Hiking (Hitch or Otherwise) the Road to Enlightenment

"...Because the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing...but burn, burn, burn like roman candles across the night."
-Jack Kerouac

I boarded my flight to Alaska with two books in my bag, Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild," lent to me by my good friend and astute businessman as of late, Roy Shanklin, and the Original Scroll Edition of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," so graciously lent to me by my brother Ryan. Being that I recently read "On the Road" and that "Into the Wild" was required reading for my job, I began my summer of reading by diving into Krakauer's account of McCandless' travels. It made for a good, quick read and brought me to peace with the anxiety that was getting at me having just begun my own adventure. I was on a reading high and was excited to read "On the Road" as Kerouac originally wrote it. The Original Scroll has no paragraph or chapter breaks. It is one long unending paragraph and most interestingly includes the real names of the characters, rather than the Editor's required fictional names (for example, Dean Moriarty was the fictional name of Neal Cassady). I'm currently still reading it, although these days I hardly have any time to commit to reading with all the construction going on (we've been building the 12 room employee housing this week). I'm finding that the Original Scroll is difficult to read, being that there's no breaks. You don't know where to stop as the whole thing is one continuous stream of thought. there's no telling where Kerouac himself took a break in writing.

The result of the style used by Kerouac to create "On the Road" in its original state is one of immediacy and importance. Kerouac wanted to get it all down while every detail was still burned into his memory, a memory that was all too often scattered by drunkenness and sleep depravity. His lifestyle was not conducive to remembering, nor is mine, and I think the fact that I can relate to his immediacy is what is causing me to become more involved in the story this time around.

Before coming to Alaska I made plans to bring my recording equipment up here because I was hoping to create some music during my stay, as I was sure I'd be inspired unlike I ever have before, being in what I was told is one of the most inspiring places in the world. But its funny, although I have been inspired, I've never felt so uninspired to write music. With this sudden sense of clarity, being here and having my purpose (at least for the summer) so plainly laid out in front of me, I've been inspired, but in no way to write music.

I'm inspired to explore, and I'm inspired by all the people I meet who seem to appreciate the art of exploration as I've learned to. I've only had a few chances to get away and do some exploring on my own, but even on the tours I'm overcome with peace as I experience the changing landscape, the wildlife, my friends, the customers and all that Alaska has to offer even when I'm at work.

As I've mentioned in my previous blogs, Travis and I attempted to climb Sugar Loaf Mountain on one of my first days off. Also as I mentioned, we never quite made it to our destination, admittedly probably because of me, as I'm sure Travis would have never quit had we not separated, but none the less we were both completely satisfied with our attempt and felt no disappointment coming off that mountain. After all we had reached the peak of the range and walked the ridge, allowing us to see the the endless expanse of mountains beyond mountains, beyond mountains beyond mountains, and so on, probably all the way east to Canada. I commented to Travis that it was extremely humbling to gaze upon the nameless and perhaps mostly unexplored, but none the less immense and spectacular mountains. Could we find a peak that was reachable and previously untouched? Was there a mountain out there waiting for us to come and be its first chance at being conquered? I don't know but it sure looked like it when we stopped for those brief moments to catch our breathes (mainly mine) and took a moment to try and fathom the immensity of it all.


It should come as no surprise that reading "Into the Wild" and "On the Road" inspired me on an afternoon after a couple of tours to get out on the highway and do some hitchhiking. I've always wanted to give it a go and I had been told that Alaska was one of the easiest places to start. So after my morning shift was over on a beautiful afternoon I walked the mile down Otto Lake Road to the highway and put my thumb out and waited for my ride. My first ride was a pretty pathetic one to say the least. I sat there waiting for 15 minutes while my friends/fellow tour guides who live in the rail car near the highway watched on laughing at my feeble attempts to get a ride. What made my first ride so pathetic was that it was from the Salmon Bake's shuttle (the FREE shuttle for a popular bar & restaurant) which drops me right where I was heading. Even worse was that I had to tip my driver. I think paying for your first hitched ride kind of stifles the excitement. Luckily though my ride back was legitimate. I was picked up by a gentleman who worked in the Park as a helicopter pilot and was headed home for lunch in Healy. In 12 miles he told me all about his time spent in Alaska and his home in Florida where he came from and all the beautiful girls on the beach in their bathing suits, and how even though he misses THEM he has no regrets. I thanked him for the ride and the pleasant conversation and walked on down Otto Lake Rd. home, content with my first hitchhiking experience, despite the illegitimacy of my first ride.

