Alaska
Alaska
Verenigde Staten
IngeDavids
Denali National Park and Preserve
Almost 9 years ago I stood on the verge of what would turn out to be one of the biggest adventures of my life; a year on a Folkehogskule in Norway. I remember very clearly how my parents drove me all the way to Norway, and how incredibly nervous I was. Scared even, not knowing what I was about to land myself into, wondering what in the world I had been thinking to do this...
Two weeks ago as I was driving up from Anchorage to Denali National Park I suddenly had to think of those days, and that dreading feeling. And just like those 9 years ago I once again didn't know what I was getting myself into, disappearing in the Alaska interior for 3 months. But this time around, I was excited! So incredibly excited to be here, begin my work, learn, meet the people, find my way around, explore and be emerged in it all. I had almost no doubt I was going to have an amazing time, and was quite literally bouncing up and down my chair. Scared? Hell no! I'm in Alaska for crying out loud, I made it!!!
The past days have been quite a whirlwind of new places, faces, experiences, wildlife, views, 'offices', actions, puzzles, sounds, food, habits, customs and surroundings. I got settled in my temporary apartment, signed all kinds of work agreements and proposals, got my uniform, met my new boss, supervisors, team leaders, worked my first days in the Trail Crew department, met a lót of people, enjoyed evenings in C Camp, had my first Denali spring barbeque and spend my first weekend in the park.
And after a mere two weeks I have already put in a request for an extension of my stay.
That's how incredibly awesome it is here!
Denali's people are so great. Everybody seems very kind and more then happy to provide the Dutch girl with need-to-knows, stories and anecdotes on living in the park. The community feeling is very strong here; people help each other out whenever they can with groceries, offer rides, and as soon as you're walking around in your park uniform you'll get a friendly greeting from every colleague passing you. 'We' have our own language as well; when somebody's going to Fairbanks they're "going to town", if Denali is visible through all the clouds people get excited because "the mountain is out", the other contiguous states of America are referred to as "the lower 48", and when it's time to leave Alaska you're "going outside".
All the guys (seriously, all of them!) seem to be in some sort of unspoken competition to grow the biggest beard and wildest hair, the 30 very-close-by-my-apartment Alaskan huskies from the Denali kennels love to howl very hard and long to make sure nobody forgets them, the sun rises before 6.00 and sets after 22.00 (it's so frigging light outside! already I have trouble sleeping!), mountain boots and outdoor gear are standard and very much accepted daily clothing (just as the bear spray dangling from your day bag pack) and the view from our 'outdoor office' is so amazing!
Every day I take a moment, stop, stand still for a second, breathe in the Alaskan air, look around me and try to realize that I'm actually here. Hére, in this stunning beautiful place! I get to wórk here, líve here!
I can walk to work through the forest and up the hill and have it be my 15 minute commute, I get to work outside and write down those hours as labor, I can be in the wild nature and function as an assistant, I can hear, smell and see all that is new and get familiar with it, meet new people and become friends for life, and I get to love the mountains and call them my home.
It. Is. So. Unbelievably. Amazing. To. Be. HERE!!!!!