Assaulted and Shocked

My buddy Dave and I backpacked in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska's Brooks Range. It was one of the most spiritual trips of my life. Being my first time in Alaska, I wasn't prepared for the massive assault on my senses. Scale takes on such a different meaning there, not just in size, but in time and one's place in the world. We had a bush pilot drop us on Lonely Lake - a place we picked on a USGS quad for its name. As our float plane disappeared from site, we mounted our packs and headed into the great unknown.

The Caribou were everywhere, it was wicked cold, and the brown bears (aka Grizzlies) were plentiful. The Caribou were like cartoon characters coming up to us, watching and just plain curious. Made me laugh to think of those guys back at Bettles Lodge with all their fancy hunting clothes and guns paying thousands to hunt Caribou. These critters just stood around like they were hypnotized. We could have walked up and bonked one on the head and cooked it up; but that'd just be another thing to attract the bears. That's what made this place different - the bears ruled. Everything was on their terms.

To get your head around the reality that you could be ripped from the warm confines of your tent and turned into a mouth watering meal, you had to totally let go of the concept of control. You had to give yourself to the environment. At the core, it was about letting go of fear. It took me a while, but once achieved, it was spiritual and wonderfully empowering. But then I thought of the petite Japanese woman we met at the lodge who had just spent a month on her own backpacking through the Brooks Range and I felt like a wuss. She reached a spiritual level way past mine.

As for protection, forget guns and bear sprays - that's just what they spray in your eyes before they eat you. Bear attacks usually occur by surprise, so the likelihood that anyone will be able to shoot let alone spray a bear in time is pretty low. To me, if you wanna really experience Alaska, you "go light" which means no weapons, just wits, that's what keeps you alive. In the Arctic you had to stay alert, stick to the rules and not get stupid - that means lazy. But, of course we did get stupid - we camped along a lake one night after being too tired to hike up to make camp on a mountain shoulder.

Turned out the lake was a watering hole for the bears - duh. So I got to face one in the morning as Dave saw it coming up behind me while I sat and sipped tea. I turned to see our furry friend up on his hinds sniffing for me, but luckily I was down wind. In our most soothing voices, we explained that we really weren't very tasty, so he went on his way. We saw many bears, but never as close as this one since we made lots of noise singing. There, noise was your best defense and a good song could ensure survival. One of the songs we'd sing was Michelle Shocked's "Memories of East Texas". Why? I dunno, Dave knew and liked it. Soon, so did I.

We visited this holy place in late August of 1998. By the time the bush plane landed on our pick up lake, the Tundra had turned a carpet of stunning oranges, reds and yellows for the brief one week Arctic fall. I will never ever forget how it felt to be flying out over those colors, the mountains and into what seemed like infinity. When we arrived at the lodge, we ate like kings and plugged in to the real version of Michelle's "Memories of East Texas" again and again. Of course we also played "Anchorage" quite a few times. When I hear Michelle Shocked, I definitely remember Alaska.