Even though this was my fourth day in Alaska, this was the first day of our planned adventure….backpacking the Talkeetna Mountains. We woke up to rain which would be the first day of many with rain in the forecast. We were supposed to arrive at Alpine Alaska Adventures between 8-8:15 however, the actual address for the location was incorrect and our Uber took us to someone’s house and had to schedule yet a second Uber (while still in the Uber) to the correct address. That was an expensive Uber ride costing $40 to go 4 miles.
We were the last two of the 7 hikers to arrive. Our group consisted of a married couple, cousins, a Lone Ranger, Brandi and I along with our two guides.
The married couple were Chris and Rachel. They were from Portland Oregon and were there because of a work trip Chris was on. He was a scientist for an energy company and she was a CPA. Having the opportunity to take advantage of the work trip, she tagged along.
The cousins were Sydney and Aidan. Sydney was from Seattle/Malibu. Her mom owns a place in both locations and she was going to school in Malibu for international business relations. Aidan was from North Carolina and worked as a nuclear space auditing welding’s and in the off season, worked as a welder. She was 21 and he was 25. They definitely brought the young vibe and energy to the group. Even though Brandi and I were late, Aidan’s backpack was lost and so they were trying to figure out a solution for him.
Nicco (he worked at Alpine doing logistics) drove Aidan to the airport to find out that his bag was still missing. Luckily, Nicco and Aidan were roughly the same size so they made a pit stop at Nicco’s place where he completely outfitted Aidan with clothes, rain gear, a back pack, water bottles, sleeping bag and pad. Not gonna lie, was a bit jealous that he would be able to hand off dirty clothes at the end of the trip but wouldn’t want my bag to be lost.
The Lone Ranger was Kaila. She was from Boston and worked at a vet. She had never backpacked before nor traveled by herself so she was stepping out to do something a bit different. She was training the Boston marathon in October.
Our guides were Mary and Rebecca. Mary was a very interesting individual and I enjoyed talking with her throughout the trip. She was born and raised in Alaska and had a passion for all things nature. Rebecca was the main guide trip and was also interesting. She was not from Alaska but considered herself a native as she couldn’t imagine moving away.
After introductions, we did a gear check which included us unpacking everything, even our clothes, to ensure we had the correct gear. They then handed us our bear containers which had both a group meal and individual snacks and would store anything else- i.e. lotion, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. that might attract a bear. Bears can smell 100x better than humans so we had to be diligent.
Brand and I opted to share a tent so the tent and poles went into my bag where the rain fly went into her bag. Having packed my bag, I found out that a well packed bag should balance and stand on its own. I managed to pack my bag to where this was the case.
With gear check done, we drove an hourish to the trailhead drop off location. Upon arrival, we rain geared up and at lunch before hitting the trail.
The road was in bad shape and the van could only go so far so we hiked on the road until we hit the trailhead. The road was uphill and with carrying a fully weighted pack in rain gear, I was instantly sweaty and soaked through. We hiked around 3-4 miles to camp which was straight up hill and hard AF. Brandi and I both thought we were going to die.
We finally made it to where we were going to camp and set up our tents in the rain. Our tent was on a slight hill so I had to rig up a way not to roll over onto Brandi when we slept. With our temporary home set up, we headed to the camp kitchen where all of the bear containers, dishes, and where we would hang out while at camp and not sleeping.
The kitchen was a bevy style shelter which was supported by the use of our trekking poles. We had hot drinks and chatted until dinner which was a spaghetti cheesy noodle with chicken and veggie dish. There was a lot of food which I couldn’t eat all of mine. We either had to consume the leftovers or pack it out as trash. Lucky for us, Aidan was our garbage disposal. He finished off Sydney, my and Brandi’s left overs on top of his own.
Even though it didn’t get dark until almost midnight, we all hit our tents for bed around 9:30-10pm. I wasn’t able to sleep and waited until about 5am when I finally was able to sleep.
katie palmer moore 