- Going into the backcountry here
is like getting a fresh breath of air.
You never come back the same.
Our journey into Denali begins on the shuttle bus.
- It butts up against that cliff.
If you do it, like, individually...
- The shuttle is the only way we can travel on the park road.
Personal vehicles aren't allowed past mile 15.
It's a long ride, but it's nice to sit back
and enjoy the views.
There's a lot of sort of jitters and excitement
and then sort of this calm
that everything's gonna be amazing.
We shut that door to the back of the bus,
and the bus drove away,
and I remember the sound of the bus driving away,
and that was the last sound that we heard,
because it got really quiet after that.
[birds chirping]
[indistinct chatter]
We've made it our launching point.
There are a lot of things to consider
when choosing our path in the backcountry.
We spread out instead of hiking single file
to minimize the impact of our footsteps on the vegetation.
We try to leave no trace when traveling in wilderness.
- It just comes down to respect,
just to show respect to this landscape,
respect to the animals that live here,
respect the plants that are trying to survive here
in a really harsh climate.
[indistinct chatter]
- We choose our path forward
based on visibility and ease of travel.
- It's, like, a lot of trial and error.
That's part of the kind of fun of it,
is exploring and saying, "Okay, this on the map
"looks like it's possible.
Let's go see if it's possible in real life."
- Well, I know that's the drainage that, like,
parallels the...
- You can plan all you want,
but you really just have to figure it out
when you're there.
It's cerebral and physical.
This, like, this tundra bluff
that comes down, it kind of, like, bows out, I think,
into the valley a little bit.
- You can wind up in the wrong place pretty easily.
We could do the river bar up to, like...
- Even if you get lost, though,
there are some good ways to figure out how to get back.
- You just cut across these.
- On the alluvial band of it.
- We could even, like, walk that gravely part.
You use different types of typography
as handrails.
If you see one major point on a ridge
that's, like, the highest point on the ridge,
and finding it on your map,
and then walking to the point
and then doing that again,
and always kind of knowing where are you
based on these very specific handrails.
Windier.
That range over there as a...
- Yeah, exactly.
Let's get where we were thinking of getting
where we can see up there.
- As we hike, we try to walk on durable surfaces
such as river bars.
When I'm out in the backcountry,
it feels like no one has ever been here before,
and I want to preserve that feeling for others too.
[laughter]
In trails' terrain, we're always actively aware
of our surroundings in case something unexpected comes up.
- If your mind is wandering, Denali will call you on it.
The second you take your mind
off of every step that you're taking
is when you stumble.
You really are tested at every minute,
and you have to be so very present.
- As we hike, we scan the area.
We're always thinking of safety concerns,
such as sudden drop-offs or potential bear encounters.
I'm very aware of any sort of movement around me.
- When you're out there, you're not only watching
every little rock that you step on
so you don't turn your ankle,
but you're also watching the broader landscape.
- We watch for weather moving in
and clouds that might reduce visibility on high ridges.
Our route takes us through dense brush
where we can't see very far in any direction.
- Coming through the brush, bear!
- To avoid a surprise bear encounter,
we talk and shout loudly.
- Coming through, bear!
- Coming up here, bear!
- Bushwhacking is my least favorite thing to do.
It will grab your feet;
it will grab your pack;
it will pull things off your pack.
- You can have these very thick drainages
that are choked with alder and willows,
and you find yourself kind of in a jungle gym.
Coming up here, bear!
- One of the best things that I've learned
is to think more like water
and flow through it.
So I'm kind of weaving through these alders,
using them to hold on and actually, like, move with them.
- Well, I think we should go up.
- Kind of navigate around some of it.
Denali sometimes sets a really high bar,
mentally, physically,
emotionally.
It's, like, almost like you have to put your game face on.
I have to bring my best to this
because my best is going to be required of me,
and... I like being at my best.
[indistinct chatter]
- We reach a clearing with good visibility.
It looks like a great rest spot.
- Is that the rock clearing you were talking about?
- Even while resting, we're paying attention
to our surroundings.
As we snack, we face different directions
so that an animal won't surprise us from behind.
If a bear approaches,
we'll be prepared to quickly lock our food
in the bear can.
- Right before it gets into the--to the scree.
[birds chirping]
Once you think the hard part's over,
there's always something else.
- We've reached a large river,
separating us from our path forward.
- A lot of this water just stays in the channel,
but here it broadens out,
so it's got to be shallower.
- If you did go down, there's a cut bank right there
that you get pushed right into.
- Denali does not have bridges across its rivers,
so we have to know how to cross safely.
- I think we have to go, like, a good 150 yards
to where it's kind of curving on the...
- We read the river to find the best place to cross.
We look for areas in the river that are wide and braided.
These are usually the shallowest areas of the river
with the safest conditions for crossing.
It was super important to be able to read that water,
because it was really deep and it was really fast.
In the afternoon, when the glacier and snowmelt
feeds water into the river,
water levels can rise.
Heavy rains in the mountains can also cause rivers
to rise quickly,
so we have to be aware of changing conditions.
We could tell that the river was bigger.
It had been warm for a couple days,
and it was definitely swollen.
Between the tip of that...
We try to find a crossing point
that might be more forgiving
if we lose our footing.
If we fall, we want the current to carry us
to a shallow gravel bar,
not a hazardous or deep stretch of water.
If we do take a fall, there are a lot of sort of
gravel bars that could catch us lower down.
We're gonna cross this shallow braid
coming down right here, get onto this next little rock island,
and walk down to the bottom of that island,
and then cross kind of almost island hopping
all these shallower braids.
After testing a few places with our trekking poles
or by throwing rocks,
we prepare to cross the river.
We've waterproofed our packs with plastic bags
and dry sacks so that our warm layers won't get wet
during a fall.
I make sure my boots are tied securely.
I never cross in bare feet or sandals.
Footing can be difficult,
especially when you can't see the bottom.
I unclip the straps on my pack.
If I do fall, it will be easy to escape my pack
and regain my footing.
[indistinct chatter]
The river is deep and swift,
so we stack up to cross it.
We form a line facing upstream.
In line, we can act as support for each other,
as the person in front breaks the current,
and the people in back provide an anchor.
This also works for crossing in pairs.
- We stacked up and went across that river,
and I remember just digging in with everything I had.
- I just had to pull her down
and just sort of weight her down
so each step she took,
she was really strong in that step.
We remind ourselves not to panic
if something goes wrong,
and we know to retreat if the crossing is too difficult.
- Break! Oh!
- When you are stripped of everything
except the physical elements,
when it's just strictly down to survival,
it's insane what you can push yourself to do
and who you become because of that.