Denali: ...Not The "SITabout"

Waking up and the rain had stopped! First time in days when the skies weren't open by the time I walked out of my tent. The days in Alaska were endless. The sun would hang in the sky well past 11pm and with these long days came patient mornings. Feeling a sense of lazy entitlement after a long rainy hike, I shamefully placed a lot of thought into just staying in this same camp spot for the entire day/night and walking down the next day.

After second breakfast...well more like second snack, I sat comfortably on the spongy tundra and had a revelation. Feeling like I was not capitalizing on the opportunity for adventure, I told myself,  "This is not the SITabout! Its the WALKabout! So stop being a whiny baby and load up your pack and get your ass to the top of that damn mountain! Would Edmond Hillary have been satisfied with just halfway?! NO! I will not let you return home with a bunch of "halfway" stories!"

So what if I talk to myself! My pep talk got me up to the top of Igloo Mountain and has since resurfaced as a motivational spark countless times over the proceeding 4 months.

I won't blabber on much like I did yesterday so here are the pictures that show my trek to the top. I will treat you all like Kindeegartners and provide you with few words to describe my visual journey ...instead...I'll just show you some pictures. Fill in the details as you would like to think it happened! Make it exciting though! Maybe include a dinosaur?

I will say this...thank God for my pep talk. *Warning: Life lesson ahead* Had I been content with "halfway" I would have missed out on what will likely be the most stunning view I will have ever seen in my entire life. Happiness through hardship! Remember what I was saying about "vast"...well here is it!

 

 P.S. I chose this song specifically for today because it was on THIS day back in August where I knew my life would never again be the same...and this song has been a Walkabout anthem for me even before my first hike. Getting to the top of this mountain allowed the "Wild" to finally and wholly consume me.

P.P.S. Click on the pictures to see bigger versions of them. I find it more enjoyable, maybe you will too!

I mean who doesn't like waking up in clouds? Wait...I'm I dead?

A bear took this for me. Would you have said no?

 

Curb appeal

As the clouds lifted, look what I found!! I didn't know those were even there!

Or any of this! Imagine my surprise.

First time ever seeing snow capped peaked mountains

My dining room

Just wow

These birds made the most bizarre calls I've ever heard from a bird.

I'm sorry, I had to.

Told you I used it as a walking stick!

I was FREE!

Hard to believe I was down there yesterday...and I STILL had more to go...

Other side of the drainage.

If anyone asked me for directions to Mordor I think I'd just point over there.

Or the Misty Mountains (OK...OK...enough with the LOTR references geez!)

Mt. Doom? OK Ok last one!

The view from the top of the mountain pass...this was the the west side of the mountain!

View looking East from the pass

I almost considered THIS the top...but really I had a fair bit of climbing left...

But I'd leave my pack here.

Dear lord...

Into the Wild selfie

...and this is the stare that drove off the bears.

Some Dall Sheep

Oh right....I was now higher than these planes fly...soooo....

Inner Monologue accompanied by dropped jaw and near tears: "This can't be real..."

..."seriously"

Never too far from my side.

Did a little exploring along this ridge as well. The day was still young.

Is that a ginormous glacier?

YUP!

Ladies and gents...I give you, the view from the peak of Igloo Mountain

OK who is painting this landscape in front of me, really?!

More pictures from the latter half of the day to follow in a separate post...