ALASKA!! - Wrangell-St. Elias

Hi Everyone,
After much... much mulling over different choices I have finally listened to what every one wanted and have selected a 7 day backpacking trip to Alaska.. We will be in the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park in south east Alaska. I will update this posting as more information is collected. Please reference this meetup posting for updates.

National Park Info:
"A hiking trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve can be an exciting and rewarding wilderness experience if you are prepared for the difficulties and hazards of traveling through rugged, undeveloped land. Here, you will experience solitude, self-reliance, and unaltered nature to an extent seldom found elsewhere. Because there are very few maintained trails within the park, travel through dense brush, along steep scree slopes, and across fast and cold glacial streams and rivers should be expected. For most routes, map and compass reading skills are essential. Weather in these mountain ranges can vary to extremes in relatively short time periods. It is best to expect (and prepare for) almost any possibility with a variety of layerable clothing (polypropylene, wool or pile), raingear, and extra food. Summer snow storms may occur at elevations of 4,500 feet and above."

Flights:
Ok so this you will be left to purchase on your own. I will set up reservation for the Hostel/Hotel when we get up there but you must book your own flight. Through Cheaptickets.com they are about $600 round trip. You will want to fly up on Friday the 6th and land Saturday the 7th by no later then 5pm. You can set up your return flight anytime on Sunday the 15th. We will stay over in a Hostel/Hotel on the 6th and travel by shuttle to McCarthy where we will begin hiking on Saturday the 7th. We will end the hike back in McCarthy on Saturday the 14th and take a shuttle back to Anchorage. We will stay in a Hostel/Hotel Saturday the 14th and fly out on the 15th. Again you must set up your own flights to Anchorage.

Pre-Meeting:
I would like everyone to meet together prior to taking on this adventure. I will have more information to review with everyone at this meeting. Also I would like to review some of the most important items for this trip. Your pack and your boots. I would like to meet at EMS on Sunday May 4th with both your pack and your boots you plan to hike in. This is not for me but for you. This is a very long and strenuous backpacking adventure. Last year those were the two items that gave people trouble. After that we can then go to dinner to chat about this amazing adventure. If you cannot attend I would like you to meet me at EMS at another time. This is VERY important not just to you but the other members that you will be hiking with. You may love your pack and believe that it fits properly but when you get out on a long trip the smallest adjustments will help tremendously.
This is a grand adventure with many risks. We must take many safety precautions. Meetup is an unstructured organization. You do not have to pay for any of the events or a fee to be a part of the group. The only thing I ask is to pay close attention to the details and safety precautions I give. They may sound like rules or over structure but this will help keep you and your fellow hikers from danger or injury. At this meeting I will be reviewing a large amount of information that will be very important to your preparation. This may sound like overkill but it will make the time spent in Alaska stress free and you will not meet any surprises.

Maybes:
I have opened up the maybe column so that if someone backs out from the yes list you can move up to the yes column. The FINAL cutoff date for this trip is May 16th. If you have not purchased your airline ticket by then I will assume that you are not going and will remove you from the RSVP so others can attend this event. We usually have a 20% rate of no-shows. This is not an option for this scale of an adventure. Others are VERY interested and would like to give everyone an opportunity to take on this adventure as well. So please BE HONEST!!

Thanks again,
Chris Mayville
917-855-5385