Never Alone

Day 7

It was August 1^st. After raining all night, we got a break in the morning. I had decided that with the weather the way that it was that we needed to get to our pick up spot because then they would know where to find us. We all agreed it was a good option. With the weather I could not foresee anyone flying out today. Low clouds hung on the mountains and the landscape looked depressed. The Alatna had turned a silty brown overnight, moving with a force that made it so different than the say before.

We packed up and headed down river, trying to stay visible on the river. For a brief turn on the river we had a peak of the Arrigetch rising sharply into the clouds.

In Bettles, calls were being made about our missed check-ins and forces were mobilizing.

We floated down, quietly, listening for the sounds of an incoming airplane. And then we heard it. A low flying airplane. I jumped out of my boat onto a gravel bar and called out on the radio.

A voice answered. I breathed a sigh of relief as I talked to the pilot. He had brought a sat phone for us. As we talked he told me where he would drop the sat phone. I thought that sounded good, so he dropped it for us, but he never flew back over us.

Embarrassment and confusion swept over me. Did I just mess this up? I thought.

“Can I get to the phone?” I asked the pilot. His aerial view would help me.

“Yeah, you can get there?” he responded. I thanked him and we all got to work figuring out the best plan to get to the phone.

We walked upriver until water stopped our progress. After looking for a good place for all of us to cross, we decided that a boat would be necessary. I had brought my packraft for this specific purpose and decided I would go get the phone.

I told them to stay together. Looking back, I am not sure why this seemed like the best decision at the time. Maybe I thought it would be faster? I can’t be sure, even now. I went across the small but deep stream and we parted ways.

I fought my way through the brush in my PDF with a fully inflated packraft and paddle yelling “hey bear.” I kept my legs moving because I had to get this phone. There did not feel like there was any other option at this point.

So I just kept going. I crossed streams in my packraft and followed my GPS directions. I sweated in my water gear in the humid bush, but I kept going. I had to get this phone or at least return safely to my coworkers.

At last I reached an impasse on the western side of the river. A raging slough blocked my path to the next island. There was no safe way across, so I walked out to the Alatna. I was on a cut bank and the water levels were high. From the pilot’s directions I had decided the phone was on the other side of the river. This might be the place to cross, I thought. A large gravel bar awaited on the other side, just how could I safely get on the river and in my packraft.

Through this whole process I thought of how lucky I was. Everything had been going in my favor on this journey up the river. Surely this situation could have been avoided with better communication, but it was almost as though it was meant to happen this way. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t really alone out there.

I thought out my next decision carefully, for the safety of myself and my crew. So I looked over the edge of the cut bank. The water sat about a foot from the top. Some soil had sloughed off and sat in an eddy (still water) just past where the raging slough took off from the main river.

I stepped to test how solid the bank was. It held me. Shaking, but knowing I had no other choice but to do this correctly, I put my boat in the water. I sat clumsily and paddled away from the bank toward the other side.

When I reached it, I think I remembered to breathe. I grabbed my boat and walked upstream, there was still more to do. I couldn’t stop now.

Not much further up the river, a yellow bag sat on the gravel bar across from the people the pilot had confused us for.

I felt so relieved as I talked to one of the visitors that had come to see what the sat phone was. He was one of the two people we had saw on the first day. We talked about what happened and he told me about a portage trail he had heard of. I thanked him for the information and got to the sat phone.

I called my boss at the office. I could feel her relief as I told her that we were okay and about what had happened. I told her I would call again when I got back to B and E.

I jumped in my unloaded packraft and fought the wind back to my coworkers. Not long later I pulled up onto the beach I had left a little less than 2 hours before. I was greeted excitedly and I called the office again. We were complete again. All together and all with our communication devices.

We got back on the river looking for a good gravel bar to rest after all the excitement. None looked suitable or high enough off the water. We settled for one near the portage we would take. I thought it best to stay on the river at this point.

 

Day 8

Another night with little sleep for me. The river was still rising, and the gravel bar became an island. We were still a ways from being in the river when the morning came.

It was best to get off the river at this point so we made a plan to get to the portage. We would go one at a time so boats wouldn’t hit and we would have time to get out and pull our boats and packs up to the shore.

I went first. I made it safely and pulled my pack up. This seemed like the right spot from the directions I had been given.

We all made it over and got ready to portage. Our boats stayed inflated because we would need them. We walked with them awkwardly. I slipped in the mud and water, tripped in the muck, but we made it. Our boats would go back in the water and the load taken off our back.

The still green water guided us to our destination. It was beautiful and eerie. I paddled gently through the water way and we got away from the rising river. I felt relief as we made it to the lake. Now all we needed was good weather so we could go home.

We made a camp high up off the water and I felt relief. It rained on and off and we fought the boredom talking. We made cards and read our books.

To keep morale up we made sure to have meals together still. We still laughed, but were ready to go home. Though it would not happen until day 10.

We made it through day 9 but talking, eating, reading, and sleeping. I enjoyed the views and quiet of where we were. We called loved ones on the sat phone so they knew we were okay.

On our last day the skies cleared and we heard the first aircraft we had heard since we got the sat phone dropped to us. We boated one last time to the pick up point and waited for our pilot.

We were greeted by 4 park visitors who were waiting for the same relief of going home. Typically they would be priority, but today was there original pick up day. Because we were 2 days overdue we got the priority.

We loaded all our things into the beaver and left the Alatna. As we flew over I looked down, the gravel bars that were once prevalent on the river were underwater. We flew over the unforgiving terrain through sun and rain. Rainbows showed all over the landscape and I was ready to go home.

 

 

Thank you everyone for reading my adventures working for Gates of the Arctic. It really has been an honor to work in such a large wild area. I don’t have anymore trips to write about but might write a few more stories. I leave Bettles for the real world in 8 days. See you all soon.