A girlfriend of Sarah‘s suggested that we go to Denali National Park for our annual “SnL” (Sarah and Luc) vacation. The Alaska Range has not been on our radar for a few reasons: The terrain is harder and less forgiving than the Brooks Range and the Denali Park Road is closed due to a landslide. But this is just the point, argued Sarah’s friend … a rare opportunity to visit the Park without a lot of other visitors. So we did. We messed up our timing. It was a classic thinking error, but because we’ve been going to the Brooks Range from mid June to early July, we planned on that same window at ..read more

The wild ice skating season is filled with ephemeral goals—evenings spent monitoring weather forecasts and satellite imagery hoping to catch days on good ice. Days like this: Grewingk Lake is one of the most sought-after wild ice destinations in Alaska. A visit requires driving to the end of the road system in Homer, Alaska, a 45-minute water taxi across Kachemak Bay (weather permitting), and a 45-minute hike to the lake. Visitors are rewarded with towering icebergs embedded in the ice and sometimes the opportunity to skate near the glacier. Tipping icebergs and calving glacier ice are seriou ..read more

This has got to be a candidate for the best true packraft loop around, especially during the autumn. The loop is best done in two nights: 18 mile hike, 16 mile float, about two hours drive from Anchorage, Alaska. This route starts and ends at the Caribou Creek Recreational Mining Campground just east of the Lions Head pullout. There is an easy ATV trail down to the river. You will notice a road on the north side of Caribou creek … but that road (and property) is private. The first day is spent hiking along the Matanuska Glacier. You have the option of hiking on some glacier ice for part of the ..read more

I want to share a highlight from last year’s Start and End at Home trip planning course. Christian Appel sent a report after a paddling trip he planned during the course. Several of his planning details stand out as really clever to me—I plan to incorporate these into my trips. What impresses me about Christian’s preparation … Bracketed conditions (a kind of personal contract) Christian planned to paddle a remote river in Montana with very little descriptive information. Based on his research, he came up with a bracket of acceptable conditions (1100 to 1800 cfs—a quantification of how much wat ..read more

What is the “Culture of Safety”? The packrafting Culture of Safety is an effort to normalize safety. We want it to be normal to wear a life vest, paddle at appropriate water levels, seek training, and feel comfortable pointing out dangerous outfitting or habits that you notice at the put-in. I wrote The Packraft Handbook to serve as a common framework as we develop our Culture of Safety. Check out my Zoom presentation for the American Packrafting Association to learn about this strategy. Use and follow these tags in the month of May: #cultureofsafety #packraftsafety #thisispackrafting Why Now ..read more

I have a very early memory (as a 6-year-old? 8?) of my mom using lyrics from a Beatles song to teach me not to trust strangers. I was about to fly to Montana by myself. My mom has a beautiful singing voice: Say you don’t need no diamond rings And I’ll be satisfied Tell me that you want the kind of things That money just can’t buy I don’t care too much for money Money can’t buy me love I moved to Alaska with my mom and brother Burke when I was four. I shuttled back and forth to Montana to spend summer and winter holidays with my dad. In those days, my parents could go all the way to the gate ..read more