few lake trout before dinner. Many things about Alaska have kept me in awe over the years, but I keep coming back to the simple scale of the place to an average and somewhat displaced lower 48er like me. Damn, it’s big. The Kilbuck mountains framed it for us at the lake and a perfect sunrise gave us their mirror image around the campfire the next morning. What a start!
The river journey itself evolved as the days passed, from the high plateaus and natural berms of the upper stretches to the alder, cottonwoods and conifers as we lost elevation. Clear, cold, fast water that carried us effortlessly while reminding us of its power and the hydraulics of submerged rocks and downed trees, along with the ability of its channel to wander – leading us to often beach our boats to reconnoiter the route ahead. The ability and care of our guides was constantly on display and for one not used to being ‘guided’, they were worth their weight in gold. And so much life to see – a dramatic silhouette of caribou along a high river ridge and a golden eagle with two chicks nesting on riverside cliffs were highlights. But outside of one overly curious black bear near our camp one night, we did not see any brown bears and wondered if this was an effect of the state-run predator control program, as those that had previously floated the river had seen them frequently.
Sadly, our trip did have a before and after moment that reminded me of the stakes visitors face in what can be an unforgiving environment. The party in front of us lost a boat and its occupants over the Kisaralik Falls which took the life of one of those three. We found them the next day further downriver – a lesson to us all of human tragedy and the awesome, destructive power of nature.
As always, Alaska showed me great new beauty with a reminder that those that come here and seek that beauty and its wilderness must be ready for it. A big thank you to the Friends and our intrepid guides for a truly remarkable trip. Needless to say, I’ll be back!
This was the second in a series of Discovery Trips to the off-road refuges. Next year’s trip will be to the Alaska Maritime Refuge. Plans are still being developed but the trip should be ready for booking soon. Watch our newsletters.