Photos and Stories by Pamela Bergmann
Sharing nature’s beauty and life experiences
Here is the twenty-four-thousand-dollar question: If we knew then what we know now, would John and I have flown to Mongolia in February 2020? Early that month, we had become aware of a COVID-19 outbreak in China. Not knowing at the time how quickly the outbreak would come to impact everyone’s life, based on the information at hand, we both decided to go….
This story was published in Volume 31, Issue 2, Spring 2023, Alaska Women Speak.
On Febuary 23, 2022, we flew to Seattle and onto Bozeman, Montana, for a winter trip to Yellowstone National Park. As we had always dreamed, the landscapes were beautiful; the wildlife was plentiful; visitors were few and far between and the weather cooperated. As a result, we enjoyed another memorable adventure.
In Bettles, which seemed like so long ago, we heard the sound of rain on the metal roof of the airplane hangar, while we were inside our dry tents on the hangar’s concrete floor. On our first night in Kobuk Valley National Park, we heard what first sounded like rain on our tents, before weContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, The End”
Having survived our first night in the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, everyone enjoyed a leisurely mid-morning breakfast, exchanging stories of white sox bites and tents that were too hot until the wee hours of the morning. The plan for the day , Thursday, August 5th, was to continue exploring the dunes, this time hiking south.Continue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 8”
In our minds, sand dunes are an exotic landscape feature, typically found in classically-dry parts of the world, like the dunes we climbed in the Gobi in Mongolia and the Namid Desert on the west coast of Africa. We would have never imagined there were sand dunes in Alaska; that just didn’t seem possible. OnceContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 7”
We awoke Sunday, August 1st to more clear-blue skies. Today saw us turning off the Richardson Highway at Paxon onto the 134-mile-long, primarily gravel, Denali Highway. Along the way, we enjoyed more spectacular views of Mount Hayes, Mount Deborah, and Mount Hess; although this time from a different vantage point. Shortly after leaving the pavedContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 6”
It wasn’t long after lunch, Matt informed us we would be leaving Bettles on a 3:00 p.m. flight to Fairbanks. That was a welcome surprise! With that news, we scrambled to pack the rest of our gear and shift our mental energy to our new plan. Sure enough, shortly before 3:00 p.m., a Wright AirContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 5”
The sound of rain during the night was not encouraging. Nonetheless, the next morning (Thursday, July 29th), we awoke early with great anticipation. The rain had stopped and we assumed that today, we would likely begin our river trip. However, after stumbling out of our tent and looking outside the hangar, our enthusiasm was immediatelyContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 4”
With no time yet established for us to fly to Pingo Lake, we treaded water (figuratively) for another hour or so, taking advantage of the National Park Service ranger’s hospitality. While we waited, Geoff made a reconnaissance trip to the Bettles Lodge to check their offerings; Matt and Brian prepared sandwiches for lunch on theContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 3”
John, Isabel, and I met Sara at the Anchorage airport for our flight to Fairbanks, the official starting point of our Noatak River/Great Kobuk Sand Dunes trip and where, that afternoon, we met the rest of our group. Our fellow adventurers included Geoff and Mike from Seattle, Doug from Baltimore, Dave from Boston, and ourContinue reading “Arctic Adventure, Part 2”