SAFE

Sorry, sorry -- I asked y'all to call the troopers if I didn't check in by Monday night, and I didn't, but not because I had drowned in quicksand, been attacked by a mother grizzly, or was on my way to death by starvation while lost in the wilderness. No, those things happily did not occur, though we did indeed encounter quicksand, a mother grizzly, and got lost in Denali. I didn't write last night because I was asleep by 8:30 pm, exhausted from a thoroughly terrifying trip.

You think you know terror when your civil procedure professor is staring at you and you have no idea what her question just meant. You think you know terror when you stare at your torts exam and have no idea what to write and your classmates are madly typing away. You think you know terror when you start hyperventilating in the law library in the middle of your first semester and you run out gasping for breath that doesn't seem to come even though you're panting like crazy. But I've got it all in perspective now. Because when you're in the middle of nowhere and there's no one who knows exactly where you are, and you see your roommate suddenly get shorter by a foot because she's up to her knees in glacial quicksand and she turns around with a look of astonishment and utter fear and you reach out a hand to her and step forward only to lurch to YOUR knees, which have in that demi second become the lowest part of your legs visible above the deceptively firm ground, and you then see your roommate's friend sink up to HER knees just as she reaches a hand out to you -- well then you know terror.

So: terrifying trip. But my god, it was amazing. And I'll tell you all about it when I write an ultra long entry on the plane ride to Seoul on Thursday. And I'll tell you about my last day on the job and the crazy conversation I had with Supe, and the last little love thoughts I have about Alaska.

To tide you over, a couple shots from the weekend:

Friday morning: the bus drives away, leaving us alone with all our gear



Friday afternoon: trekking through a glacier-carved valley, on one of the many gravel bars



Saturday afternoon: after taking a wrong turn, we end up in this exTREMely rocky river valley



Saturday evening: Roommate, racked out, because we went up the valley, thought we had made a mistake, backtracked 30 minutes downhill and decided we had NOT made a mistake, went up two hours again and decided we were fucking LOST, and went back down again.



Sunday morning, 6:30 am: after retracing our steps back to the Toklat river, we camped on a gravel bar and woke up early to cross the river and hike back to the road. It was bone-chillingly cold.



Sunday afternoon: fresh bear prints; old sun-bleached caribou skull and antlers





Sunday afternoon: after confirming we were on the right track back to the road, we took ANOTHER wrong turn. After climbing up a steep hill, we righted ourselves and trekked through this amazing valley.



Sunday afternoon: stumbling back onto the road, dehydrated, sunburned, exhausted, exhilarated, and thanking god.



A detailed story to follow, after which you will know that if I say: "I'm going hiking in Alaskan backcountry -- call the troopers if I don't check in by X time!" I'm not kidding. In the meanwhile, I shall pack up my life here and try not to cry too much about leaving Alaska.