Wonder Lake

Went on a hike today to McKinley River Bar. The glacial rivers consist of various ever changing channels giving them the name, braided rivers. They are very very wide but at the same time unimpressvie since each channel is only 10 to 15 feet across.

I plan to strike camp early tomorrow morning and take the 8 AM departing bus back to the parking lot. Sine it's a 6.5 hour ride, I'll probably drive the 125 miles to Fairbanks and then head up the Elliot Hwy to Livengood. I'll camp there for the night and then head for the Arctic Circle in the morning. After that, I head SOUTH! What a concept?!

I just finished reading Into the Wild. It,s disturbing to me how much I share in common with Chris McCandless, the kid the book was written about. Our personalities have some clear overlap and I've said several of the same things he had. For instance, I wrote in my private journal that a challenge where success is assured is no challenge at all. You must feel the real possibility for failure in order to know you're pushing yourself. I figure the big difference between he and I was the size of bet we're comfortable playing with. He played with his life as a wager. I risk a bit of shame if I turn around early having not made it.

Brian