Hard to believe: only five days until I’m back in Denali. Central Alaska is like a lover or family. Our relationship is complex. I’ve seen and experienced its bad—weeks of rain, harsh weather, challenging terrain—and good—a largely-untouched ecosystem, boundless beauty, challenging terrain. I know so many of the plants, animals, and fungi by sight, name, smell, taste, call, touch. I’ve hiked those creeks and know them, walked that river bar, laid down for a nap on the mossbed just outside that broken-down cabin’s door. I know the history, when the road wasn’t where it is, when Johnny lived over there, Fannie here, Harry around that bend. Love, basically.

Hard to believe: only five days until I’m back in Denali.

Central Alaska is like a lover or family. Our relationship is complex. I’ve seen and experienced its bad—weeks of rain, harsh weather, challenging terrain—and good—a largely-untouched ecosystem, boundless beauty, challenging terrain. I know so many of the plants, animals, and fungi by sight, name, smell, taste, call, touch. I’ve hiked those creeks and know them, walked that river bar, laid down for a nap on the mossbed just outside that broken-down cabin’s door. I know the history, when the road wasn’t where it is, when Johnny lived over there, Fannie here, Harry around that bend.

Love, basically.

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