Alaska Day 14

It has been three nights now since I have slept horizontally. I need to lay down. I slept but not as well as our previous nights in the car, perhaps it’s because my body wasn’t as tired.  We did little physical activity yesterday. Last night, my grandmother was in my dream. My mother’s mother. In the dream I was walking with her and she saw a little boy who she called G and she gave him a big hug but I’m not sure if it was my brother or my son.

It’s raining. And it’s cold. And we are supposed to go whitewater rafting today. It is exceptionally disappointing that the weather is not better. Our last three full days here will be rainy and today and tomorrow we planned to be on the water. This morning, we went to  Creekbend Cafe in Hope for breakfast. It was way overpriced with food of average quality. I had crab cakes Benedict that were okay but I wouldn’t order them again. The hollandaise sauce was more bland than tasty and there wasn’t much crab in the crab cakes.

We aren’t white water rafting until the afternoon so we parked the car near Six Mile Creek—where we saw the moose yesterday—and took some time to read. There isn’t a whole lot else to do near Hope, especially in the rain. When there was a break in the rain, I set up my chair and read outside but after about an hour the rain started up again so I retreated to the car.

Twenty-four years ago, I went white water rafting on the Nile River in Uganda. It was my second white water experience and it was insanely invigorating. I’ve gone several times since, and while I’ve enjoyed each trip, nothing came close to that adrenaline rush I got in Uganda—until today.  It was an amazing trip down the river.

Here in Alaska, even in the summer, the air can be cold but the river is always frigid. Therefore, instead of a wet suit, we had to wear a dry suit. To stay warm on the river we had to wear warm clothes, preferably wool. We donned our thermals, flannels, fleeces,

and wool socks. Over our layers, we pulled on dry suits which kept us and our base layers mostly dry—some water did seep in at our wrists and necks. The dry suits have rubber booties and we had to wear sneakers—provided by the tour company—over the booties. Every part of our body was covered except our face and hands. Before getting on the raft, we had to get in the water and practice swimming to the raft just incase the raft capsized. The guide then pulled G3 into the raft and G3 pulled his moms in.

Our guide was great. He was personable and experienced, and he safely guided us through all three canyons. We did not capsize. The first two canyons were fun, but it was the third canyon that rivaled the rapids in Uganda. It was the longest stretch of continuous rapids I have ever gone down and the white water was exceptionally rough. Going down the rapids, I got smacked in the face so many times that I got brain freeze. On the raft, the look on G3’s face was one of pure joy and when I asked if he liked this or the ice climb better he said, “Maybe this.”

After the final canyon, we were permitted to jump into the river and float the last hundred meters or so. G3 and I jumped in and it felt weird to be in the water but not wet. Even though it rained—steadily but not particularly hard—the rain did not have a negative impact on our experience. The dry suits kept us dry and we were so focused on the rapids and paddling we didn’t even notice it.

Unfortunately, this was not an activity that we could photograph, so I have no pictures of this pure adrenaline high to share.  Worse than not having pictures is the swelling on Kati’s left had. The hand, as well as the knuckles on her pointer, middle, and ring fingers, are swollen and have a slight bluish tint. She’s not certain how it happened but she suspects it may have happened when G3 yanked her into the raft after our practice swim.

When we got out of the water I was cold.

A deep chill had settled into my body. Foreseeing that we were going to be cold and knowing the weather was going to be very cold and damp, Kati booked us into a hotel for the night. Not only did we get to crank the heat to warm up, we also got to shower for the first time since leaving Fairbanks. Oh how nice it feels to be clean. Being able to sleep horizontal is a major bonus as well. We

are staying at The Trail Lake Lodge in a tiny town called Moose Pass. Once we checked in we went to the restaurant downstairs. The town is so small there were not many food options. I had salmon. I wanted salmon at least once in Alaska. I wish I could say it was the best salmon I ever had but I can’t. It tastes the same as salmon back home. The best salmon I ever had remains the salmon I ate years ago in Chile.

After dinner I took a walk through town—town consists of one black. It was a short walk,

but on that one block there is a Methodist Church and a school. It’s perhaps the smallest school—not part of a historic site—I’ve ever seen.