-
Flower Power
The Wasatch Range peaks are 7000′ higher than the nearby Salt Lake Valley. This has many nice side effects but one of my favorites is that a wide variety of micro-climates is available within a small geographical region. In late Fall or early Spring it can be calmly drizzling in the city, but in the…
-
Into the Brooks Range, Part 3
[Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.] August 6 — We See Bears Finally we were back to walking a wide river valley not unlike our first day hiking. To stay in the river bed, we had to pass through some dense thickets of willow brush. Since it’s very bad to surprise a brown bear,…
-
Into the Brooks Range, Part 2
[Continued from Part 1, also see Part 3.] August 3 — Over the Arctic Divide Our third hiking day took us over a 5700′ mountain pass where the Wind, Ivishak, and Ribdon river drainages converge. Since the creek-bed of our side drainage was totally impassable, we climbed steep talus slopes, leaving the last tundra behind.…
-
Into the Brooks Range, Part 1
[Also see Part 2 and Part 3.] In Summer 2009 I went on a 1.5-week backpacking trip in the Alaskan arctic with my brother Eric, my colleague and hiking buddy Bill, and our guides Shannon and Ben from Arctic Treks. It was an amazing trip through a very rugged part of the world. Not only…
-
50 Vertical Miles
A little over a year ago my family moved to a house near the north edge of Salt Lake City. Although access to real mountains is not great — it’s about a three-hour walk to the nearest 8000′ peak and a major slog to a 9000′ peak — the foothill access is excellent. At the…