Alaska-Yukon Expedition: See Andrew Skurka's Story in National Geogarphic Magazine

Photograph by Michael Christopher Brown. See the story, photos, and map in the March issue of National Geographic Magazine.

About a year ago, Andrew Skurka embarked on the hardest expedition of his life—4,679 miles of skiing, hiking, and packrafting in wildest Alaska and the Yukon. You probably recall his thoughtful blog dispatches on this website. Though the 29 year old had logged some 25,000 miles on foot since 2002, this expedition challenged Skurka like nothing before it. We're pleased to announce that you can read about his experience in "Circling Alaska in 176 Days," by Dan Koeppel, in the March edition of National Geographic Magazine, on newsstands now. Here Skurka reflects on Alaska, on understanding the wilderness, and why even elite adventurers watch The Bachelor.

You have said this expedition was your hardest ever, by far. How do you feel about Alaska and the Yukon now?
Andrew Skurka: This trip put me on edge, from start to finish. There were very few times when I was not out of my comfort zone—the conditions were usually tough, there was always uncertainty about what was ahead, and the consequences of making a mistake could easily have been catastrophic. My earlier trips, I realize now, were always in a very controlled environment; this one was not. I’m strongly risk adverse, and I have wondered whether a thrill-seeker would have handled the stress and uncertainty better than I did. I think this may be true, but I also think that my cautiousness explains why I came out alive, and successful.

Do you think the difficulty of this expedition has changed or matured your connection to the outdoors?
AS: I certainly have a much better understanding of true wilderness, due in large part to the final third of the trip across Yukon’s Arctic and Alaska’s Brooks Range. This included the 657-mile, 24-day stretch without crossing a road or seeing another human. I was so unnerved by the first two-week stretch, between Dawson and Fort McPherson, that I called Roman Dial for assurance. “Roman, I’ve never felt so exposed or vulnerable before. I might even say that I was scared.” His response was perfect: “True wilderness is not a place where you will ever be comfortable. Just look at the animals that live out there—they are constantly looking over the shoulders, always on edge, just trying to make it to tomorrow. We’re no different than them.”

What's your normal, non-expedition life like? We know you are a huge fan of The Bachelor.
AS: I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve become a The Bachelor junkie—it’s my guilty pleasure on Monday nights, too entertaining to miss. Overall, I think my “civilian” life is pretty average. I spend most of my day working at my computer. In the afternoon I try to get out for a run. On the weekends I usually go skiing. After my trip was over I was intentionally unproductive through the New Year, so that I could recover and reenergize again. I preoccupied myself with training for a 50-mile ultra-marathon in California’s Marin Headlands in December. My finishing time of 8 hours 8 minutes was respectable in light of the course’s 22,000 feet of vertical gain and loss, but I definitely don’t have the speed that I used to.

What's next?
AS: I’m excited about this year. Over the last seven weeks I have been writing a book on backpacking gear and technique; it should be available in May or June. I’ll start a book about the Alaska-Yukon Expedition soon thereafter. Next week is the first of about 35 presentations and clinics I have scheduled through October. And this summer I’ll be guiding a few trips in the High Sierra and Alaska. I’d like to get out on a short personal trip too but I may have to wait until 2012. I may have a dream job, but I have economic realities like everybody else.

Andrew Skurka Answers Your Questions on Expedition Planning, Grizzlies, the Ladies, More

Here Andrew Skurka answers your questions about his 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon Expedition.
See a photo gallery from the expedition and watch for the article in National Geographic Magazine in spring 2011.

