Food Bags

Ramona and Carol came over later this afternoon to bring us our food bags so we can each figure out how to fit 15 pounds of food into our backpacks. We each have a personal snack bag and then separately labeled bags designating whether it's for breakfast, lunch or dinner and what day it will be served. That way we'll know which bag to have easily accessable on the appropriate day.


Ramona is the owner of the guide company, ABEC's Alaska Adventures, and will be one of our guides on the rafting portion of our trip. Carol will be our guide on the week-long backpack preceding the river journey. They talked about what to expect and answered our many questions about gear and safety. Carol offered to bring a rifle on the backpack trip, but we decided that we are much safer from bear incidents because of our large group size (6 of us). We will be bringing 3 big bear-sized cans of pepper spray.

We all liked Carol and Ramona's spirit and energy, and feel very comfortable that they will be our guides. Ramona's company came very highly recommended by Ginny Wood and a few other people Jenn had talked to who had previously been on a guided trip with Ramona.

Mary Shields and Ginny Wood

Marilyn arrived early this morning from Oregon. We made vegie scrambled eggs, toast and OJ for breakfast, then went for a walk in Creamers' Field near our hotel. It used to be a dairy and is now a bird sanctuary and we saw several Sandhill Cranes and of course the ubiquitous Canada Geese.

This afternoon we went out to Mary Shields' place to visit with her and Ginny Wood. Jenn and Joan met both of them 4 years ago on a previous trip to Alaska. They are both environmental activists and are the inspiration for Jennifer's planning of this trip to visit and honor the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Mary lives in a lovely log house with beautiful hand-crafted wood furniture, cabinets and counters. She was the first woman to finish the 1,049 mile Iditarod sled-dog race in 1974. She has authored several books and a delightful documentary film, 'Season of the Sled Dog', about her experiences dog sledding in Alaska. During the summer months she gives a nightly presentation at her home and introduces her dogs to the folks who attend.

Ginny is a spunky woman, now in her 80's, and used to be a wilderness guide in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Ginny shared stories of guiding trips in ANWR and told us that the Kongakut is her favorite river. Ginny served in the Women's Airforce Service Pilot program during World War II and is also one of the founders of Camp Denali.

Mary had baked delicious oatmeal cookies and made limeade for us. We all sat out on her deck and talked for a couple of hours. She is a very gracious, modest woman and told us about her love of spending time alone in the wilderness with her dogs.

I purchased her book 'Sled Dog Trails' and, when she signed it, she wrote "Come back in the winter and we'll go mushing." I said, "Mary, don't say that unless you mean it, because I WILL come back and go mushing with you!"

Jenn and Joan took this picture on a previous visit - of Mary reading to her dog.

Arrival In Fairbanks

Sue and I flew together from Oakland to Fairbanks and then took a shuttle to the Wedgewood Resort, where Jenn and Joanie were arriving by train from Denali. We have a great 2-bedroom suite with kitchen facilities and it ended up costing less per person than separate rooms would have cost.

We then shuttled back to the airport to rent a car and, after comparing prices at all the car-rental kiosks, made a midnight run to Fred Myers to stock our kitchen with food. I love to cook so I planned most of the meals. It's a great way to eat good food and save the expense of dining out.