Itineraries and routes
Where will your trip meet, and what will we do there? When will you start hiking, have lunch, and find camp each day? And where exactly will your group go? For answers to these questions and more, scroll down or jump to these sections:
Lower 48 trips: the first and last day
Day 1 briefing
Briefings are always in the morning on Day 1. For specific meet-up times and locations, refer to this page. At this gathering, we will:
- Make introductions and some announcements;
- Update you on conditions;
- Distribute breakfast & dinner rations, loaner gear, paper maps, stove fuel, and some other supplies;
- Check your gear, and weigh your full pack; and,
- Model how to correctly pack a backpack.
If you are driving to the briefing location, please stay within at least three hours the night prior so that you’re not already tired when you get there.
The guides normally arrive 45-60 minutes early to set up. If you have been instructed otherwise or if you feel that you need a lot of help in checking your gear, you can arrive early as well, but please by no more than 30 minutes.
Please take care of yourself before and during the briefing:
- Have breakfast
- Get hydrated
- Go to the bathroom if you have the urge
- Protect yourself appropriately from the elements, like by applying sunscreen or wearing warm clothing
Food and water is not provided at the trailhead — please pack in what you will need. Most trailheads do not have potable water. We always try to meet in a location with bathrooms.
The rest of Day 1
Our goal is to depart the briefing location about 90 minutes after the meetup time. We’re able to start hiking so quickly because of all the pre-trip work that you and we have done beforehand.
In some locations, we start our hike from the briefing location. In others, we must drive (usually 15-60 minutes) to a trailhead.
Groups are encouraged to pull into camp early on the first night, especially beginner-level groups who may be using unfamiliar shelters, sleeping bags, and stoves. Also, it’s important to have a discussion about trip goals so that the guides can help accomplish them.
The last day
Expect to arrive at the trailhead between 10 AM and noon on the last day of your trip.
Some clients head home immediately, especially if they must catch a flight or have a long drive. Others linger for an optional post-trip lunch; guides can recommend locations and may join you, depending on their own schedules and mental needs.
Alaska trips: the first and last day
The 7- and 11-day trips in Alaska follow a different schedule. The logistics are more complex, and we will share with you a spreadsheet that has precise details.
Day 0
Most groups meet at 4pm the day before your trip officially starts. We meet at our hotel in Fairbanks for the briefing, where we will:
- Make introductions and some announcements;
- Update you on conditions;
- Distribute breakfast & dinner rations, loaner gear, paper maps, stove fuel, and some other supplies;
- Check your gear, and weigh your full pack; and,
- Model how to correctly pack a backpack and carry bear spray.
Afterwards, your group may gather for an optional dinner. That night in your hotel room, you will probably fiddle for too long with your kit, wondering if you’re carrying enough food, enough warm clothing, and enough bug spray.
Day 1
Together as a group, we take a hotel shuttle to the Wright Air Service terminal. We have a few options for accessing Gates of the Arctic National Park, involving a combination of 9-passenger Cessna Caravans, 3-passenger Helios with tundra tires, or 5-passenger Beavers with floats.
At best, we’re in the field by early-afternoon. If everyone is in the field by dinnertime, feel fortunate. These flights are expensive but necessary — there’s no easier way to get into the Brooks that is faster or more economical. Plus, landing on a remote lake or gravel bar is a helluva way to start a trip!
Last day: Day 7 or 11
Groups typically finish in Anaktuvuk Pass, a Native village that sits on the Continental Divide and that has an airstrip with daily flights back to Fairbanks. We travel to Fairbanks as a group and most clients take a red-eye flight home that night.
We recommend that you build some flexibility into your return flight, because occasionally groups get stuck in the field for an extra day due to weather. Plan to fly out a day later, or have a flexible ticket.
Daily schedule
Each trip is different, and we do not expect (or want) groups to follow a universal program-wide schedule or routine. Each group will develop a schedule that works for the location, terrain, conditions, guides, and participants.
That said, most days look something like this:
- Around 7 AM: Meet for breakfast and to review the day’s plan
- Around 8 AM: Depart
- Between camps: Hike your planned route, with appropriate breaks for resting, snacking, water collection, navigation decisions, and curriculum modules. So long as the circumstances allow, we take a longer lunch break (about an hour) in early-afternoon, during which you can swim, wash clothes, nap, and dry gear.
- 4 PM to 6 PM: Pull into camp with sufficient daylight to set up camp and have dinner
- Dinnertime
- After dinner: Discuss the day and tomorrow’s plans, cover some light curriculum topics, and hang out until it’s bedtime
Route selection
By design, we do not follow fixed itineraries. Instead, each group is assigned a starting point and ending point (usually the same location, except for the Alaska trips), and given a “Core Route.”
Katie and I plot the Core Routes, sometimes with input from guides. We account for the specified fitness level and technical comfort of the group, and build in opportunities for shortcuts and extensions. Groups are expected to loosely follow the Core Route, but we expect (and want) adjustments to be made, based on the group’s abilities and goals, and on the actual conditions.
Core Routes will vary in difficulty, based on the group and location. Some routes are mostly on-trail, with limited and relatively easy off-trail travel. Other routes are burly, with extensive off-trail travel, significant vertical gain and loss, and frequent semi-technical features.
Paper and digital maps are provided for the Core Route and its potential alternates. About two weeks before the first session, we share the routes with the groups.
I understand that you may want to know exactly where you will go before you sign up for a trip with us. But that’s now how our program works, and I’d ask that you “trust the process.” By being flexible with our routes before and during the trip, we can:
- Better work within strict and competitive wilderness permit systems
- Respond to real field conditions (e.g. weather, water levels, snow conditions)
- Fine-tune them to closely match the abilities and goals of the group
- Elevate the sense of adventure and allow for exploration, since we’re not just offering standard “tours” on routes that guides have done many times before
