Our first objective was to establish a base camp further upstream which would be our starting point for climbing Mt. Michelson as well as serve as an intermediate camp for travels further upstream. We decided on a spot near a broad gravel bed where the stream from the 3rd valley on the river's west side met the main river. Although we could see the spot clearly from our first campsite, the map showed it to be 8 miles away.
On Friday, we arrived at the spot we had chosen for basecamp at 4:30 pm, after an 8 hour hike. We had each carried about 70 pounds but we left most of the food behind. We went to bed early and slept late. When we got up Saturday, Jack and I walked back downstream about 1/4 mile where Mike had spotted a 50 gallon drum the day before. We found it in good shape. It had apparently once held fuel for a camp of some kind, perhaps a mining operation. Nearby we found 5-gallon tins of Perl Oil as well as several unopened cans of Del Monte coffee and brown bread. We hauled the drum back to basecamp where we used it as a food cache. We also built a cool cache by capturing a portion of the stream in front of our camp behind a small dam. Shortly after noon, we left with almost empty packs to retrieve the remaining gear from our first camp. The trip took 4 1/2 hours this time.
We had decided to alter our schedule so that we could travel at night when temperatures were cooler and, hopefully, the river would be lower. So we cooked dinner immediately upon arriving at camp. We all ate in Jack's small tent and then stretched out and slept the best we could without sleeping bags inside the very cramped tent. At 12:15 a.m., we got up, fixed some soup, packed the packs and left for basecamp at 1:30, shortly after the sun rose over the hill to the north of us. We arrived at basecamp, bone tired, in time for pancakes Sunday morning, and spent nearly all day in bed. Damn glad to have basecamp established.
It never gets even slightly dark. The sun never really sets. It just sort of skims along the horizon for about an hour around midnight. The sky remains baby blue. Never too dark to take a photograph. Not the least bit of strain to read or write, even in the shade within the tent, at midnight.
The Okpilak River sits in a valley a mile or more wide and very flat with regularly shaped walls rising steeply on both sides. The river itself is very braided within a wide band of gravel. In most places, though, a single main channel carries most of the water. Crossing looks difficult. The river constantly cuts new channels in the gravel and even into the surrounding marsh land.
On both sides of the gravel bed lies a wide, gently sloping marsh. During our trips between our first camp and basecamp, we traveled occasionally near where the land starts sloping uphill in order to avoid the marshy land lower. Often, though, it was impossible. For long stretches we had to walk on tussocks of grass growing up out of standing water or moss 3 inches or more thick. It was like walking on under-inflated basketballs and I felt that at any moment I would be tipped over into boot-top deep muck. The easiest traveling was on the gravel bed. but this was usually impossible because of deep channels running right up to the marshland. At one point the river had cut into a bank 40 feet high and huge blocks of ground, 20 yards square, were breaking loose and falling into the river. In the crevasses between the blocks we could see ground ice in layers 4 feet thick laying 4 feet below the surface.
On Saturday afternoon, we scared away two wolves near where the 1st valley meets the river. The first was large and light-colored. I saw him perhaps 30 yards ahead of me as I climbed out of a gulley. He ran [away from me] full speed to the edge of the mountain, turned and looked, and continued running up a steep side valley. Sunday morning we found his tracks along the river.
The mosquitos are a genuine pain. We coat ourselves with insect repellent, which keeps them from lighting. We also often wear headnets to keep them out of our hair and ears. The best relief is a good breeze. We eat all our meals in the tent to avoid having to pick the mosquitos out of our food.
Our next objective is reaching the summit of Mt. Michelson.
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