1. What would you do without your mother? -- George Eichman III

My mother is certainly an integral and critical part of my trips, though my father should get some credit, too. My mom’s most functional role is serving as my logistics coordinator: She ships me food, supplies, and fresh gear; acts as a messenger for sponsors and media; and resolves things that I can’t from the field (e.g. purchasing my flight home). Over time I have learned how to reduce her workload. I do more things before I leave, e.g. box up my maildrops; I do more things from the field, e.g. blog; and I have plugged her into simple systems for tasks that need to get done, e.g. USPS home shipping. On short trips (less than a month), I can coordinate my own logistics. But on longer trips it’s definitely helpful to have someone else involved. My parents play two other important roles, besides coordinating logistics. First, they are my safety check. I call them every opportunity I get, in order to update them about where I am, where I’m going (if it’s different than the itinerary I left them), and when I’ll call next. Second, they serve as emotional outlet for me, since as a solo traveler I don’t have a regular opportunity (i.e. a travel partner) to talk through my stresses and feelings.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Three Ways the Expedition Changed Me

By Andrew Skurka, written from Boulder, Colorado, after finishing his 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon Expedition

See a photo gallery from the expedition and watch for the article in National Geographic Magazine in spring 2011.

This past weekend, just two weeks after finishing my trip, I moved back to the exceptional city of Boulder, Colorado. My life does not appear to have changed much since I left seven months ago: I’m living in the same house, hanging out with the same friends, and running the same trails; I still don’t get recognized by employees or other customers at REI; and my net worth is still laughable because I still have the same “job.”

The Alaska-Yukon Expedition (AYE) was not my first time at the rodeo and I suspected beforehand that it probably wouldn’t be a game-changer in terms of my personality, goals, opportunities, or outlook on life. If, before this trip, I had been an overworked desk jockey going through a midlife crisis, or a disillusioned youth with overly romanticized ideas about Alaska, the potential for radical transformation would probably have been greater. However, just because the expedition may not have been life-altering does not mean that I haven’t changed—it just means that the changes are more evolutionary than revolutionary and/or that they are simply boosts to longer-term trends. This type of change might be better described as personal growth and development, which I’ve found is accelerated by the intentional stepping outside of my comfort zone, whereby I’m forced to adapt to new realities and to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Ask Andrew Skurka: Get Hard-Won Wisdom From the 25,000-Mile Man

On many days during his Alaska-Yukon Expedition, Andrew Skurka would take just one long break for about an hour in the early afternoon. This was an opportunity to dry his feet and gear, to make notes on his maps, and to take a cat nap to re-energize for another long push to camp. See the photo gallery >>

At 29 years old, Andrew Skurka has managed to build his adult life around planning and going on great expeditions. So far he's pulled off a dozen remote trekking adventures and covered some 25,000 miles, including his latest 4,700-mile loop of hiking, skiing, and packrafting in Alaska and the Yukon.

Now here's your chance ask Andrew how he pulls off his adventures. How does he determine his food needs? How does he approach orienteering? Does he use a compass or GPS? How does he deal with being alone in the wilderness for big chunks of time? Then how does he deal with being back in "normal" society with cable TV, well-stocked refrigerators, and no risk of bears sneaking up on you? How does he get funding to do this stuff?

Ask Andrew your expedition questions now, and then get started planning your own great adventure, big or small. We'll post Andrew's responses next week.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: A Few Words on Finishing - Chocolate, Bears, Feeling Humbled (Photo Gallery)

On Monday Andrew Skurka finished his epic Alaska-Yukon Expedition, covering 4,700+ miles and finishing a few weeks early, even! We'll hear more from him later in the week. Until then, here are some of his initial thoughts on finishing. Check out our photo gallery with highlights from the expedition.

THOUGHTS ON FOOD?

After six months of eating the same stuff, my favorite food items during this trip were anything that contained chocolate. My least favorite items were anything that didn’t contain chocolate. Next time I go on a long trip, I’m only bringing chocolate, at least for breakfast, snacks, and desert. The sesame sticks, Bear Valley bars, peanut butter-filled pretzels, and summer sausage will not find a way into my pack.

WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT BEARS?

