I think it's time for me to go Burn all bridges All I know I got lost along the way Fell between the four Pulling stitches Time to let go So come on now So come on now So come on now So come on now So come on now So come on now So come on now Well guys that right there was the hurricane train It's a whistle stop train run by the Alaska Railroad and it's just dropped me off in the middle of nowhere here in the interior of Alaska and that's what they do You simply tell them which mile marker you want to get off at it stops and let you off and if you need to get picked up you just Wander on the tracks and flag them down, like flagging down a taxi This train only runs twice a week But I'm not planning on flagging it down I got something else in mind But first I got to get my snow shoes let's see how she pulls it's the dead of winter here in Alaska and I am truly in the middle of
nowhere this railroad is my only connection to civilization but here in a few minutes I'm going to leave this railroad and I'm going to start hiking that way I've got no trail and at least one set of mountains to go over but I'm going to try to hike my way back to civilization and for the next couple nights I'm going to be making my own shelter all right this is where it gets tricky I've got to find myself a path through these woods and I've got to climb about feet in elevation once I do that it should open up like the snow is going to be really soft and deep in there right now there's about four and a half feet of snow on the ground and my snowshoes are just barely keeping me afloat on the top of it there's a layer of crusty snow on the top if I put too much force down or if I try to go up a hill I bust through that crust and then I'm in snow up to my knees knees and thighs.
That's why I can't be wearing a backpack. That extra weight will cause me to break through the top crust of snow, and then I go down deep. Even with the snowshoes, this is a lot of work. Let's see. Check this out. Some cranberries. You see berries still on the bush in the middle of winter, that tells you there's not a lot of animals around.
I'm not following any trails, so I have to navigate by landmarks. So I'm keeping this gully off to my right, and I'm gonna follow it to the top of a -foot bench. All right, guys, this is my first major obstacle. I gotta get up this -foot bench. But when I'm pulling my sled uphill, it puts a lot of extra weight on my snowshoes, and I bust through that snow and I sink way down deep. Then I'm just wallowing in the snow trying to go uphill. But this is a big make or break moment for this trip. I can't get up this bench.
I've gotta come up We're gonna try to hit this at an angle. It just wants to pull me right off the hill. This is so much time and energy just to get this little distance. Just sinking. Your foot sinks down, and then you've got to lift your foot all the way up here just to get to the next step.
I made it to the top of this little knoll, but that's by no means the top of the hill. Because once I get to the top of this bench, I'm gonna have to do it at least one more time. I made some decent progress, but I gotta get up that. All right, I'm gonna try switching gears. . It's about to get real dark here in a little bit.
I need to go and break some trail and figure out where I'm going because it's going to get really hard to navigate. I'm in the wrong place. This ridge dead ends in a razor's edge. My map wasn't detailed enough. There's no way I can get through those alders and I'd have to go down this valley and up some extremely steep slopes through some very thick brush. It's just not an option. The problem is that even if I did beat through all this brush, I'm not done. I still have about a mile to go until I get to the plateau.
Then on the other side of the mountains, I've got to go through terrain very similar to this again. If I break some equipment or pull a muscle, I am very far from help. This just is feeling like a bad idea. The only way I'm getting out of here is on my own two feet and I can't go that way. Well I'm quickly figuring out that I can get down this hill gracefully and quickly. I just can't do both at the same time. It took me two hours to do all that climbing, but five minutes to get down. Not having to break trail is so much easier. You step down and occasionally find these hollow spots in the snow. Now my snow is gone.
My snowshoe is trapped. Everything is more work in the deep snow. Well the sun is setting and I'm running on twilight. I need to go ahead and make camp. This looks as good of a place as any. Let's find out what's underneath this snow. This is why I'm having so much trouble getting up those hills. This snow is so light and granular. Just doesn't hold any weight. I'm going to have to do a little more climbing. Oh boy. Without my snowshoes I go straight to the bottom. So check out this big mass right here under the snow. I'm assuming that that's a root ball from a tree that's fallen over.
That's going to make an excellent heat reflector and a great place to build my fire. So if I put my fire up there against the root ball, I'm going to put my bed right here. I'm going to need to build a wall around it to keep the wind out.
This blogpost answered a lot of questions I had. I’m definitely going to share this with my friends. I’m bookmarking this for future reference. I’m definitely going to share this with my friends. I’m definitely going to share this with my friends. Your perspective on this topic is refreshing! Thank you for breaking down complex concepts so clearly.