Last weekend we were able to go on a backpacking trip in Denali National Park to the Toklat River glacier. We were invited to join Rob Burrows, one of the park glaciologists, to help him prepare for a field course he is leading later on in the summer. The field course is part of a series of courses people can sign up for through the organization Alaska Geographic. Here is the link to the course Rob will be leading (note the price!).
The purpose of our trip was to scope out good camp sites and think about things like whether the participants would need crampons. We also did some mapping of the glacier and other landmarks. We were so lucky and grateful to be invited to join Rob (as well as his wife Kimber and a park intern named Larry who'll help lead the trip) and it was definitely a success!
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| looking south form the Park Road at the Toklat River |
On Friday morning I woke up early because I had to run 4 miles, then we ate a big meal of sourdough pancakes and left for the park. Before visitors go in to the backcountry of the park they are required to watch a video that talks about safety, etc. I watched that and learned things like how to cross rivers (we did a lot of that!) and how far from wildlife you should be. Here are some general rules about bears:
1. you should be at least 300 yards away from a bear
2. Never surprise a bear - this means that if you are walking through dense woods or anywhere that has low visibility, you should talk loudly or yell (i.e. "Hey Bear, coming through!") every so often. It may sound silly but human voices are very distinct and it is way better than surprising a bear that might be protective of young or a food source.
3. Never run from a bear. Grizzlies can run up to 40 mph for short distances (we looked it up and the fastest humans can sprint a 100 m dash in about 27 mph.
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| a lone caribou with one antler |
After getting the low down on backcountry safety, we were able to pick up our permit for hiking and camping in the area of the park that Rob had reserved for us. There are "units" that you can reserve to use and there are limits to how many parties can be in each. We also picked up our bear barrels, which are issued by the park and used to stow any food, etc items that might attract animals. We would fill those at night and put them 100 yards from our tent and cooking areas. We rode a bus and had a 2 hour ride to where we were dropped off next to the Toklat River. From there we hiked south from the road in the bed of the Toklat River, enjoying sun, blue skies, and a slight breeze! I could definitely get used to backpacking along a river bed; it was easy going but still interesting because of the mountains surrounding us and the many small rivers we had to cross.
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| on the bed of the Toklat River |
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| Grizzly eating on the bank (the brown thing) - had to hike around him |
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| camp on the first night (setting up around 10:30 pm) |
We hiked from about 3 pm till 8pm (the beauty of having constant daylight) and then stopped to make dinner when we found some freshwater. After dinner we continued to hike in search of a good place to camp for the night. We had turned from the main branch of the Toklat on to the east branch, where the glacier is. The river cut too close to the bank for us to continue hiking so we hiked up to the bluffs above the river and made camp on a ridge overlooking the river bed. What a view!
On Saturday we hiked around on the ridges overlooking the east branch of the river and found an old survey marker that we marked with a Trimble GPS. There was a light rain early on, then clear skies around noon, and then the skies opened up on us for the afternoon, just in time to get to the glacier. But even in the heavy rain it was awesome. Walking on the glacier, you can see how blue the ice is and many rivers where melt is flowing in to the Toklat. The ice was not slick because of lots of small melt holes, caused by either debris or radiation. We walked up the glacier, from the end (called the terminus) to about a mile up, where we took some GPS points and photos. After hearing a few very loud claps of thunder we turned around and headed for camp.
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| While hiking on Saturday we came upon this part of the ridge (which is old ice covered in debris) melting away. Hiking on this was dangerous at times! Very steep and unstable... my ankles are sore! |
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| looking up the Toklat Glacier |
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| looking down the glacier towards the river |
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| hiking in a blizzard on Sunday morning |
We cooked dinner and were in bed by 8 pm. I should note that, though I usually sleep extremely well in tents, this trip was an exception. I am used to sleeping in the light by now but the tent acted like a light bulb. It was also really cold and on Saturday night it was extremely rainy and windy! We were buffeted around all night and when we got up at 7 it was hailing and snowing. A blizzard in July! Making breakfast and breaking down camp was uncomfortable (cold!!!) but once we started hiking it got better. The wind was blowing the snow completely horizontally and we were hiking on some very steep slopes covered in scree - exciting! Saw one lonely snow bunting getting buffeted by the wind. After a few miles of hiking the weather calmed down and we had a nice but cold hike down the river bed because of the strong wind at our backs. By midday we were hiking in blue sky but we could look back and see the snow still covering the peaks behind us. Pretty incredible. When we got to the road we got a ride on a bus out of the park. It was overall and amazing trip!
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| Elizabeth and Verity - so positive! |
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| a fox who came upon us on a snack break. He wanted shelter from the wind too. |
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| looking back at the weather we had on Sunday morning |
Now it is back to work. We are beginning to point frame, which is a way to estimate plant biomass. I'll write about that soon. In other news, I ran 15 miles this morning! Marathon training is going well and I am thrilled to be taking tomorrow off!
