Because we survived 16 consecutive days of below zero temps, I thought my next installment should be about the cold. Fun—not surprising—fact: Americans hate winter. Only about 10% of Americans call it their favorite season (according to a 2013 CBS News poll). Justin & I love winter. It’s a little strange, because neither one of…
I am working on lots of posts about the learning curve and experiences we’ve had trying out an Alaskan winter–the cold, the darkness, living without water, etc. But for now, I thought I’d give you a tour around our town! Our cabin is in Healy, Alaska. The town is kind of in the middle of…
I said I would do some posts about life in Alaska. We’ve spent plenty of summers in Alaska, but winter in Alaska is a whole new experience with a huge learning curve. We only had a small taste during our first month, which was early winter. But when we return on December 26, it will…
I did NOT mean to let 16 days to go by without blogging. It’s an understatement to say I’m busy juggling deadlines and other work projects, causing the blog to sit on the back burner. But onward! By now, the rest of America is catching up on seasons. The trees are bare and there is…
Currently living/working in: Healy, Alaska!!! We finished up our Leave No Trace/Subaru contract and flew to Alaska Oct. 14. I greatly appreciate sitting still after a summer on the road, but even more so in our cozy little cabin. Lest you think we’ve just been doing puzzles and watching the snow fall out our windows,…
We are already halfway through our last leg of the Zero Landfill Tour, in Yosemite National Park. But I couldn’t go without doing a wrap up from our time in Alaska! 34 days 26 events Mileage Driven: 5,250 miles Nights Camping: 6 Miles Hiked: 45.2 Miles Paddled: 10.5 Denali Sightings: 6 Black Bears Spotted: 3…
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…