When i think about places i wish i had more time to stay in, there are several that immediately come to mind: the northern Wind River range, desert riperian areas when the water flows like Muddy Creek... But at the top of this list is the Endicott Range of the Central Brooks. Although it took a few days longer to get up and over the range than we had planned, i wish i had more time up there to explore, the views were just incredible.
After our second day on the John, we continued for a few more hours, hoping to see the confluence with Hunt Fork, a location where many tend to put in, floating the easier sections of river downstream back to bettles. Shortly before the confluence, we pulled over to end our trip on the john because we were only adding miles to our hike at that point. After an hour of repacking bags, we shouldered our loads and started walking back up the forest to get to the ridge we were hoping would sheppard us to the other side of the range.
Trying to find a way through the forrest to the ridgeline
The John river and Hunt Fork
Quickly we were greeted by the famous alaska Fauna that, until this point, had been more or less non-existent, our friends (or maybe not) the mosquitos. Combine this with the heav bushwhacking that we had to do to get back to the ridge and our heavy packs and the tenor of the group was quickly declining. Once on the ridge, however, we were greated to even worse bushwhacking combined with 30+ degree slopes, things really got physical as we clawed our way through the brush upwards. Eventually the brush thinned out and we got our first open view of the central Brooks, what a place. We also came across a stone hole in the ground- it looked like maybe it was an animal blind for hunting? Hard to say. After our trip i asked about it in Bettles and was told it was a hunting storage location- essentially the Inupiat people would store meat in caches like this, covered with rocks, for the winter to keep the meat frozen and away from other animals but available when needed.
The freezer
I had hoped to make it all the way to one of several lakes that night to ensure water access. In our trip to the Fortymile area last year, we became well aquainted with tussocks and the boggy highlands that generally existed in this part of the world, however i was unfortunately surprised to find that the area we were walking through was more or less bone dry, with miles of tussock walking left before we got to the lake and a water supply that was quickly drying up. After a few more hours of traversing and trying to find water, we finally decided to call it a day - because the sun never set though, this was somewhere around 12:45am the next morning. While andrew and lindsay set up camp, trying to make the most of the extremely uneven landscape, i set off looking for water. I had hoped that as i moved off the ridge area, water would begin coming together into streams. Unfortunately i had to descend all the way to the bottom of the canyon below us, some thousand feet of elevation and a mile or so of walking, to find anything. Around 1:45 we finally had dinner, a delicious cheesy rissoto courtesy of Lindsay and passed out amongst the tussocks.
Finally made it to camp
After a mile of walking, i finally found a beautiful alpine creek to grab water from.
Around noon we finally woke up. Upon checking the weather, however, it seemed that a big storm would be moving in that afternoon, either we would pack up and try and move quickly, or sit and wait out the storm for the next day. We chose the later and moved camp to a "less" lumpy spot- we were using inflatable dry bags to fill in the gaps between tussocks to limited succes. I made a quick run for more water and we waited. Then it rained... and rained... and rained... it didnt really let up that afternoon, evening, the next morning... We were all super drained from the walk to the ridge to the rest time was welcome. We spent the day reading, playing cards, sleeping, and occasionally poking our heads out to see when the next wave would come in.
A moment of bliss, lindsay grabbing a quick bite to eat.
The Crew, glad to be almost done on our way to ducky lake (it looks liek an upside down ducky!)
Soaking in the views
Soaking in the views (while resting the legs)
A mother grizzly and her cub
When the rain finally stopped we began our trek to that lake. It was miles of tussock hell in and out of the rain and sleet, with an occasional bushwhack through alder thickets. (un)luckily, we were just below snow line, which meant it was wet and cold, i almost would have preferred the snow. The landscape up in that range is a trip, without any trees to give context, everything simultaneously seems closer and farther away than it is. When we finally made it to the lake and set up camp we were once again exhausted from the trip, and a bit unnerved by all of the animal bones that surrounded the lake. Clearly, the eating was good for carnivores in the area, hopefully we would not be the next meal.
An old axe found on the ridgeline, miles from the nearest tree, slowly being reintegrated into the landscape. Based on markings i think this axe was made in the early 1900's
Caribou shed
Finally back on track, the remainder of the ridge went as expected, full of stunning views, stout wind, small but plentiful blueberries, and a few grizzlies that quickly ran off at first sight of us. I had high hopes of getting up into the high reaches of the range and poking around, but, having burned a day waiting out the storm, and a few more due to slow travel, we didnt have the time to linger much. Nonetheless, the views from the ridgeline were stellar. With the HMG Pyramid, we even had our own alpine challet for dinner each night! As the ridge walking went by, the weather slowly got clearer, the walking slowly got easier, and i was wishing we had more time. Just before the final descent into the Tinayguk valley, we had a lovely afternoon tiramusu in the alpine, soaking up the sun and enjoying the softness of the alpine tundra under our bare feet.
Looking down towards the Allen River, an alternate path that was identified for the trip and a place i would love to return to.
Alpine Flowers and the Tinayguk valley in the distance
Fianlly, some cloudberries! Found on the final descent to the Tinayguk
A panorama of the upper Tinayguk Valley and the Endicott Range
Andrew basking in the success of having made it to the Tinayguk with our first fire of the trip.
