Alaska: The Details & The Questions

Since we’ve returned from Gates of the Arctic National Park (and hallelujah our trip wasn’t planned for now! I can’t even imagine how frustrated I would be!), I’ve received lots of questions about sundry details that I didn’t even think to cover in any of my posts. But, after thinking about it, those are totally the fun facts that I would wonder about, too! So, without further adieu….

How did you inflate the packrafts? Did you carry a pump?

Heck no! After all, pack weight was a huge concern prior to boarding the bush planes, so why carry the extra weight? Fortunately, packrafts all come with a handy inflation system. Basically, it’s a cloth bag that’s open on one end with an attachment on the other to screw into the valve on the raft. Attach it, and then use the open side to catch air before rolling it up and compressing the air into the raft. Sound complicated? It truly isn’t. Check out this video for a better explanation:

It may look like it will take forever, but it’s actually not that bad—maybe five minutes and you’re good to go!

Did you just build a fire every night to stay warm?

That would seem logical, wouldn’t it? But alas, we did not have a single fire in Alaska! In fact, very rarely do I get to enjoy the glorious warmth of a campfire. You see, Alaska is so far north and Gates of the Arctic is so untouched that it would be incredibly irresponsible and against Leave No Trace practices to build a fire. Fires scar the landscape and if you’re in an off-the-grid place like Gates, that scarring could last for a very long time. Plus, wood is scarce so it’s not a great plan to use so many resources. Here in Colorado, it’s pretty irresponsible to have a fire in the backcountry, but especially if you’re above tree line. With less oxygen, it takes plants and organisms a longer amount of time to regrow, so creating fires damages the environment for a long time. No bueno, especially if we want to continue to enjoy pristine mountains for years to come, you know?

Of course, this isn’t to say that I don’t love a campfire and don’t have them when we can—because there is truly nothing better than s’mores over a fire! There is a lot of dispersed car camping in Colorado where you can find established fire pits, and we’ll typically use those. And, let’s be real: if one of use would have fallen into the Alatna, you better believe we’d build a fire to warm that person up!

What gear did you bring?

Ironically, I was testing almost all of my gear on this trip, so it was definitely a crapshoot as to whether I’d be toasty warm or suffering and miserable. Luckily, I’m happy to report the former!

Clothes:

• A Patagonia tech beanie for the day and the Tilley TWA1 Aviator Hat for the evenings and to sleep in. That Tilley hat is the warmest thing ever!
• Montane Atomic Waterproof Shell. I wore this every day while rafting to keep my warm layers dry underneath, and it worked like a charm. I never got wet, even while paddling in hours of pouring weather!
• Montane Featherlite Down Jacket. This wasn’t a new piece of gear, but I continue to love this down jacket. It fit underneath my shell and kept me incredibly warm.
• Terramar Baselayers: I brought two different tops and bottoms to wear as base layers, and both were amazing. I spent most of my time in the Merino wool layers since they wicked away my sweat while keeping me toasty. Honestly, I was unsure of the Terramar gear before this trip because I’d never used it before, but paddling for five days made me a believer!
• Thorlo Trekking Socks. Y’all, I hated these socks. Hated, hated, hated. I purchased them just before the trip because I needed some new ones, and the sizing was so off! I wear an 8.5 shoe, so I got the medium socks which were supposed to fit women’s feet in a 5.5-8.5. They were huge! Like, so huge that they would slide down my feet in my boots while I was paddling, collecting in a puddle of wool around my toes. If I had been doing more hiking, I would’ve been beyond pissed!
• Mountain Hardwear Medusa Mittens. These have been my skiing/mountaineering mittens for years just because I have yet to find another pair that keep my poorly-circulated fingers warm. They feature MHW’s OutDry (waterproof) technology, and it actually worked great with all of the paddling we did. They eventually wetted out, but it took them four days to completely soak through. That’s pretty good considering they’re not even meant for water sports!
• Patagonia Shell Pants. I’m testing a pair for a gear guide so can’t really offer too many thoughts just yet, but I will say that they worked great!
• Asolo Sharp Gore-Tex boots. Again, I’ve had these boots for a bit but I knew they were waterproof and comfy, so I went with tried and true. If I had realized we would be solely paddling with zero hiking, I definitely would’ve brought my Muck boots instead!

Gear:

• Mountain Hardwear Phantasia 15 sleeping bag. I tested this bag for Active Junky’s women’s backpacking gear guide, and it has since become my fave. It is hydrophobic, so it repels moisture, but it’s also nice and toasty warm. I sealed that sucker up at night and didn’t come out!
• Cocoon Ripstop Silk Mummy bag liner. This particular sleeping bag liner adds an additional 5.3 degrees of warmth to your bag, and it was great. I’ve never been a big liner person, but I really liked that it kept me warm while keeping my body oils out of my actual sleeping bag.
• Nemo Sleeping Pad. Y’all, I can’t remember the name of the pad, but it’s a good one. Nemo FTW.
• Exped Air Pillow. Pretty cut and dry. Slept great and kept my head off the frigid ground!
• Millet Ubic 60 + 10 pack. Again, I was testing this pack for Backpacker’s gear guide, but the Millet peeps said it was ok to give y’all a sneak peek. If you’re curious, check out this video:

Where do you go to the bathroom?

Graphic, I know, but it’s a fact! If you have to pee, no worries—just yell your head off while walking into the woods so as to scare away the bears, and go wherever you’d like! If you’re doing something other than peeing, be sure to pack in your backpacking shovel (trowel). Find a private place, dig a hole, do your thing, and you’re good to go! The catch? You have to pack out your used toilet paper.  It may seem weird at first, but it’s totally necessary. I typically bring a ziploc bag inside a ziploc bag and use that for the used paper. Promise, it’s not that bad once you get used to it!

What did you eat?

Again, we were trying to cut weight in order to make it on the bush plane, so our “real” food was at a bare minimum. Instead, we focused on dehydrated meals. Fortunately, Backpacker’s Pantry coincidentally contacted me in the months leading up to our trip, and I was psyched that they were able to hook us up with food for the trip. We ate their meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner which is a great way to decide which meals are your favorites—and which you’d never eat again! My favorites were in the breakfast category: I loved the cinnamon muesli and milk as well as the bananas with granola and milk. Because it was so cold, we made them with warm water and they were perfect on a frigid morning!

I was also pleasantly surprised with the desserts! We got to try out a few different kinds (talk about luxurious living in the backcountry!) and we all dug the crème brulee. I even joked with Will that I was going to cook these dehydrated meals for dinner at home by putting them in a dish so he couldn’t tell the difference! My least favorite was definitely the Pad See You with chicken. Bleh. The worst part is that we had to drink the gray water (the leftover watery-kinda flavored juice at the bottom of the bag) so that we weren’t dumping it on the ground for animals. The Pad See You’s gray water was oddly tinted like garlic that made it tough to go down!

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If you missed my zillion posts on Alaska, check it out: I’m a contributor for MSR’s The Summit Register and wrote a large recap of our trip to Gates of the Arctic. Let me know what you think!

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What do you eat in the backcountry?

Do you have a favorite piece of gear?