Contributors: Amanda Marie-Amstutz Reynolds

“How many feelings can one heart hold?…Infinite, Luna thought. The way the universe is infinite. It is light and dark and endless motion; it is space and time, and space within space, and time within time. And she knew: there is no limit to what the heart can carry.”

Kelly Barnhill, The Girl Who Drank the Moon

I have always sought out the wilderness and the stillness of spaces in nature. It’s always where I have felt at peace and whole. I crave that sense of fullness and speechless wonder I get when looking out over a valley, mountain range, lake, or river that can’t be put into words. That feeling where all I can do is stare. Trying to burn the image of my surroundings into my mind.

I’m not the only one who feels this way.

First Hike

Our first date was a hike in the Northern California Marble Mountains. The trail we took crossed parts of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and summited at a ridge-line where below sat a small lake connected to other drainages. It was probably three weeks after ice-off. The summit of our hike had a view that spanned the Etna valley and Mount Shasta in all of her glory. I had told Wes that if we were to go on a date, I wanted to go on an adventure, and I wanted to see someplace beautiful.

On that date, I distinctly remember getting 3/4 of the way to the ridge line and thinking…my God how high are we…and where the hell are we going? My chest was heavy because of the elevation and my legs were burning because it was my first hike of the season. I was also wearing my college backpack with lunch and a first aid kit – not the most comfortable day pack for the job. The view and the fishing made everything worth it.

I feel like this has been a trend for most of the places we have been throughout our relationship.

New Terrain

Coming to Alaska was no different. We wanted to go on an adventure, and we wanted to see and fish in beautiful places. Our first trek into the wilderness left us very wet and very exhausted. It wasn’t the first time that we had bitten-off-more-than-we-could-chew on our first hike of the year. However, it was the first time we ended up having to carry our hiking buddy out on our shoulders. Before you ask – she’s fine – we were all just morally defeated by the rain and difficulty of the trail. With much better planning our second trek turned out much more manageable.

The Kenai Peninsula

Our first good weather hiking trip of the year lead us to the Kenai peninsula and some sections of trail that were strangely reminiscent of our Northern California roots.

Tall birch, pines, and crystal clear streams coming off the mountains made this place look and feel like something from a dream. The sheer amount of water and verdant greenery that thrives in this part of the country will never cease to amaze me. As someone who has lived in the desert for longer than I’d like to admit, being close to water again is comforting. It’s a sense of coming home. Of relief.

First Impressions

Alaska is so much bigger than you can imagine. I knew this coming here, but I don’t think I fully understood – or even still fully understand – how vast everything feels. Maybe it’s because I’m living at sea level for the first time in 7 years and I’ve forgotten what that feels like. Maybe it’s because the mountains are so close and the valleys are so deeply defined – more so than any other place I have lived in the past. Either way, their majesty makes a person feel small compared to the surrounding landscape.

I know to anyone who has lived here before or is living here now and is reading this I probably sound like a complete weirdo. I’m okay with that. Things that are new have to be wondered at and felt deeply before they can become common. I have hiked in the Sawtooth Mountains countless times in the past five years, and I still find them breathtaking. I can only imagine that it will take me much longer to grow comfortable enough to not be distracted by these glacier carved ranges and rivers.

For more information on hikes on the Kenai Peninsula visit:

The Kenai: Alaska’s Playground: https://kenaipeninsula.org/blog/2017/10-short-and-sweet-hikes-take-kenai-spring

All Trails: https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/alaska/kenai-wilderness

USDA Forest Service: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/chugach/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=6599&actid=50

The Alaska Dream: http://www.thealaskadream.com/explore-alaska/hike-alaska/

Disclaimer: None of the above links are sponsors of this post. They are just resources we have found helpful during our research of new places and adventures.