The PaddlerUK magazine March 2015 issue 1 | Page 86

ThePaddlerUK 86

The highlights are too many to list,

much of the joy was in the simple fact that every day brought new scenery and experiences and life
was boiled down to the basic pleasures and necessities of food, safety, shelter and living in the now. A
naked Sarah coming face to face with a curious brown bear while washing in a stream, barbecuing fish
in the embers of a driftwood fire, washing off the grime and sweat in the delicious heat of a hot
spring, being woken up at 4am by three sea lions hauling their giant bulks ashore besides our tent,
watching hundreds of mother otters swimming on their backs with their babies clutched close to
their chests, and jumping between the driftwood logs along a vast empty sandy beach as the last of
the sun turns the sky pink. These memories and more help make this one of the most special trips
that I’ve made.

We visited eight of the ten communities that are scattered along the Aleutians and the Alaskan
peninsula. Twice we needed to cover 250 miles between villages. We shipped food ahead to these
communities and we carried enough food for a month. There are short stretches of road in all the
habitations but the only way in and out is by plane or boat so the people who live there chose to
exist close to nature and appreciate being able to harvest much of their food from the land.