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Happy birthday to me, everyone!
This Monday morning dawned bright and sunny, and I woke up super optimistic of my chances at getting to Aniakchak National Monument, the least visited in the whole National Park Service. As I ate my breakfast, Nanci checked in at 7:28 with very encouraging news: “Things are looking good today. I’m waiting for a report from my contact down south but I’m thinking we will maybe take a shot at it around 8:30.” By 8:30, I had rejoined the Freys at the Branch River office, and we piled into a different, red Cessna 206 with Ian flying solo this time, for the hour-and-ten-minute flight south.
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This gave us even more time to appreciate the wild landscape of the Alaskan peninsula. The ponds ranged from muddy brown to crystal blue, and there were mysterious mini-rivers, whose headwaters were maybe a hundred feet from their confluence, but still visibly flowing. We passed over the tiny coastal communities of Egegik and Pilot Point, plus a landing strip seemingly in the middle of nowhere that probably belonged to a remote fishing lodge.
It was sunny, smooth sailing the whole way down until we reached the edge of the caldera, and the famous Gates of Aniakchak, formed two thousand years ago when the flooded caldera had overflowed and burst open its side! This rupture now forms the “Gates” where pilots have to enter on days when the clouds are low enough to cover the peaks! Anyway, we cruised through the gates and were immediately hit by 40 mile per hour gusts! Turbulence is one thing in an airliner; it’s quite another in a Cessna! We rocked and careened and dropped as Ian circled us three times around the crater before he looked back and slid a hand across his throat: we weren’t going to be able to land after all.
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To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I went through all the stages of grief from bargaining—couldn’t we land somewhere and wait it out?—to accepting that I wasn’t the pilot and the weather was the boss. Though the folks back at the office congratulated us on seeing the caldera, which is still pretty rare, I was really hoping to get my feet on the ground. I went back to the inn and made myself a glum birthday picnic down by the Naknek River, unable to accept my fate, even going so far as to text Nanci, “What are the odds of a do-over opportunity in the next 24 hours?”
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At 2:46, she texted back, “Just talked to someone who just landed in there can you be ready to go in 10 minutes?” And boy was I ready! The Freys weren’t going to be participating, which meant I was about to fork over some serious change for a private charter, but dang it, today’s my birthday! Future Bill can figure out the bottom line! This time, both Ian and Michael were back at the front, and the flight was super choppy from the get-go. I was hoping that a choppy flight on the way meant a smooth landing, and I had all my digits firmly crossed as we didn’t go through the Gates at all but up over the rim of the caldera! We circled twice without being buffeted by the wind, and with my heart absolutely going nuts, we touched down on Surprise Lake!
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After motoring a bit in search of a good beach, we found the perfect cove and spun around. When my feet touched the black volcanic sand of the beach, I was absolutely overjoyed! After all, I’d custom made and laminated a sign to hold in anticipation of this moment, and it had arrived! It was so still and quiet, as if the whole crater were holding its breath. We didn’t have much time, so I went up to a hilltop to see what I could see!
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Aniakchak last erupted in 1931, as documented by geologist-priest, Father Bernard Hubbard, and so life has only had about 94 years to re-establish itself on the crater’s blasted floor. The plants here are still pretty small, but some of them, like the moss campion (Silene acaulis) with its tiny, pink flowers, were just lovely. In this photo, you can also sort of see the top of the Gates where the snowy ridge (Blacknose) meets the snowless one!
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The moss appeared in curious little patches on the ashy black soil, framing the crater within the crater, called Vent Mountain! This is what erupted between May and July in 1931, sending tons of ash at least forty miles in all directions, but this was just the tiniest fraction of the original eruption, 3,500 years ago. That eruption split entire cultures in two and caused global temperatures to drop!
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For now, there was a brief, beautiful moment of peace, with no phone signal, no wind, and no worries. The lupine were just starting to bloom, like a band-aid for the wounded landscape. I so badly wanted to see where this ravine led, but this wasn’t Haleakalā. We only had twenty minutes to experience the calm of the crater before it was time to go. It felt like we’d broken into the home of some volcanic god, and they were just about to find us!
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Before I go, a quick note about Surprise Lake: it’s full of surprises! 2,000 years ago, water filled the entire crater, and after the rupture that created the Gates, Surprise Lake was left behind with a river leading to the ocean. Salmon come up that river now! They swim all the way up the Aniakchak River and lay their eggs in a specific part of Surprise Lake, the side that is not loaded with toxic volcanic metals! It’s suspected that they began this journey not long after the Gates opened up, and the last eruption only paused their migration for a few years!
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We escaped the caldera without any incidents and flew out through the Gates this time. The whole way back to King Salmon, I felt super relieved. This was a big one to check off the list, and now I wouldn’t have to plan a whole other trip to come back and try it again. There’s something really encouraging about remote places like these that are still super hard to get to. It means not every place has really been conquered yet. Some places still hold on to their wildness, and I think Alaska has more places like this than any of the other states. My birthday was a good one, maybe the best! I think I’ll keep my vibes high and go explore some more wild places right away!
Weigh Anchorage!
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Total Ground Covered: 8.0 mi (12.9 km) |
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