DAY 1
WELCOME TO ANCHORAGE
where the mountains and oceans meet and (this time of year) the sun never sets. This is the hub of Alaska and where many a wild adventure have started!
Join us at our gorgeous AirBnb anytime after 3:30pm and make yourself at home. We’re staying at one of the most beautiful places in the heart of Anchorage away from the hotel and cruise ship crowds. We’ll meet up at 6pm to get to know each other, talk about our upcoming adventure, share goals for the trip, go over gear, plan our route, and share a great meal complete with local Alaskan beer and seltzer.
Skills Covered: backpacking gear choices and hot tips, route planning (using topo maps, Gaia, Cal Topo, satellite imagery), how to read a topo map like a pro, risk management, bears, water treatment consideration, bathroom business, food planning, fuel calculations, packing a pack, and other odds and ends.
DAY 2
In the morning we’ll have a beautiful breakfast before heading in any number of directions. Most likely, we’ll get in a van and drive two hours towards the Matanuska Glacier where we’ll meet some legendary bush plane pilots and fly into the Talkeetnas. A twenty to forty minute awesome bush plane flight will have us in the middle of nowhere by afternoon. Depending on the chosen route we may also drive to a trailhead, take a train, or drive to a jet-boat launch. We’ve got options!
Our skilled pilots will put us gently down on a small lake or tundra strip and fly off leaving us in the bewildering silence and the awe of remoteness.
Skills Covered: packing for bush planes, managing grizzly bear protocol, food storage, using bear spray, Leave No Trace for hiking off trail, choosing camp sites and creating stormproof camps for any conditions, tarp magic (for the kitchen tarp), backcountry Michelin star chefery, and staying warm, dry, and joyous no matter the weather.
DAY 3 - 6
We’ll spend the next four days wandering high alpine meadows, climbing small peaks, crossing glaciers, spotting moose & bear (from a safe distance), watching the persistent alpenglow of the far-north dance across the snowy distant mountains, laughing around camp, eating delicious well-earned meals, and connecting in the deep way wilderness makes possible. These trips are a ton of fun. Sometimes the costumes come out, there may be talent shows, and there will definitely be lots of games — but of course all is optional :)
Skills Covered: micro and macro navigation using map, compass and phones, whiteout navigation, risk management for a variety of scenarios: river crossings, lightning, scree, bushwhacking, wet and cold, snow, glacier crossings. We’ll also dive into the heuristic traps, group dynamics and the emotional reasons that lead people to making bad decisions. We’ll cover basic wilderness first aid (including blister care and prevention), fire-starting, personal hygiene, backcountry bidets, emergency protocols and evacuation considerations, and have lots of time for ecology learning including plant id, edible plants, bird id, human history, etc.
DAY 7 - 8
If the group is up for it, these days will be an opportunity for independent student travel. Students will plan their route and set off on their own without instructors, with a planned meeting spot on the morning of day 9. This is an opportunity to put all the skills you’ve learned the past few days to the test. Not every trip has independent student travel — but it’s a cool opportunity when it’s the right fit.
Skills Learned: putting it all together, inter-personal communication.
DAY 9
Today students will meet up with instructors in the morning and debrief their solo travel experience. The rest of the day we’ll travel as a group to nearby our pickup location. That night will be our final night in the field and we’ll take some time to reflect on our journey and all that we’ve learned.
Day 10 - 11
THIS MOMENT IS OFTEN BITTERSWEET
When you wake to the final morning in the backcountry relishing the memories, the deep sense of connection to a world that moves slower but also excited for your restaurant meal and hot shower. We’ll take some time this morning to soak in the quiet and reflect on how we want to return to the busier world — what we want to bring with us and what we’d rather leave behind.
The plane (or train or jet boat) will hum in to pick us up mid morning and take us back to Anchorage. We’ll check in to our AirBnb and have some time to take showers, unpack, clean gear, and wash clothes before going out for a final celebratory dinner. The AirBnb tonight is included, but the trip is officially over after dinner. You can fly out this evening after 11pm or stay the night and fly out the next morning after a simple breakfast (also included).
The Alaska Factor
Any expedition in Alaska requires flexibility, patience, and a big sense of adventure. We always try our best to follow our itineraries as written, but rarely do. That’s part of the fun of it! Alaska weather is always changing and shifting and we will always respectfully honor what the weather allows or doesn’t allow us to do. We get the incredible luxury of flying into these beautiful places, but with flying also comes a need to defer to the conditions. Sometimes flights may be delayed for a day or more as we wait for an appropriate weather window. Trip itineraries may also shift due to group skill, pilot availability, or any number of unforeseen circumstances. Please come with an open mind, a spirit of enthusiastic adventure, and a willingness to see where the trip takes you.
