It rained pretty hard all night and, when it finally let up enough to venture outside, we were surprised with a dusting of snow on all the mountains around us. Luckily we were done with all of our high elevation trekking for the rest of the trip. We were packed up and floating again by 11 AM. The river was swift but mostly within our skill range and the parts that weren’t had easy portages. We came to a portage spot when we noticed a brown grizzly bear about a quarter mile away on the hillside above us. He was busy eating berries and crosswind to us. Eventually, he noticed us and sat down to watch us while munching away. We had to cross back & forth in front of him three times carrying our boats and gear. He seemed fine with it but we were worried he would eventually tire of us going back and forth in front of him and decide to put a stop to it! But he never did and we were able to finish our portage in peace and float on our way.
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| Surprised to wake up to snow! |
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| Floating down North Fork Koyukuk river |
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| Slatepile Mountain |
The river deepened quite a bit after Bombardment creek and we didn’t have to portage anymore. We made it to the Ernie Creek confluence by 5 PM. The sun had broken through the clouds and highlighted the snow-dusted peaks. The Gates of the Arctic - Mt. Boreal and Frigid Crags - were out in their full glory. We stopped to take some photos and admire the beautiful place we were in. Mat was a little disappointed there were no Kings of Argonath carved into the mountains of Gates of the Arctic. We floated until 7:30 PM and set up camp right between the gates as the clouds moved in and rain started.
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| Gates of the Arctic! |
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| Mat and Slatepile Mountain |
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| Gates of the Arctic: Mt. Boreal (L) and Frigid Craig Mountain (R) |
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| Rain moved in for camp at the base of Frigid Craig Mountain |
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