Epic Walk #3 - Teklanika River to Polychrome Overlook - 18 miles

I survived! No Bears, but I did observe a moose on the bus ride to where I was to start walking, and some Dall sheep and birds of prey while walking. All enhanced by using binoculars. I know I’ve said it before, but the whole “let me get out my binoculars to observe this wildlife” experience is the bomb! My heart was beating fast in a section near a stream where I saw a bear before but I just looked and sang extra hard.

There was a cute ranger hut for winter use near Igloo Creek, and the sun did peek out of the clouds occasionally.

Unfortunately I didn’t make it all the way to Polychrome. I stopped somewhere around mile 44. The weather was cold and hazy in that area and I was concerned about the lateness of the hour and the number of buses that might be coming along to take me out of the park – especially as some of the buses passing me had signs saying they were full. I think it might have been a better idea to walk from Kantishna out of the park for bus reasons, even though it feels like you’d be turning your back on the best scenery a bit instead of walking into it.

Also, it was taking a lot longer than anticipated to walk this section. It was very exhausting singing loudly into the wind – that takes a lot out of you, although I believe it’s improved my singing ability as my diaphragm was getting a great workout. It’s also hard to sing and think separate things, so I started singing my thoughts at the top of my lungs.

I noticed my hands seem to be getting worse – it takes a lot less cold for them to go numb for longer. Not only do my fingertips turn white more easily, but it’s like a deeper freeze, because when the blood comes back they turn blue-ish before turning red-ish and warm then going back to pink. Also, the cold makes it hard for me to grip things, it feels like the muscles are frozen and won’t take commands – instead I get a bit of a dead sensation when I try to apply more pressure. I’m going to start documenting when this happens – at the very least in freakish pictures!

All that said, I had a delightful walk – all in all around another 5 and a half hours.