Monday, August 29, 2016

Woke up to a steady drizzle and a foggy valley but the clouds peeled away by the time we were packed up and starting our hike out. In fact, the sun came out and it was that perfect fall weather of warm sun and cool, crisp autumn air; just lovely. We found a couple wolf-kill sites on our hike out that we had missed on our hike in: multiple caribou bones including nice skull caps.

Hiking out

We made it back to the truck and beelined for Coldfoot’s amazing buffet style dinner. We were worried we would be too early but we lucked out, arriving just as it was starting. So freakin delicious! We decided to see how far south we could get tonight with the possibility of driving all the way back to Fairbanks. We hit the road with coffee, making sure to stop at the turnoff where we lost our front license plate. I hopped out of the truck with my XtraTufs on. Sure enough, the water was clear but it still took a minute to find the plate as a layer of silt had settled on top of it making it camouflage with the muddy bottom. But find it I did and we were on our way again. It was pretty much clear skies as we made our way south.

Hike out with a shed

We decided to go all the way to Fairbanks: Kristy was anxious to get back to her place and continue with her packing to move back to the lower 48 and we really wanted a shower. After we dropped Kristy off, I realized what a terrible idea it was to land in Fairbanks for the night. It’s high tourist season so all the hotels are priced outrageously high AND almost all of the rooms are filled, especially at 11:30PM! We found ourselves a place for $180. Additionally, the aurora borealis was going nuts! But, being in town, the city lights washed out a lot of the activity. Plus we wanted to be inside our $180 hotel room. I wish we had decided to camp outside of town so we would be forced to watch this amazing show!

Beautiful Brooks Mountains

The next day we had an uneventful drive home with beautiful clear skies and nice views of Denali!

Denali on the drive home

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