A Tundra Wilderness Tour

Last Thursday for training, we got to take one of Denali's tour buses out into the park for the day to get an idea of what visitors experience when they come, and also for us to get a better look at the park we'll be working in for the next 5 months.

Our bus

Sugarloaf Mountain Loaf

As I staggered up to the narrow plateau where most of my other hiking companions were already resting, I felt sharply aware of how out of shape I was for this steep of a trail. Nothing can really prepare you for a nearly vertical trek up 2,000 feet of elevation in less than 2 miles (ROUGH estimate), especially when you've been in flat Florida for the last 6 months.

View of Denali Park area from the ridge

Nonetheless, panting and gasping for breath as I broke out of the treeline, the view was nothing short of spectacular. I could see all of the headquarters of Denali National Park and Preserve, from the visitor center to the post office all the way back to C-Camp. 

Training Week 1

It's Saturday, and I've completed my first week of training at Denali. Admittedly, it was super overwhelming at first, but that is to be expected anywhere and especially at such a massive park, but thankfully things are starting to make a little more sense now. 

So far we've spent at least some part of each day outside, learning about botany, geology, hike guiding, and interpretive techniques. For our first excursion earlier in the week, we hiked the Horseshoe Lake Trail, which is one of the main trails from the visitor center where we will be leading hikes all summer. With over 30 of us in training, it was good to see the logistics of how to lead a hike for that sized group or even larger, on the narrow trails and under varying conditions. 

Heading up the trail with our big group

Journey to Denali

OH my goodness it has been a long 4 days, and quite the adventure so far at that! Let's just jump right in!

Thursday night I flew across the country to Fairbanks on two long flights where I didn't get any sleep really to speak of. The second flight was the real kicker though: I had just started to doze off when I had a sudden vivid dream about the northern lights. I woke up with a start and peered out my window, and right there, a pale swath of the aurora was smeared across the sky above the clouds! It was extremely faint and grey, but it had enough of its own luminescence and the classic slow-moving waviness that there was no question what it could be. Such an incredible sight!

Update

Hey guys! Just wanted to toss up a quick update since I've been slacking a little in the writing department lately. I actually made this awesome vlog a few days ago that I was going to put up in lieu of a written post, but unfortunately I got a little too ambitious and had a fight with Adobe After Effects, and, well, After Effects won. I may still try to get the video up later, but since I can't guarantee that, I'll just have to catch you up here real quick.

So, I'm finally leaving for Alaska tomorrow, and MAN has it been a long wait this time. Feels like it, anyways. I've packed my life into 2 bags and a backpack and now just have to mentally prepare myself for joys of spending 10 hours in the air tomorrow night.

After that, I'll be hosteling it up in Fairbanks for a couple days, and then heading down to the park in time to start training on Monday.

I have no idea what to expect as far as web access goes, so you may see frequent updates, or I may be MIA for who knows how long. Either way I'll try to pop in when I can, because this is sure to be an adventure and I want to share it with you whenever possible!

I think that's all for now. Let the journey begin!

14 Outdoor Job Sites to Make Life Happen

Anyone who has done seasonal work knows the frustration of trying to look for a new job every 6 months or so. Or maybe you're looking for something more permanent and just haven't quite found the right fit yet. For many of us, having a constantly changing job horizon is exciting and energizing, but it does lead to a bit to a bit of stress in the off-season as you look for new opportunities to fill in your resume and your time.

Why YOU should Find Your Park

The first time I realized how much I appreciated my country was when I set foot back on US soil after a semester abroad in the UK, sophomore year of college. Don't get me wrong, I very much loved my time in London. But four months abroad completely opened my eyes to something I had never seen before -- something that truly sets America apart from any other country in the world: Our public lands.

Yosemite, 2002 (throwback to age 12!)

Coming back to the US, I couldn't wait to be in nature again, to soak up the hot Florida sun, to summit mountains, to paddle rivers, to hike the trails. The concrete canyons of London had certainly taught me many things, not the least of which was how lucky we are in the US to have some 640 million acres of federal land at our disposal, most of which is available to the public (that's about 28% of our entire landmass). Of that, 84 million acres are managed by the National Park Service.