Last summer while we were working in Denali National Park for the Leave No Trace / Subaru Zero Landfill Initiative, Joe Lamp’l from Growing a Greener World asked us to part of his show and the premiere of Season 10 Episode 1 happened this month! To give background, Growing a Greener World airs on PBS…
Folks, take seat and a deep breath. We purchased a cabin in Healy, Alaska. They say, Alaska gets in your blood. When you leave, it beckons you to come back. And if you stay too long, you can never leave. Alaska immediately overtook Justin’s blood upon his first summer working in the state in 2003.…
I once read that the cost to visit all 8 national parks in Alaska would amount to $10,000. Now that we’ve been to 5 of those parks over SEVERAL years—3 of which are fly/boat-in only—we can see how the dollars add up. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in south-central Alaska was this year’s splurge…
Because we drive around the country so much, we typically are visiting everyone in their homes, or at least their state. I’ve seen my mom a lot this year, but always in New Jersey. To change things up, she decided to visit us on the road while we’ve been in Alaska!! Her brother and his…
What now is a few weeks ago (I’m behind on posts!), we embarked on another backpacking trip deep into Denali National Park! Last year, we did Unit 9, and this year Unit 6. Total trip mileage: 18.1 miles Time Spent in the Wild: 2 nights / 3 days Elevation Gain: 1,850 feet As I explained…
Currently living/working in: Alaska!! We’re still doing outreach for the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Initiative, mainly in and around Denali National Park. It is fabulous to be back in Alaska; it just feels like home to us. We’ll be here until late August. Current mood: We seem to have a good handle on…
Folks, the day is upon us. Justin and his 4 teammates have landed at Denali’s base camp at 7,200 feet (Denali’s summit is 20,310 feet). The team sorted all their gear on Sunday and left it in the K2 Aviation hanger in Talkeetna, then stayed at an Airbnb in Talkeetna owned by a friend of…
Finally getting caught up on blog posts to our current location and happenings in California, so here’s a recap of our drive through Canada in late August … When we drove up to Alaska in July, it took us 8 days and we drove the Icefields Parkway & Alaska Highway (Al-Can). For our southbound trip…
We’ve been in California (specifically, Yosemite area) for a week now (and will be here all month) after wrapping up our 6 weeks of work in Alaska at the end of August and driving via Canada, again, back down into the lower 48. We were bittersweet about leaving the Land of the Midnight Sun. It has always…
***Yes, yes, I know I am late. Currently living/working in: Still working on the road as the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Team!! We just finished up 6 weeks of outreach in Alaska and arrived in the Yosemite area this weekend after our 7-day drive through Canada. We’ll be working here in California all of…
For my 40th birthday, we decided to celebrate in style by visiting one of the many obscure and remote National Parks in Alaska: Katmai National Park. If you’ve ever seen those iconic pictures of bears catching salmon, the source is most likely Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park. Let me just say, pictures don’t even…
Before I get into storytelling mode, here is the overall summary of our single backpacking trip we took in Denali National Park: Unit 9 – East Branch Toklat River Total mileage: 15.2 miles Elevation Gain: 1578 feet Elevation Loss: 1567 feet Max Elevation: 3465 Number of Nights: 2 I was equally nervous as I was…
I already boasted about day hiking in Denali National Park in my last blog post and we are definitely NP lovers, but if you are looking for some less crowded hidden gems, the place to go would be Denali State Park. The State Park has 300,000+ acres and borders the east side of the National…
Justin & I tried to balance our time while working Denali National Park in Alaska a little better than we did in Wyoming. The long daylight hours really made for no excuses, because we could actually work and still fit in a hike, even if it were at 10pm! Denali National Park is a unique park…
Warning: Picture-heavy post ahead! When you think of the whole United States, most people don’t realize just how far north Alaska is. Go take a look at a geographically correct map. Cue collective “WHOA” There are only so many ways you can drive to Alaska and most journeys take days (even the ferry). And while…
Another guest post from Justin (edited by Patrice of course)! My previous mountaineering experiences helped me predict what to expect on Denali, but as with anything, you really don’t know how it’s really going to be until you are wearing the boots yourself. And since I received lots of questions about life on the mountain,…
This is a guest post written by Justin (okay, it was edited by Patrice)! It’s been about two weeks since my 23-day adventure on North America’s highest peak concluded. I think Patrice did a wonderful job piecing together bits of information to keep you all informed on my team’s progress on the mountain, but I…
We have wrapped up our time in Alaska–sadly. I have been here three times and all three times, I fall deeper in love with the state. Justin’s love for Alaska, on the other hand, is rooted in utero. We really should just move here. Someday. In any case, we shared this last bit of our…
Justin badly needed some recovery time following his 23-day Denali expedition. So we went camping and hiking. Yep, apparently more outdoor exposure cures severely sunburnt lips and frost nipped fingers. We spent 3 nights in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which is the largest national park in America. To give it some scale, it equals six…
So here’s the scoop. Justin did not summit, choosing to turn around about 400 feet from the top. But that is okay by him and me (of course!). It’s really a summit in my mind being so darn close, but whatevs. And, so freakin admirable that he survived 23 days (pretty much a record for…