Looking back on upper Arrigetch Creek as we leave the watershed to hop over to the next canyon. L to R: The Tusk, Xanadu, Ariel and Caliban.
“We tried to get up early but because it was cold we waited for the sun. Blueberries and oatmeal. Dave and I washed our hair. Yeah! We were on the trail about 2pm with our ‘agony bags.'” Journal – August 22, 1986
“Soon we were traversing out of the canyon. We cut through a wash and saw evidence of bear (diggings, dropping w/blueberries). I lagged back feeling the weight. Soon I found sweet blueberries to perk me up. We slowly made our way to a pond (stagnent) in the pass. The day was beautiful and sunny, but with a cold wind...The mosquitoes were blessedly gone. “
We cached our ice axes and crampons in the pass between the canyons to ease the weight of our packs. We dropped into the canyon and the red alders made the going “torturous.” One of the Christians hurt their knee.
“Once down in the canyon bottom we almost immediately smelled sulfur. The vegetation was noticeably different. Juniper was on the hills and ferns were in the canyon. The canyon is fantastically lush with large pines. We traveled maybe 1/2 mile through a jungle of alder and found the hot springs. The only evidence of humans was a small dam. There was a meadow right above [where] we made camp.”
“Sitting by the fire eating, we were not prepared for after-dinner entertainment. If we had seen the aurora [borealis] the night before it was nothing compared with tonight’s display.
At first they were fainter than the previous night, then over the west ridge a powerful show[ing] neon magenta on the bottom with pink, blue and green. Then overhead there was a burst of color frantically whipping and buffeting. Then the moon rose and the north was green. We all shouted and jumped to our feet. It was awesome and almost frightening.”
A Bit About The Kaleidoscope Effect of The Aurora Borealis
At our camp at the hot springs we were at 67.41º north latitude. The prime auroral oval centers roughly between 65° and 70° North. This location is the only place on the planet where intense geomagnetic storms place the vibrant light displays directly overhead.
Why is this? This is because the Earth’s magnetic field directs the charged particles streaming off the sun to this latitude. While the aurora are stunning anywhere they can be seen, From 65º to 70º they are extra special. Even the Alaskans in our group said they had never seen anything like it.
After the cosmic show we were still faced with the nightly chore of hanging our food. This was before lightweight bear canisters were available. Although the nights were getting quite noticeably longer, it was still probably well after midnight:
“When we hung the food back up, the line broke… after Jim, Dave and I had a hell of a time stringing it. I had fallen [earlier] and sprained my right pointer finger which I had re-injured repeatedly trying to hoist the food. When it broke I was pissed. But Steve was up in that tree in a flash (an approach I had not thought of…) Steve seemed to be over his cold for the most part.”