walking down Otto Lake to the highway. You can see Sugar Loaf peaking over the closer mountains on the left.

Brian and Tim heckling me for "looking so gay" and my failure to get anyone to even look at me, much less slow down

Brian's Facebook caption says it best: "Some drivers looked like they might stop, but then they realized it was Joey and kept driving."

Last week I had my day off with my friends Chris and Ryan. I slept in and spent half the day sitting around on my computer and feeling pretty disappointed in myself for not waking up early and doing more with my one and only day off. Then Chris came in the house at about 2:00 and told me to put on my shoes and go for a ride with him somewhere to do something. With no real plans, going "somewhere to do something" sounded great because somewhere would have to be better then sitting here. So we picked up Ryan at the rail car and started South down the highway and ended up stopping near the entrance to the park where a bridge expanded across the Nenana River and a small sign read "Triple Lake Trail." Chris said he'd never done it but heard it was pretty cool and not overly challenging, which is always nice. The hike takes you up a pretty good climb for the first half hour or so where it flattens out and winds back into the valley along a beautiful tree covered mountainside. It extends deep into the valley, passing three quaint lakes. We took our time as we were in no hurry, and sunlight is in no short supply here, eventually returning to our car and stopping for a few beers on the way home. After the beers we started our way back home but didn't get far when Chris pulled to the side of the road and said we were gonna walk down to see some waterfalls. It's apparently called Dragon Fly Creek, and being just a little buzzed I stumbled my way down, laughing all the way and grabbing at the branches of the trees to catch me from falling on my face. It was a great time and the falls were a wonderful end to my day off.





It might be a shame that I don't get to go out and explore all too often with my work schedule being so hectic, but even so I get my daily dose of peace and reflection at the lake in my backyard every day and that can sustain me until my next adventure (perhaps hiking Mt. Healy? or if I can find a way to get out there, visit McCandless' bus? we'll see) and for that I am completely and utterly grateful.

Otto Lake, just steps from my driveway. You can actually see the ridge Travis and I ascended in the middle of the screen. we reached that first peak and followed that ridge left pretty much just to where it disappears behind that closer mountain.

Mt. Healy from my bedroom window

Denali Ridge Adventure

I awoke Monday morning, May 31st, tired as any college student is waking up at 8:15 a.m. on a summer morning, but excited for the new tour that lied ahead in my work schedule. The Denali Ridge Adventure was my final tour to be trained on and I was told by many of my co-workers that it was our most fun, challenging, and beautiful tour we offered. Not to mention the Wilderness Adventure (our most basic tour) gets to be monotonous when you do it for a few weeks, a couple of times a day. This tour was to take us down Dry Creek, a small segment of which is featured in our Wilderness Adventure, far, far back to where orange stakes mark the border of Denali National Park.

Being that this is our most challenging adventure in terms of riding conditions, customers must have extensive experience with the machines making for a fun, light-hearted tour. I had to remind myself several times that these people were paying customers and not my buddies out enjoying a day offroading in Alaska with me. We led the tour but there were several times that our own Rhino became stuck in the deep, dank mud in spots where tires were swallowed and spun uselessly with no traction. We'd free ourselves and search for a way around and the customers would weigh in with ideas of their own on how to get past it. I almost feel bad that I'm paid to have as much fun as these customers who paid good money to get out here, but someone's gotta do it!

