The Walkabout: Wrangell-St. Elias: Banzai Bonanza!

Well first I should mention that I am still alive. I know some folks were wondering if I had perished along the journey but I am alive and very well! Enough time has passed since my last post that I've almost forgotten how to use this site. There are a few reasons I have not updated anything in a while. The main one being that I have had NO time. I know I know..."says the guy with nothing but free time." The adventure has been nonstop since New Years and I simply have had nearly no free time in areas of internet service to upload anything. Gather the experiences now...talk about them later. However, it was only a matter of time before all this 4-Wheel driving would lead the Kodiak down a road that not even her tires could pass unscathed. So I am in a town in Southern California tending to her rubber wounds.

Anywho, I don't have much time to write a long write up about the events these pictures capture but below is a glimpse into my long hike through the rugged Wrangell and St. Elias mountain ranges...in particular...Bonanza Peak. A remote place where beauty and fear were encountered simultaneously, limitations were tested, pride was extinguished, and humility was discovered.

Hmmm I wonder what happened there?

Thanks, Tolkein

He was right! (See above)

The remains of a cable cart system from ye old mining days

Age old machinery

Not a bad window seat for any job really

Hide and seek with a mountain range the size of a few states...

Nail, nail, nail, nail (Inside joke)

Woodfall?

Halfway up and halfway to go

They used to have carnival rides up here? Nooooo

Approaching the mine

Never forget to turn around and see where you've gone from time to time

So close!

They don't build em like they used to?

They missed some copper

The rain has had its way with it...

Sure I'll go up there...

Pinnacles to greet me at the top

These were clean in North Cascades...you should see them now...

Watch your step...

Coppermine!

View from the otherside of the ridge

I have so much to teach you, Mike from September

Kermit THE Frog here!

So I DID attempt to actually climb higher after talking with a gent I met on my way down. Long story short, I climbed up to a point where I was too scared to go further up AND too scared to head back down. NOT the best position to find yourself in! Looking back now I totally coulda made it! Nevada taught me that...but more on that in way future posts.

OOOooooooo Aaaaaa

In a sea of death there still remains life

Take a load off and enjoy the view!

Ominousness somewhere in the distance!

Mega zoom at the glacier I'm essentially sleeping on below

Gotta love these Alaskan braided rivers

The door to the Mine! Speak Friend and enter (I had to folks, come on!)

Clouds rollin' in!

Doesn't get much more rugged and alone than this...

This was the furthest up I made it.

I wish I had more time for a fuller write up because I owe so much to these two! The gent, Ben, first put the idea into my head that getting to the peak was possible so I headed BACK up the mountain after starting to go down. Then after he saw me attempt it he realized that the mountain had indeed changed over the 7 years since he last did it and was potentially FAR more dangerous to scramble than he remembered it being. ANYWAY, he also agreed to meet me outside the Visitor Center the next day to let me borrow his crampons so I could go out and explore the glacier! Telling ya...takes notes DC...