Just returned from a trip to Alaska, and even though it wasn’t just a paddling trip we had the opportunity to paddle in a couple of incredible places; Maclaren River and Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound.
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That was a lot cooler than your part of NC.
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In more ways than one
Looks great! Last time I went by McLaren Lodge I noticed they had canoes. I was guessing they ferry you up toward the glacier and you float back out? If so, how long is that float?
Yes, they ferried us up to their tents toward the glacier and spent the night. The next day we floated back. It was supposed to be a four hour float, but the river was high and moving and it took us a little less than 2.
Thanks!
Alaska is under rated.
Dress for immersion. .
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Until you see Alaska’s immensity and beauty it’s hard not to underrate it
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Even after almost 30 years of trips to other places since, Alaska is still the trip I dream about.
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Get up there while you are still young.
It takes some courage to be able to relax in the bush.
The first two trips I did for work in the bush were for about 3 weeks each working 12 hour days.
I did not like it much because we saw bears every day at close range and there was 150 inches of rain. The country is tough, steep, slippery and there are no trails except those made by bears. We had to wade the rivers.
But then we started to realize how special of a place it is. Seeing 30 mountain goats, hundreds of salmon, wolves, wolverine and 5 bears fishing from the helicopter made a strong impression. The forest of Sitka spruce, western hemlock, red cedar and yellow cedar were ancient and impressive.
The local people and those that travel up there to work are shaped by the country. The women are tough. Hell even the kids are tough. I remember seeing a 12 year old going out to fish. He had a rifle on his shoulder. Alaska is a place that quickly separates the sheep from the goats.
Yup, all true. My sister moved up there in 84 and I have gone to visit. It reminded me of a greener version of the Nevada mountains where I grew up in that people were spread out and the kids were more mature and “adult” then most 40 year-olds in the cities I have been to. It’s like that everywhere I have gone in the world. City folks are city folks and country folks are country folks, in 1950s and early 60s Nevada, North-east Montana, the interior of Alaska, the mountains of Burma and Thailand, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Panama, and Afghanistan. Real country folks grow up fast, and kids play, but they play in ‘adult activities’. Its a matter of both necessity and also given opportunity and lack of other kinds of opportunities.
Alaska is still largely unpopulated once you leave the bigger towns and cities and go outside of them, ---- once you are in the back country you meet few people. The ones you meet are about 99% of the same mindset. They dislike crowds and feel most “modern culture” is false and dishonest. (I can’t say they are wrong for a large part)
But if they come to like and respect you, you’ll never have a more loyal friend.
I was 18 years old when I got to meet some people way back in the mountains of Burma. Everything about them was different then Americans, except for 1 thing. They were very much like the few “neighbors” I has when I was a boy in how they thought. My neighbors were a long way from me and my “playmates” were mostly may Dad’s adult friends when we’d all get together. All WW2 vets, and the youngest one was about 37 years old. Those Burmese mountain folks viewed us with distrust and suspicion at first. But once they were told where we were going and what we were doing they warmed up to us like we were long lost kin and I was reminded of the people in the back country of Nevada 30 miles outside Eureka and about 40 miles out of Ely.
But those that live in remote areas think and live in a way that is very foreign to most city dwellers because there are few places you can go to get anything quickly. Self reliance is not just a wish or an attitude. It’s as real as it gets. If you need something you make it. If you can’t make it you find ways to deal with the need without it.
When that kind of reality is day to day, minute by minute, the way the brain is programed is VERY different then how people deal with day to day events in cities. I can’t say it’s “better” or “worse” But it is radically different.
In my times in remote areas I learned a lot of different things. Caution is a mindset you live with in every second of every day, but it’s NOT fear. It’s just different. City folks have it too, but the area of attention is different. I still sit wide-eyed when I have to drive in rush hour traffic in Denver or LA or Indianapolis or Reno. Millions of city dwellers do it every day, and do it very well. They are cautious, but not afraid.
But going to very remote areas of the earth and living there for anything more then a month gives you a prospective on life and living that most people are unaware even exists. It’s not really a surprise when you know that 91 % of the people on earth live on less then 7% of the land. Remote living is a very small percentage of the population on this planet. To me it’s somewhat addictive. Even today I try to stay away from crowds. I grew up in a very remote place and I have gone to places that were far more remote then where I grew up.
I for one love such places.
Alaska still has a LOT of them.
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Good thoughts. After going to Elko for Cowboy Poetry for 37 years, we have learned some important truths. The Gathering has traditionally invited livestock people from other countries to attend each year. We have met and partied with people from UK, Brazil, Baja, Hungary, Italy, Australia, and Mongolia, just to name a few.
“We have more in common with livestock people from other countries, than we do with city people from our own country.” It caught be by surprise at first, but now it does not at all surprise me one bit
I really like the people in Alaska. They are shaped by the bush once you get outside of Los Anchorage. i have had relatives there since the 1930s. I have met plenty of miners, drillers, wildlife biologists, fishermen, pilots, loggers, etc I really liked the Natives too. Alaska is under rated.