We met our customers in front of the house where they're dropped off by the owner of Denali ATV and our Driver, Mike. They were two young couples from Los Angeles, the first fellow Los Agelines I've come across in my (nearly) three weeks here. They were eager to get on their machines and get into it and took to driving really easy. We kept a good pace, stopping at the "Sand Castles" pictured in my first entry, which is our third stop on our Wilderness Adventure, and continued on further down Dry Creek where we encountered the deep mud for the first time. After a few tries and failed attempts to go around we pushed through and carried on with our tour. We encountered a Jeep roughly 10 to 12 miles out, it was stuck in about two feet of mud and was seemingly abandoned. Etched into the thick layer of mud coating the back windshield read a note "1 adult 2 children, walking down stream out," with footprints that matched those of an adult and some kids walking in the direction we'd just came. We hadn't seen any people on our ride so we assumed they'd made it out fine. What a trek that must been with two kids in tow!

We reached the end of our tour at which we turn around and stopped to enjoy the surrounding valleys and mountains that formed a giant amphitheater around us. I did my best to capture how incredibly beautiful it was with this video, but the tranquility and the vivid colors are nearly impossible to translate in a video. There's no substitute for standing where I stood and the extreme calmness that came over me when I stopped and did my best to soak in every last detail.




We enjoyed some sodas and a few snacks with the customers, exchanging hiking stories, discussing our disappointment in how similar Disneyland and Disneyworld are (one of the other guides was from Florida and none of us realized they practically have the same rides!), our mutual hatred for driving in snow, and at one point just stood quietly enjoying the beautiful world around us. We were IN IT.

We headed back, keeping a faster pace then we had on our way out. As a result we had some extra time so we took them up to another ridge, and at one point down into an impassible stream due to the ice that has yet to completely melt away.


We had led them down into this stream, down a muddy bank and had left just enough room to turn us all around and drive the machines up and out with a little help from me and travis pushing from the sidelines.


It was another one of those moments where I felt like we were out messing around with some good friends, rather than at work.

Even with our few minor detours we arrived back at the "Sand Castles" with 45 minutes to kill. So Chris, our leader and the guide I was riding with up front, decided to take the customers to a three story, half-built, abandoned cabin that I'd noticed from one of our overlooks from our Wilderness Adventure.


We drove up Dry Creek a ways and arrived at the cabin. Two old trucks still sit parked in front of the dilapidated cabin to rust and rot in the unforgiving Alaskan weather. Chris said he'd seen a porcupine inside the cabin the last time he'd visited it and that we might get a chance at seeing it again. Chris led the way, with me, Travis, and the customers close behind. Chris began making his way through the house and to the second story and had gotten a bit ahead of the group when we heard him scream (like a little girl I might add). I ran to see what it was, figuring a porcupine had snuck up on him or something, but found Chris staring at this little guy clapping his beak and puffing his wings at him 5 feet away.


Chris laughed and said he hadn't seen him and nearly walked right into him. He snapped a picture with his camera and then took one for me and we stood there watching the baby Great Horned Owl for a while. One of the couples decided to go outside, afraid the baby's mother would be returning soon upon hearing the ruckus of the baby. I recorded this video before we heard them yell from outside "MOM'S BACK!!!" If you listen carefully you can hear them right before I turn around and run and stop the video.



I never saw the mother, but apparently she had a 4 - 5 foot wingspan and was much larger than the baby. I'm glad we didn't stick around to see her in retrospect.

After our run in with nature we started the 15 minute ride back, taking one more detour to the first overlook of our Wilderness Adventure. Its great to be able to do all the extras when we have experienced riders on the tours. There's no doubt about it, this is my favorite tour and I'll be thrilled at every opportunity I get to lead it. Unfortunately it appears that its our least frequented trail.

Hope everyone reading this is well. I've been missing a lot of you a lot lately. I should have some great pics for you soon, as I'm planning on hiking Mt. Healy in the next couple of weeks. Come to think I haven't posted the pics from my first hike to Sugar Loaf yet...I'll get on that soon.

Love you everyone!