Brooks Range Day 10: Solo on Confusion Creek

Got a nice long restful sleep. But I was bummed to realize when packing up that I really truly have only three days of food left, and the store, which isn't too great to resupply from anyway, is closed today (Sunday). Guess I'm finishing midday Tuesday!

I set out on my solo loop up Contact Creek and down Confusion Creek. I checked in with Amy one last time (the Starlink connection was still open) and asked her to move up my Wright Air Services flight back to Fairbanks so that I (a) won't be starving and bored and (b) so that I won't smell awful on my Thursday afternoon flight from Fairbanks to Reno.

I saw some folks headed towards the ranger station and started up a conversation, turns out they were the researchers we saw yesterday, and they were doing bird counting. I tried to ID the most common bird I've heard so far by its call, his best guess was tree swallow (ironic because there are no trees here).

I finally got moving and headed out of town up Contact Creek. I took a break for breakfast and realized that I couldn't find my spoon, and I had probably thrown it away after finishing the pint of Ben & Jerry's I had for dinner last night. Oops! I tested eating my morning cereal with my potty trowel (I cleaned it!) and it worked fine, so I didn't go back the mile to town for a glorious dumpster dive spoon saving expedition.

Looking at the contour lines I veered off from Contact Creek and ascended a different fork with a lower, gentler climb to the divide around 5500 feet. It went excellently, with great footing. There was a big snow field at the top, but as usual, the snow was very soft, with little to no risk of a bad fall. It was raining a little as I climbed, but the views to the north were excellent. The mountains basically  end, and all there is to the north is the Arctic! 

I walked the ridge that is the Divide for a bit (first time I've done that at all this trip) and descended a ridge that would take me further down the Confusion Creek drainage--figuring that the ridge walking would surely be less boggy than the creek drainage. While this was true, the ridge was a bit crappier rock than I'd hoped, so I eventually just veered off onto grassy and snowy slopes, and it all worked out. 

A bit of downstream walking on good terrain (no brush whatsoever, and decently hard ground covered in the white flowers that usually indicate good walking) and I set up camp at around 3000 feet.
 
On my own up Contact Creek

Last crossing of the Divide, in the rain, with ridge walking

Looking north, where there's nothing left but tundra

 


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