Going into the backcountry here is like getting the fresh breath of air. You never come back to see. Our journey into Denali begins on the shuttle bus. The shuttle is the only way we can travel on the park road. Personal vehicles aren't allowed past mile 15. It's a long ride, but it's nice to sit back and enjoy the breeze. There's a lot of sort of jitters and excitement and then sort of this calm that everything's going to be amazing. We shut the door to the back of the bus and the bus drove away. And I remember the sound of the bus driving away and that was the last sound that we heard because it got really quiet after that. We made it to our launching point. There are a lot of things to consider when choosing our path in the backcountry. We spread out instead of hiking single-file to minimize the impact of our footsteps on the vegetation. We try to leave no trace when traveling in wilderness. It just comes down to respect. Just to show respect to this landscape, respect to the animals that live here, respect to the plants that are trying to survive here in a really harsh climate. We choose our path forward based on visibility and ease of travel. It's like a lot of trial and error. That's part of the kind of fun of it is exploring and saying, okay, this on the map looks like it's possible. Let's go see if it's possible in real life. You can plan all you want but you really just have to figure it out when you're there. It's cerebral ant physical. This tundra of blood that comes down, it kind of bows out into the valley a little bit. You can wind up in the wrong place pretty easily. We could do the river bar up to like one of the... Even if you do get lost though, there are some good ways to figure out how to get back. Yeah. You just cut across these on the original fan of it. We could even like walk that gravely part. You use different types of topography as handrails. If you see one major point on the ridge that's like the highest point on the ridge and finding it on your map, and then walking to that point and then doing that again. And always kind of knowing where you are based on these very specific handrails. As we hike, we try to walk on durable surfaces such as riverbars. When I'm out in the backcountry, it feels like no one has ever been here before. And I want to preserve that feeling for others too. In trails terrain, we're always actively aware of our surroundings in case something unexpected comes up. If your mind is wandering, Denali will call you on it. The second you take your mind off of every step that you're taking is when you stumble. You really are tested at every minute and you have to be so very present. As we hike, we scan the area. We're always thinking of safety concerns such as sudden drop-offs or potential bearing counters. I'm very aware of any sort of movement around me. When you're out there, you're not only watching every little rock that you step on so you don't turn your ankle, but you're also watching the broader landscape. We watch for weather moving in and clouds that might reduce visibility on high ridges. Our route takes us through dense brush where we can't see very far in any direction. To avoid a surprise bearing counter, we talk and shout loud. Bushwacking is my least favorite thing to do. It will grab your feet, it will grab your pack, it will pull things off your pack. You can have these very thick drainages that are choked with alder and willows, and you find yourself kind of in a jungle gym. One of the best things that I've learned is to think more like water and flow through it. So I'm kind of weaving through these alders, using them to hold on and actually move with them. Kind of now we are on some of it. Denali sometimes sets a really high bar, mentally, physically, emotionally. It's like almost like you have to put your game face on. I have to bring my best to this because my best is going to be required of me. And I like being at my best. We reach a clearing with good visibility. It looks like a great rest spot. Even while resting, we're paying attention to our surroundings. As we snack, we face different directions so that an animal won't surprise us from behind. If a bear approaches, we'll be prepared to quickly lock our food in the bear can. Once you think the hard parts over, there's always something else. We reach a large river separating us from our path forward. A lot of this water just stays to the channel but here it broadens out so it's got to be shallow. If you did go down, there's a hot bank right there that you get pushed right into. Denali does not have bridges across its rivers so we have to know a lot across safety. I think we should go like good 150 yards to where it's kind of curving on the river. We read the river to find the best place to cross. We look for areas in the river that are wide and braided. These are usually the shallower's areas of the river with the safest conditions for crossing. It was super important to be able to read that water because it was really deep and it was really fast. In the afternoon, when the glacier and snowmout feeds water into the river, water levels can rise. Heavy rains in the mountains can also cause rivers to rise quickly. So we have to be aware of changing conditions. We could tell that the river was bigger. It's been warm for a couple of days and it was definitely swollen. We try to find a crossing point that might be more forgiving if we lose our foot. If we fall, we want the current to carry us to a shallow gravel bar, not a hazardous or deep stretch of water. We do take a fall, there are a lot of gravel bars that could catch us lower down. We're going to cross this shallow braid coming down right here and get onto this next little rock island. And walk down to the bottom of that island and then cross kind of almost island hopping all these shallower braids. After testing a few places with our trekking poles or by throwing rocks, we prepare to cross the river. We've water-proofed our pats with plastic bags and dry sacks. So that our warm layers won't get wet during the fall. I make sure my boots are tied securely. I never cross in bare feet or sandals. Footing can be difficult, especially when you can't see the bottom. I unclip the straps on my pack. If I do fall, it will be easy to escape my pack and regain my footing. The river is deep and swift, so we stack up to cross it. We form a line facing upstream. In line, we can act to support for each other as the person in front breaks the current. And the people in the back provide an anchor. This also works for crossing a pair. We stacked up and went across that river and I remember just digging in with everything I had. I just had to pull her down and just sort of weight her down so each step she took, she was really strong in that step. We remind ourselves not to panic if something goes wrong. And we know to retreat if the crossing is too difficult. When you are stripped of everything except the physical elements. When it's just strictly down to survival, it's insane what you can push yourself to do and who you become because of that. You