Alaska trip

[Scout1548]

Thought I would share with you all the extraordinary trips my troop took to Alaska. We actually went there twice, in 2004 and then back in 2006. Both times were in mid-July and it was a tremendous experience.

 

2004

 

We decided to actually do this trip because a scout had a father who was in the military and moved to Alaska. So a few of the adults decided to make it a trip to see the father and son as well as do a 2 week trip. We did backpacking, canoeing, rafting, and some sight seeing as well. The canoeing I thought was the best part, it was near the Kenai Peninsula. We did essentially "lake hopping" where we would canoe this large stretch of small lakes and portage from lake to lake. Eventually we ended up at the Moose River which unfortunately due to a drought in the recent weeks made the trip very difficult. The river ended up being (if we were lucky) only a foot or 2 high. And since it was the summertime it was light outside so our Marine scoutmaster went HOOO-YAAAH and said lets leave at 10pm and make it to the designated campsite by 12. Well we didn't make it to the campsite until 5am and then we had to take a short powernap and canoe for the rest of the day until 1am and get back to our base camp.

 

The rest of the trip was better though. The backpacking was excellent and we went rafting as well (the name of the river is slipping my memory so forgive me if I can't give you all the details). But I have to say that just going to Alaska made me really appreciate the beauty of that state even more. I know that may sound a bit cliche, but where else can you be canoeing down a river with no one around you and see a moose standing there (that actually happened by the way).

 

2006

 

This time we decided to go back and keep the trip smaller. Our first Alaska trip we had somewhere around 16 boys and 8 adults. We narrowed that down to 6 adults and 8 boys. I think doing that really made the trip better in the long run because it was less people to manage and all of us were the same age. This time we canoed a 117 mile portion of the Deer Creek River (a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me). The landscape once again was just breathtaking, but what was breathtaking was that our guides (who claimed they had never flipped on that portion of the river ever) were caught under a strainer and lost all our stoves the first day. So the rest of the 7 day canoe trip we were forced to make fires to cook our food. After the 7 day canoe trip we went on a 3 day backpacking trip in Denali on Kesugi Ridge.

 

We were told that there was maybe a 10% chance we would see Mt. McKinley (this was one of the best places to see it supposedly). But waking up on our 3rd day of hiking we saw clear skies and the tallest mountain in North America on the horizon. I will send pictures if anyone wants them I am telling you this was the clearest you will ever see that mountain.

 

After the backpacking trip we went on a 15 hour bus ride in Denali and it was sort of like an Alaskan safari. Bears walked across the road, caribou were running around, and golden eagles were soaring. Absolutely amazing.

 

Finally we went to this Chena Hot Springs and saw Extreme Makeover: Home Edition filming an episode in one of the towns.

 

 

 

So I just wanted to share that experience with all of you and hopefully some of you can appreciate the phenomenal Alaskan landscape some time in your life (and no I don't mean a cruise ).

[insanescouter]

Wow those sounds like some awesome adventures .... I would love to see some pictures. I actually know a Scoutmaster that lives in Juno.

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

 

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