Epic Walks – The Plan

So yesterday while on the bus I learned that you can just get off and walk on the tundra anywhere along the Park Road. I will definitely try to do that if I can find a partner to go with me.

However, as a project I can do on my own, I have decided to walk the entire length of the Park Road – 90 miles – in a series of 5 epic walks. I think this will help me get to know the park in a way that will bond me to it. Also, I just want to see if I can do it.

The walks are roughly: 15, 14, 18, 19, and 24 miles
- Park entrance to Savage River - 15 miles
- Savage River to Teklanika River - 14 miles (29 miles into park)
- Teklanika River to Polychrome Overlook - 18 miles (47 Miles into the park)
- Polychrome Overlook to Eielson Center - 19 miles (66 Miles into the park)
- Eielson Center to Kantishna - 24 miles (90 miles into the park)

Obstacles:
* Bears – Let’s face it, the fact that I saw bears on the road first hand makes this scary. I did see them only on what would be sections 2, 3 and 4 of the walk. I also figure that not walking in Denali because you are afraid of bears is kind of like not walking in New York City because you are afraid of muggers. That said, you may be able to plead for mercy with a mugger, while your pleas would likely fall on deaf ears with a bear. Comforting is the fact that you are more likely to be struck by lightning that attacked by a bear – however I bet that statistic applies to everyone in the US and maybe not people walking in bear territory. I bought a bear bell and then someone told me that bears were likely to come see what it was. So the best defense is singing loudly so as to alert them to your presence.

* Lack of food and water – unlike a marathon, there will be no support team, I’ll have to carry everything I need with me which is heavy and annoying. Fortunately walking instead of running should cut back on water needs.

* Weather – the weather here changes throughout the day – sunny, rainy, and windy – hard to plan for especially over a number of hours.

* Bus schedules – I’ll have to make sure I complete the walks in times when I can get a bus back to the park entrance, and that may be hard to time further into the park.

* Pain – without being able to listen to music like I have for marathon running, I may find it
harder to ignore the shuffling sounds of my own feet or the pain in my feet, legs, and back (especially with having to carry water, etc.). Also, these walks are going to have to come close together in order to fit them in before really bad weather comes.

All that said, I’m game.

Pictures: Denali Park adn the Park Road