Number of bears that I scared the crap out of, literally: 1. Quick story: It charged from across a braided river, I saw it last-minute and threw my trekking poles at it because I didn’t have time to reach for my bear spray, it was so rattled by the throwing and the yelling that it took a 90-degree turn and ran away. It pooped itself as it went.

CAN YOU SUM UP THIS TRIP IN ONE WORD?

The most appropriate one-word wrap-up of the expedition is...humbling.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Approaching the Unavoidable, Bittersweet Finish

 
Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.

For the last 12 months, my life has revolved around a singular purpose: to complete the Alaska-Yukon Expedition. In the first six months I planned how to do it, which entailed intricate spreadsheets, goodie boxes from sponsors, and Sam’s Club shopping carts overflowing with food. And for the last six months (168 days, to be exact), I’ve actually been doing it: I skied along the Arctic Coast and through the Alaska Range, I paddled my 4.5-pound inflatable boat across terrifying Icy and Yakutat Bays, I endured the Yukon’s ravenous mosquitoes, and I traversed the length of the Brooks Range.

But now that I’m just 200 miles and 7 days away from finally achieving my goal, I find myself pouring over maps looking for ways that I could extend the experience--side trips, detours, and even backtracks. I just don’t feel entirely ready to finish yet. The journey really is the most important part, not the destination.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Wilderness Redefined

Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.


I grew up in a Masschusetts suburb where I found "wilderness" in abandoned gravel pits and marshy wetlands that had escaped development. Later trips to New Hampshire’s Presidential Range and Maine’s Mahoosuc Mountains made my childhood playgrounds seem tame, and through high school they set my standards for what constituted wilderness. But the goal posts continued to move in synch with the magnitude of my adventuring: North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, Colorado's Indian Peaks, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and the Colorado Plateau all seemed as wild as it could get, until I found something that was wilder.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: 5 Tips For Hiking With Vicious Swarms of Mosquitos

Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.

The section between Dawson City, YT, and Fort McPherson, NT, will be memorable for several things. It was the first of my huge pushes: 390 miles long with two weeks of food. This leg was also great training for the upcoming Brooks Range: conditions were cool and damp, my pack was heavy, the route was mountainous, and willow was the best material with which to make fire (no trees). But the most memorable part of this leg will probably be its living up to one of the names that was jokingly suggested for this expedition, “The Great Mosquito Loop.”

How bad were they? It’s all relative, of course, but they were certainly the thickest and most aggressive that I’ve ever experienced. For many consecutive days my ears were filled with a constant high-pitched whine, to the point where I took notice of the rare moments it was absent. I had a string of “worst bugs ever” situations--I thought my campsite had been bad until I dropped into a creek the following day, and I thought the creek was bad until I tried taking a break near a lake, etc. There were nights I stayed moving until 2 a.m., just so I didn’t have to stop and make camp. And I took many impractical routes (i.e. not the path of least resistance) just to minimize them.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: The Finish Line is in Sight--Just 1,700 Miles to Go...

Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.

Posted July 3, 2010, from Dawson, Yukon Territory

There's a point in every trip when I start to sense the finish. On trips of less than a month, I usually sense it from the start--I know about how long the trip will take and I often have concrete plans post-trip. But on longer trips, the expedition becomes a lifestyle with no foreseeable end: The trip is the very core of who I am and what I do, and the finish is so distant and so questionable that it's not worth thinking about. Eventually, however, that stops being the case, as I gradually recognize that there is indeed a finish point. And there will be life after this trip.

Alaska-Yukon Expedition: On Finishing 450 Miles on the Yukon River

Posted July 3, from Dawson, Yukon Territory

Earlier tonight I pulled into the historic gold rush town of Dawson, which marks the end of my 450-mile float on the Yukon River (starting in Whitehorse) and the beginning of my final leg through the wilds of northern Yukon and northern Alaska back to Kotzebue. I had been somewhat dreading this section since I enjoy traveling via my feet, not via my arms while sitting on my butt, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable week. Here's why: