National Park After Dark - Sometimes the Wrong Decision, Is the Right One: Gates of the Arctic National Park

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

When a rafting trip goes wrong deep in the remote wilderness of Alaska, a father and son fight for their lives. With limited supplies the pair have to battle the elements, wildlife and themselves in order to survive.For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Apostrophe: Use our link and code NPAD to get your first visit for only $5.Prose: Use our link for a free in-depth hair consultation and 50% off your first subscription. Plus 15% off and free shipping on all future subscription orders.Factor: Use our link and code npad50 to get 50% off For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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There are certain nuggets of knowledge most of us learn at some point early on in our lives. But looking back, we can't really pinpoint precisely when and from whom we learn them from. For instance, we all know not to drink salt water and that the sun's rises in the east and sets in the west. We all also tend to collectively know the rules of three, regardless of our affinity for outdoor adventure, that generally go like this. You can survive for three minutes without oxygen, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. What is also generally known, regardless of your attendance or lack thereof in a wilderness survival course is survival priorities. In such a situation, building a fire and a shelter, providing

first aid when needed, and acquisition of clean water are amongst the top to-dos. But there are two other rules of the game we all know to be true. Stick together and stay put. But what if those aren't options? What if the time comes when you must break the rules if you have any hope of winning the game? A game that has your life and the lives of those you love on the line. Welcome to National Park After Dark. A survival story finally. I'm so excited. I've been waiting.

We've all been waiting, honestly. Well, I hope this delivers. It's a good one. I got the inspiration from one of the best shows out there, one of the I Shouldn't Be Alive series. Oh, I love that show. And I've seen it. Yeah.

It's season two. So it's early on. I actually have no idea how many seasons there are of this because there's so many. There's like I should be, I should have been prey. I shouldn't be alive. I survived. Like there's so many. I survived is like a, oh, that's such a good binge show. How do you watch this show now? Like, how do you stream it? This particular one, the entire episode was on YouTube. Oh, cool. I remember when I used to watch, I survived. I watched it when I still had cable and now I just pay for subscriptions. I don't pay for cable at all. So I'm like, how do I find these shows? I know I can

like say it into the remote now and just be like, I survived. and it'll pop up, but I wasn't sure. Yeah, YouTube has a lot of, I think there's something you do with like, it's a lot of the older seasons. Okay. They're still good stories. They're just older. Before we get going with that, we have two things to say really quick. First being in regards to the episode that I did on Steve Cardizano with Wilderness Therapy.

It was a couple weeks ago at this point, but I just wanted to make mention that we've received a couple of of DMs and emails from people wanting to discuss or at least bring to light the positive aspects of wilderness therapy, whether they benefited directly from wilderness therapy in a positive way, or just they've worked in that space or know someone who had a positive experience. So I just wanted to make note that we do know that just like pretty much every situation in the entire world, there is good and bad. But the episode I did was primarily focused on Steve and his awfulness. For lack of a better word.

Yeah. And obviously the bad parts of wilderness therapy and how it kind of got out of hand and how others, you know, other people that were affiliated with him and other programs kind of followed his lead. So I don't want to take away from the benefits that wilderness therapy can have because obviously that exists as well. But yeah, so I just wanted to say we're aware that there are, there is goodness out there in it and it can be beneficial. But that just wasn't really what the episode was about.

No. And I mean, of course, there are good things too. But I will say the troubled teen industry as a whole has had a lot of problems for years. And not discrediting, of course, if you find a good program and it works for you. And that that's great. The whole backbone of what wilderness therapy is supposed to be is supposed to be something that's beneficial. So that's amazing. So we typically, 85% of the time we cover morbid stories.

So it wouldn't really make sense if you came on here and told like a lovely wilderness story that was all butterflies and rainbows. Yeah, but maybe I should have just made like a side note of like we are aware that there is some good. Yeah. So that's just my point. I thought we did have a conversation about that. Did we?

I thought we had like a very brief one. I can't remember. But either way. We hear you. We just want to. I want to make sure that you know that and that we just, yeah, we want to bring a balance to both sides, but as a whole of the episode was obviously not about that. But moving on, not to dwell. Cassie, you have a little something to say. Yeah, I guess I bring down the mood a little bit.

I just want to, because we're going into survival episode today, I thought that it would be kind of important to highlight some survival things in real time. Because if you are from New Hampshire or from New England at all. You probably saw that this past week, at least when we're recording this, that another person died in the White Mountains from exposure over the past few days. And it is wintertime. And this particular person, I didn't know them, but it seemed like they were extremely experienced. And they just ran into some freak weather out there, unfortunately. And it's really awful for the whole community. But part of what has been being really highlighted, since this has happened, and I thought would be a good thing to talk about again, which we have once before, is that New Hampshire has something called a hike safe card where they have a program where they're promoting basically safely recreating outdoors.

And when you join the program, I think the card is, I believe, don't quote me, but I think it's $25 to join. And essentially, when you buy this card, it's almost like an insurance for yourself that it will cover any recovery efforts for you or any rescue efforts. for you, the cost of that if you have this hike safeguard. And I think that that's a huge thing when people are out in the wild. They're like, I don't want to call search and rescue. This is going to cost so much money. And of course, that is limited to if you go out there and it is entirely your fault and you're putting other people's lives at risk. Then things change a little bit. But I just thought that it would be good to highlight that that is a program in New Hampshire for everyone who is hiking out there right now. It's winter. It's especially dangerous. And it's a good

resource. I mean, just to know that that exists and to have that option. It can't, I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be able to save you. I know in this particular circumstance, the weather was too bad. I mean, I read some articles and I won't go like super into it, but I read some articles that search and rescue had to turn around because the weather was so bad and they were getting frostbite because it was so cold. But it's an extra security to have, which I think is important when you're recreating outdoors. And New Hampshire offers a great program for that. Good.

Good to highlight. And I mean, obviously, we're talking about New Hampshire specifically. But if, and I'm sure other states probably have some sort of program that's similar. So it doesn't hurt to look it up wherever you are and see if a program like that exists. 25 bucks is nothing nowadays. So, and if it's going to go towards something that could potentially save you a lot of grief in the future, you should do it. This episode is brought to you by Prime.

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Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Okay, so today we are going far, far away from New Hampshire. We're going back to Alaska for my story. I love Alaska. I will go back for not every episode, but like close to every episode to Alaska. Yeah, well, this is a different park. We haven't been to this particular park in Alaska yet.

I know we go there kind of a lot. They have a lot of parks. Yeah, that's true. But we are actually going to the northernmost mountain range in the entire United States, which is the Brooks Range, and the park we are visiting is Gates of the Arctic National Park. Oh, exciting. Which I feel like we, and don't quote me, I really feel like we haven't been here. I'm a little nervous because I'm like, it sounds familiar, but.

I feel like I feel the same way. And we have a lot of episodes now, so maybe we have. But I feel like we've touched on it like briefly in something, like maybe a trail tale or like one of our episodes where we have side stories in it. I feel like we've talked about Gates of the Arctic briefly but have never had an episode. Okay. If we have, I'm so sorry, but you're going to hear about it again. It's new to us. Let's just say that. Yeah, I've never heard of it before.

Never in my life. So covering nearly 8.5 million acres, which is about two and a half times the size of Connecticut or nearly the size of Switzerland, the park and surrounding preserve reaches beyond the Arctic Circle and contains tundra plains, wild scenic rivers, glacial lakes, and rugged, beautiful mountain ridges. First protected as a national monument in 1978 and later designated as a national park and preserve in 1980, this vast remote land served as home to humans as early as 11,500 years ago that we are currently aware of. Today, over 800 archaeological sites have been identified throughout the park, revealing traces of how the people of the Paleoarctic lived. More recently, the discovery of different sites and thousands of artifacts, including hunting bows, obsidian tools, and the bones of different animals, including moose and sheep and fish, reveal how the Athabascan people survived in this harsh environment.

Today, one village is in the park and only a handful of small native Alaskan villages dot the perimeter. But in total, less than a thousand permanent residents call this area home. And it's the size of Switzerland. Yes. Just shows how remote this place really is. Mm-hmm. And what it lacks in human inhabitants, it far makes up for in wildlife. Brown and Black Bear, Polar Bear, Duller Sheep, Links, Moose, Fox, Wolves, and Muscox all flourish here,

along with many of the nearly 500,000 member Western Arctic Caribou herd, who migrate through this park every fall. That's so cool. It reminds me of the Great Migration in Africa and how people go to... Like the Great Migration, if I could speak. I don't see why not. I mean, I'm sure it's not as, it's kind of depressing. Like, you see all the videos of the Great Migration and how amazing it looks. And it is amazing.

But then, like, there are certain videos that zoom out to show just how many people are there, like, all crammed in, especially along the rivers where the animals are crossing and the crocodiles are picking off, like, wildebeest and things like that. And it's really, it's interesting and it's a cool place to be. And I understand why everyone kind of congregates there. But it's kind of like the magic is gone a little bit from it. There's like a stadium and everyone's wearing a t-shirt for the animal that they're rooting for. There's like the wildebeests and then there's the crocodile people and they're all like screaming and drinking beers. It seems like a little bit like that. And so I feel like this is a less popular grain migration. I feel like it's. a lot more difficult to get to, like accessibility-wise, and that's probably why it's not as popular among the fact that it's in the Arctic, and I don't think a lot of people want to be there. So, I don't know.

I want to be there briefly. I would love to see it. Yeah. We'll add it to the list. We already have too many things this year. It's January 19th, and we already have way too many items on the list for travel this year. I disagree. I'm traveling way less this year than last year.

I am not. I know you're not, but I have. Plenty of time in my schedule to add a wildebeest migration. No, the caribou. The caribou. Located 260 miles north of Fairbanks, Gates of the Arctic is considered a true wilderness park, which means that there are no roads, campgrounds, visitor facilities, or established trails. So visitors must hike in on foot or fly in.

The remoteness of the park attracts backcountry travelers for float trips, backpacking tracks, or day hiking and fishing excursions. The majority of visitors join guided trips in the summer, offered by different local outfitters in the area or in the winter for dog mushing and cross-country skiing. And even the most experienced hikers consider six miles of travel a good day's work in this area because of the dense vegetation, the way that the ground is, it's kind of boggy and the terrain is really difficult to navigate.

So they're not like groomed trails like you usually find. No, no. Yeah, there's no, there's no established trails here. Wow. That's so scary because I just like going off the rails for a second is I just remember I was in Denali National Park and we were just hanging out on the side of the road and there's a lot of brush and small plants that are there. And I was sitting there. We had a hammock out on the side of the road where it was during COVID. So there was no one there, which was amazing. And I was taking pictures and I look and there's this grizzly bear walking down the road towards me. I was like, oh my God, a grisly or grisly. This is so cool because we had a car, you know, like we could just hop in the car. And it was far enough away where I could only

really see it with the zoom lens of my camera. So we were, okay. We were very far. But then we hadn't seen cars in like half an hour. And of course, a car shows up. And they're driving. And I try to like wave them down to tell them, hey, there's a grizzly. Don't drive over there, but they didn't notice me. And they drove in. They saw the grizzly. So they stopped driving pretty much right next to it. And the grizzly then went off the road, of course, and into the brush. And by this time, they were pretty close to us. And once this grizzly went off into the brush, you could not see it anymore. I knew there was a grizzly bear there. I knew there was a huge grizzly bear right there. And it was gone. And it was not. It was completely.

gone. So when you say that it's just no hiking trails, just brush that you're walking through, I'm just picturing grisly bears everywhere. And you can't see them. You can't see any of them. Where was it that we were, we were hiking, but we separated and we were both with like little groups. It was one of our group trips. And when we both got back together after, I was like, I felt like there were grisly. Like, where was that? We were in Alaska. We were in, um, oh, we were outside of part. De Nali State Park, yes. And we smelt to them. We smelt the bears. I don't know. I was like looking back, it's like, did I really smell? But it's weird that we both had that observation. Yeah, we came up to each other after the hikes because we were in two different groups hiking together. And at the end,

I was like, okay, so this was weird. But when we got to a certain part, did you smell like a really raunchy? And I described the exact area. And she's like, yes. Yes. Like, was there a bear there? There was definitely a grizzly somewhere around there, but it was just hiding out. Or was there really recently and you could still smell it. Yeah, either way, that was, I felt like that particular hike, there was going to be a bear around every corner. And I didn't see one. I didn't see one bear that entire trip. And you know they were there.

I know. Okay, anyway, this isn't even about bears. So back to it. It is about Alaska, though. It is relevant. In the early 1930s. while exploring Alaska, Robert Marshall, who was actually one of the four original founders of the Wilderness Society, quote unquote, discovered an unobstructed path leading northward to the Arctic coast.

Upon seeing two mountains, Mount Boreal and Frid Crags, flanking the Koyokuk River, he wrote, quote, The view from the top gave us an excellent idea of the jagged country toward which we were heading. Close at hand, only about 10 miles to the north, was a pair of mountains. one on each side of the North Fork. I bestowed the name, gates of the Arctic on them. No sight or sound or smell or feeling even remotely hinted of men or of their creations. It seemed as if time had dropped away a million years and we were back in a primordial world.

And it was this exact lack of human presence and feeling of a primordial world that Blake Stanfield was in search of in June of 2003 when he planned the trip of a lifetime, for himself and his father, but it turns out it was nearly their last. 38-year-old Blake Stanfield wanted to do something really special for his dad's birthday. A doctor residing in Seward, Alaska, he wanted to plan a memorable 65th celebration for his dad, Neil, who ran a building management company in Oklahoma City. Despite the geographic distance between them, they were extremely close and they spoke nearly every day on the phone.

It didn't take long for him to find the perfect gift. From the age of seven, Blake grew up backpacking and spending a lot of time in nature with his dad, and the pair shared a deep love for the outdoors. Blake went on to take up rock climbing and mountaineering, so an outdoor excursion seemed like the perfect fit for the two of them. So he decided to organize a rafting trip. When Blake excitedly shared the news with his dad, Neil, Neil immediately pushed for them to join a group rafting excursion,

especially after learning where this rafting trip would be taking place, which was in Gates of the Arctic National Park. Middle of nowhere. But Blake was really adamant. He wanted nothing to do with groups. He didn't want to guide or to share their trip with any other people at all, let alone strangers in a group trip that obviously has a very different feel than an excursion, just the two of you.

I get solitude, but we just talked about bears. Grizzlies and brush, you can't see. And now there's only two of you. It's scary. Yeah. And water, lots of water. Also scary. Yeah, the rafting trip part, like so much can go wrong.

We went on a baby rafting trip and I wouldn't, and there were barely rapids and I wouldn't do that without a guide. No way. No way. No way. No way. Blake even went as far as intentionally planning their trip. So they arrived early in June two weeks before the official start of rafting season to make sure that they'd avoid as many people as possible. Not that the rivers would really be brimming with people.

I looked up some statistics because obviously I knew that it's a huge remote park. So I'm like, all right, well, I don't imagine this being a really super crowded type of deal. So in 2021, the park ranked the least visited park of the year with little over 7,000 visitors for the entire calendar year. Wow. And so that's no one. Yeah. So that's 20, obviously a more recent statistic, 2021. But the story takes place in 2003, so I went back then.

And that number, the annual visitation number, was barely above 5,000. That's almost no people. I feel like, I wonder how many, I feel like there's 5,000 people a day in some parks. Yeah, of course, because you look at some. I mean, what was it? In Great Smoky Mountains, they have like 22 million people who come every year or something. So, I mean, they're open year round. So that's something to be said for too, is I imagine Gates of the Arctic people only go during the summer.

But 5,000 people is you aren't going to see it. You might not see anyone. Yeah. Even in the peak of visitation months, you know, I don't know. Blake and his dad both spent a lot of time preparing for this trip. Ever since the previous October, which was about six months earlier when the idea for the trip first took root. So they took a lot of time preparing for this trip. They had plenty of gear, camping supplies, emergency items, spare deterrence, including a shotgun,

and they had carefully planned their route and they conveyed their plans to the park service. So they're checking all the boxes as far as what to do. They were dropped off on a small gravel bar via a chartered plane on Friday, June 6, 60 miles from the nearest settlement, and their plan was to raft south along the Koyokuk River to the town of Beddells, a tiny outpost town with an airstrip, trading post, and ranger station. About a 90-mile float and all, they planned to spend the next six days camping along the river and stretching their legs on short day hikes along the way. As the plane flew off until it was no longer visible in the sky, the two were taken aback by the stunning scenery. The remote, quiet beauty of the

area is one thing to read about, but an entirely different thing to experience firsthand. Excited for their adventure, they took stock of their supplies and set up camp for the night, eagerly anticipating the next day's push-off. The next afternoon, the pair put in their watercraft, an aluminum frame strapped with two inflatable pontoons into the river. The water was relaxed and about 100 feet wide where they originally put their boat in. Not expecting any rapids for at least four days, Blake and Neal spent the first couple hours in the water in awe of the wilderness around them. And I put in a little note here. I was like probably a lot of Owen Wilson wows going on. Wow.

Wow. Wow. But that started to gradually change as they made their way down the river. They were surprised to see sheets of ice hanging onto the sides of the river. Wow. Wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Is that why Ellen Wilson would sound? I don't know. I never heard him say it seriously. So they were surprised about this site of the ice, but they weren't entirely faced by it yet. So they noticed it, but kind of just ignored it and went floating along. During their flight up from Bettels, they had been watching the river below them and they hadn't noticed anything alarming in the river. Plus, for half the year, the Kayokuk River's choked with ice, which they knew,

but it melts in the summer. Arriving in June, they thought that the ice would be well melted by the time they put in their watercraft into the river. As they went further along, the ice persisted, thickened, and the river started to narrow, and the current really started picking up. Blake started struggling to navigate the boat around the ice because now it's in big sheets in the middle of the river. It's not just on the sides of the river anymore. I imagine chunks breaking off too and just big chunks in the river too. Yeah, and floating along. Yeah. Yeah. But within minutes, the raft was at the mercy of the strong current. Blake was entirely unable to steer or slow down their boat and it was headed straight for a large patch of ice, which was two feet thick in the middle

of the river. They slammed right into it and were launched from their boat and plunged into the frigid waters. They resurfaced, but they were underneath the ice in a really small air pocket. Oh my God, that's so scary. As the current raged, the pair struggled to stay together. Blake apologized to his father while reaching for his hand. He barely managed to grasp it for just a moment before the current swept Neil away. Blake followed suit soon enough and the men were dragged along and finally spit out the other side of the ice shelf and they were together. Whatever momentary relief that they may have felt in that moment was very short-lived because they were being hurtled towards a second ice shelf. But seeing this one coming, Neil attempted to stop himself from going under it. So imagine

him he's floating. He is floating, but he's being like hurtled, propelled. really quickly down this river and he's going feet first and he sees this ice shelf coming close. So he is putting his arms up and his hands up kind of near his face on either side of his head to try and grab onto this ice shelf and keep himself from being sucked underneath it. But his strength was no match for the current and he and his son were swept underneath it once again. Oh my God. This is so scary. I'm afraid of water.

So this is just so scary. Yeah. And it being so cold, it just knocks the wind right out of you. Yeah, being cold, being thrown like left and right. And now you're going underneath the water under ice where you don't know how long. This ice shelf is. Yeah. Yeah.

It's not just a little chunk of ice and you pop out on the other side. Like these are really long ice shelves. And this one, the second one that they get sucked under, did not have the luxury of the high ceiling. that the first one did, and thus there was no air pockets. Oh, but of course they didn't know this. So as they were being propelled along, they were constantly trying to break the surface, hoping to find air in a small air pocket, but there was none. So the result was the jagged block of ice, rock hard frozen ice, was just ripping the skin from their face and the top of their head and their hands. Oh, my God. They were propelled nearly

a hundred yards, unable to take a breath. Blake, feeling as if his lungs were exploding, fully thinking he was going to drown underneath the ice, made it out and found his way to shore, but he was alone. While running through every possible scenario, including how he was going to have to tell his family that his father had died in the river, he finally saw him. He had been propelled out from underneath the ice shelf and was bobbing along the current. Neil, weakened and disoriented, was somehow able to grab onto a nearby stationary, chunk of ice in the middle of the river and hauled himself onto it. At his son's urging,

Neil gathered the last bits of strength he had to launch himself back into the frigid waters to swim towards shore, reaching for a long spruce branch that Blake was extending in his direction. As soon as Blake gathered his dad into his arms, his mind made an instant switch from worried child to concern doctor. Oh yeah, I forgot that he's a doctor. Yeah. That day had been a warm one nearing 80 degrees and the pair dressed to match it, which meant that Blake was in a t-shirt in shorts while his dad sported a t-shirt in waiters. They were prepared for a day on the water, not in the water, and Neil was shaking uncontrollably with almost mild seizure-like movements. Blake immediately recognized it as the early stages of hypothermia.

Well, yeah, I imagine that that water is just barely above freezing. Mm-hmm, yep. And they were in it for a while, it sounds like, for several minutes at least. Several minutes at least. I mean, it seems like a lot, but in the moment, I mean, it's going so fast. But yeah, it's long enough. All of their spare, dry clothing and supplies were washed away when the boat flipped. But Blake remembered he had stored a lighter in his life vest.

Pulling it out and just praying that it still worked, a small miracle was bestowed on them when the torch actually lit up. Thinking fast, Blake gathered supplies for a fire, and while it was starting to burn, peeled the wet, cold clothing off of his dad and embraced him, rubbing his skin and holding him close to his body to warm him up. And finally, Neil shaking ceased. Taking stock of their supplies was a grim task. Between the two of them, they had the following. So they had a lighter, a knife, two life vests, two whistles, a map, the clothes on their backs, one pair of waiters, and one pair of shoes. Ooh, only one pair of shoes. Gone.

At least they have a map. That's really helpful. Yeah, it is helpful. I mean, that's another small miracle for sure. Sitting around the fire, the gravity of what just happened started to hit Blake, who up until that point had been solely focusing on surviving the river and then staving off hypothermia for his dad. No one was expecting to hear from them for at least a week.

So no one would even know that they were in trouble. All of their food, supplies, and gear, like I said, were washing. washed away with their raft. They had no emergency radio or phone. And Blake just put his head in his hands and just started to really like panic internally. He was like what just happened and what are we going to do? And his dad didn't want to be there in the first place. And now this has happened. Yeah. His dad didn't want to do a solo. Yeah. Didn't want to do it the way that they're doing it. Yeah. I should have said. Mm-hmm. Blake removed a photograph that he had taped into the inside of his life jacket. It was a photo of his young family, his pregnant wife Shelley, and their one-year-old son Heath.

Overcome with worry that he would never see them again and worse yet that they may not ever know what happened to him or to his dad, he started to cry. He was getting really overwhelmed with emotion. As the sun began to dip in the sky, the two set off from the shore to find a more sheltered spot to spend the night. Blake lost his boots in the river. That's why they only had one pair of choose between them, but still easily outpaced his dad, who was struggling to keep up. Neil had broken his ankle the year before, and although it healed, he was still feeling the effects of that injury. After finding a suitable spot, their first priority was to build a shelter to stay warm and

dry. June was smacked at between the dry and the rainy seasons, so the threat of rain was not something to be messed with. While gathering their supplies and building their shelter, Neil glanced down and noticed prints in the soil. Taking a closer look, it was clear as day. They were grisly tracks. They're in the brush. They're in the brush. They had packed a shotgun, of course, and bare deterrents. But all of that lay at the bottom of the Koyokukuk River now. Not helpful. That somehow makes it worse, I feel like, because it's like, God, I had this all. Like,

they tried so hard. Yeah. Like, they tried to be so prepared. And then within minutes, it just all... Yeah, day one. All went sideways, yeah. Well, day two, technically, because they camped the first night. Yeah. But yeah. So they quicken their pace to get their shelter constructed.

But it was a pretty flimsy shelter. They didn't have, you know, they didn't have an axe. They didn't have things to lash it together. So it was pretty flimsy, but it did the job for now. And when that was done, Blake climbed a nearby ridge to get a sense of his bearings. And from his vantage point, he actually spotted the. raft, but it was three channels away and frustratingly out of reach. That's even worse, I'd rather.

Just not see it. It's like, God, it's gone. I don't. You're just looking at it from afar. You know if the raft washed up there, then probably the rest of your stuff washed up in that area. And there's just nothing you can do, but like look at it from afar. Yeah, I know.

Back at the shelter, the pair built a fire, firstly to keep warm, but it also served as their only defense against predators. They laid down for the first night, taking turns laying at the front of the shelter nearest the fire, the other bear hugging the person in front for warmth. During the night, Blake was restless and made a really difficult decision. When day broke, he informed his dad that he was going to leave him behind in order to go try and get help. It was a nearly impossible choice, but one that had to be made. Neil was in no way prepared or able to journey the 60 miles through the rugged terrain to civilization,

And he was worried about them both growing weak in a spot that would be difficult for rescuers and searchers to find them in six days' time when hopefully a search would be triggered. Oh, yeah, because you said his dad's struggling from an ankle injury too. Mm-hmm. So it would be hard to do. That's such a tough decision to make, though, to separate because now you're separating in an area where you know there's spares that are active and you're alone. And you have no supplies. Nothing. Like there's so much that can go wrong that I understand the torment that went behind that decision.

But he made it. He felt that he had a better chance at getting help sooner if he went alone, even if his choice broke one of the top rules of survival, which is to stick together. Neil protested the decision at first and argued with his son about his choice, but Blake was once again adamant. His dad needed to stay put. Neil gave his son his only weapon, which was a small knife, along with their only map, lighter, and pair of shoes. So everything? Pretty much everything, yeah, except for like the

clothes on his back. Neil was very, very concerned about being alone, but he was even more worried about his son and what he may encounter on his journey. Blake's first and biggest hurdle would be a river crossing, the Tinyuk. He had a map, but the scale was difficult to interpret and the lack of distinguishable landmarks made navigating kind of difficult. In addition, he hadn't had anything to eat in over 24 hours. And with the lack of established paths or trails meant he was essentially bushwhacking on the uneven terrain. And he later said that, because we all know this is a survival story, but he later said that it felt like he was walking on bowling balls. That's how uneven and difficult to navigate the terrain was. I've never walked on bowling balls, but I imagine it's very

difficult. Yeah. I imagine it kind of like, have you ever, well, I would be surprised if you haven't, but in a bounty house, remember as kids? Yeah. And the floor is like so uneven and you can't because there's like kids jumping and you can't stay like even, you know, just kind of like that. That's how I imagine it. Just a couple hours after leaving his father, Blake reached the raging river and plunged right in. Back at camp, Neil was tired, beaten, and battered, but he couldn't rest. His main priority was to keep the fire going as it was, like I said, his only defense and his only source of warmth. And remember, he doesn't have the lighter anymore to reignite it. So it was paramount that he kept this fire going.

Yeah, if he loses this fire, that's it. That's it. So scary. All the while, he was tormented by the unknown of what was happening to his son. Meanwhile, Blake had successfully made it across the river and was steadily making progress towards Bettles. He had been singing out loud and periodically blaring his whistle to scare off predators, such as the first black bear that he encountered. But then he suddenly came upon a large, sleeping grizzly bear.

Realizing that the grizzly hadn't heard him, Blake scrambled to hide behind a rock outcropping. He peeked around the boulders and saw that the bear still hadn't spotted him, but he knew that didn't mean he was in the clear. Grizzlies have a sense of smell a hundred times more powerful than humans and are able to smell prey up to two miles away. So if the wind shifted even just a little bit, his presence would be revealed. So he made another decision and he broke another rule.

Don't run. He just bolted. He's like, and I'm out. It's like he's asleep. I'm fast. Let's go. Right. Feeling good about his narrow escape and his current pace, Blake was feeling really good,

all things considered. By his calculations, he could not. make it to Bettles in about a day and a half at his current pace. That is until he approached a large, wide, fast-moving river. A river that he thought he had already crossed. Turns out, the crossing earlier in the day had just been a very small tributary of the Tinjukuk River, which now he was standing right in front of. Oh, what a punch in the gut that must have been. You get across a river crossing and you're stoked like, I did it, everything's fine, got the hardest part out of the way, And then it's like just kidding, this.

This is actually it. And it was really bad because this river was way, way too wide and swift moving and obviously really cold. And he knew where that got him the first time. Right. And he debated what to do because at this moment, he knew there was no way he could cross it. So he was debating whether he should just turn back to go stay with his dad and maybe, you know, stick together and wait it out.

And hopefully people would either come searching for them or. someone would pass by or whatever. Or if he should push forward and find an alternative route, maybe a different place along the river to cross. But then again, his map was really rudimentary and he wasn't exactly sure if he kind of veered off course if he would be able to find his way again. Fair. So what he did was he ended up laying down to rest for the night on the shore of the river. Approaching 36 hours with no food, he was lying on the ground and he was just swatting at different insects and spiders that crawled by and would just pop them in his mouth and just would eat them just for whatever little calories that they would provide.

Smart but ew. Smart but ew. Ew. Ew. Did you have to do that? It's disgusting. The spiders, I think, would be the hardest to eat because of the legs. Yeah, especially if they're small spiders, sure.

but if they're the fuzzy leg spiders. No. I've never had, I've had crickets and ants, but not. Chocolate covered? No. Seasoned. But again, they're like dried out so it doesn't really taste like. Yeah.

And I'm sure his weren't seasoned either. No. And if they're juicy, get out of here. I hate that you even just said that word. That's disgusting. As night approached, Neil was shouting out loud. in an effort to keep the predators at bay, switching between phrases like,

I am king of this valley and speaking thoughts of his worries concerning his son to the forest around him. He was concerned about the bears and the wolves and the cougars, but his biggest fear was keeping the fire going, which proved to be difficult throughout the night.

Neil would drift to sleep only to wake up to smolders, and he'd have to nurse the fire back and be like, oh, shit, chit, like, please. Yeah, yeah. And gathering wood to keep feeding the fire fire also proved to be a big challenge because he had scraped and blistered hands and feet and he had nothing to like chop down anything. There wasn't a lot of just wood litter around. So collecting things

to like small things. Collecting was a big problem too. As day broke on day three, Blake unable to stick to his plan A, which was to cross the river and continue straight south towards town, decided to bank on being spotted and not by rafters. It was too early in the season for anyone to be on the Alaskan waters, but never too early for one of Alaska's primary modes of transportation, which are bushplanes. There are six times as many pilots and 16 times as many aircrafts per capita in Alaska than anywhere else in the world. The state operates the country's largest aviation system covering nearly 2.5 million square miles. Because of its large spans of wilderness that separate 82% of its communities from the state roads, aviation is essential.

Many of the pilots in Alaska are known as Bush pilots and are responsible for flying smaller-sized aircraft into rugged terrain with much of the flying done in the harsh winter weather, far from aid. These pilots are accustomed to remote locations with lack of landing strips, meaning that they are resourceful and very skilled pilots. And this is the exact type of person that Blake was hoping to catch the attention of. That seems like a, that's a tough lottery to bank on right there because you said in this year, There's only 5,000 people who visit the park. They're there before the season technically starts, it sounds like, at least the rafting season. So I'm just wondering how many planes are going to be. And you said there's a thousand people who live there.

So I'm just curious of how many planes are actually going to be flying over the park. It's a gamble for sure. But at this point, he doesn't really see another option. Yeah, he doesn't want to go back. Yeah. But he can't go forward. So he's kind of like, let's just. Let go and let God, you know. So what he did was he gathered a huge pile of wood to make a signal fire hoping that the smoke would be seen from the air. But when he lit it and got it going, the smoke wasn't this big, large, white, billowing mass that he had seen in movies. But it was kind of like a wispy little dinky smoke stack. Like the wind blows and you can't even see the smoke anymore.

Yeah. So his hopes were crushed. The hopes he had for this plan. were starting to extinguish almost as soon as they had begun. Yet, he stuck with it and continued into the night. Meanwhile, that night, the evening of day three, while Neil was sleeping, a spark jumped from his fire and started to spread. Neil awoke to his entire shelter around him a blaze. Managing to escape, he watched as the entire structure burned to the ground. While he managed to save a smoldering log to start another fire source, he was now completely exposed to the elements and potentially predators. Can't catch a break. No. It reminds me. I forget what season it was of alone, but that happened to one of the contestants. And they had made it pretty far through and their shelter just

burned. I saw that one. I don't remember where it was either. But it was in a cold climate, for sure. Yeah. I think they were in somewhere in Canada, like Northern Canada or something. And it was in the middle of the night that it all caught on fire and they had to radio it and be like, my shelter's gone. Because it burned like their sleeping bag and like a bunch of other. Yeah. Like anything that they needed, it was, it was all over. And then they got there and it was a campfire pretty much. Yeah. To get that far and have, at least this person, at least that person had a radio to get out of there. Yeah, that's true. The next day, Neil at first worried his lack of shelter would expose him to downpours, had to battle the other extreme, the sun. With little sources of cover, he was subjected to relentless rays. He was. He set about trying to construct a new shelter, but with no tools, the task was nearly impossible, especially for a 65-year-old injured and tired body that had gone three days without food. But he pushed on.

Meanwhile, overnight, meltwater had flooded the river next to Blake, forcing him to retreat further into the woodline. He stuck as close to the river as possible, hoping feeding his signal fire would capture the attention of someone, literally anyone who happened to be flying by, but his hopes were starting to fade. But again, he didn't see any other alternative and he didn't have another plan. So he's stuck with it all day, all night, and into the next day. And he's going longer and longer without food too. Yeah. Around 6 to 7 p.m. on day 5, Blake was starting to lose it a little bit.

At least that's what he thought. Without food, aside from those spider snacks, in nearly five days, he thought he thought he was hearing things. He glanced up to see an airplane and shaking out of his stupor, he ran as fast as he could, waving his arms and his life vest and just screaming at this plane. He was convinced that the pilot had seen him. The plane was flying pretty low and almost right over top of him, but then it just continued on and out of sight. That's heartbreaking. Yeah, well, at first he was kind of like, is this isn't real? Is this real? And then he was like, oh, shit, it's real. It's right in front of me and on top of me and then it just flies off. And he kind of waits for it to turn, like maybe circle

around or whatever. But an hour passes and then two and then three. And there is no sign of the plane returning. And he started to think, okay, well, maybe that really was a hallucination. And maybe the lack of food is really getting to me. But unbeknownst to him, he had been spotted. Earlier that day, Bush pilot, Dirk Nickish, was having a relaxing day in the village of Coldfoot when he was approached by a group of construction workers. The men had been working hard on building the new visitor center and were looking for a break in the form of a tour of the area. Dirk offered to take them and flew them low around the Koyokuk River when he spotted what he thought was a paddler who had pulled off of the river for just a small break.

But upon closer inspection, this person was frantically waving and falling to his knees and shouting. And he knew that... He doesn't look like he's having fun. Yeah, he's like, oh, this is an emergency. Yeah. And so he knew this person was in trouble. And of course, he didn't see a boat. Yeah, like, how did you get there for stuff? Like, what are you doing?

Dirk banked back to town to gather supplies and radioed his wife. He instructed her to call battles to find out who was out on the river. She did and actually went a step further by notifying the National Park Service, who informed her that there actually should be two men out on the river. because again, both Neil and Blake communicated their plans with the park service beforehand, which is why one of the reasons why you always do that. So important. After three hours, the plane made a reappearance and flew directly over Blake's head and dropped a bag. Blake scrambled over to it to find supplies and a walkie-talkie.

Switching the radio on, he reached Dirk, gave him a brief synopsis of what happened, but urged the pilot to fly 15 miles upstream where he should see signs of a fire and his father. Blake watched the plane as it hooked north and directly in Neal's direction. Sensing relief for the first time in nearly a week, Blake dug through the bag to find something to eat and waited for the plane's return carrying his dad. But when the aircraft reappeared shortly after, the news wasn't what Blake had hoped for. Dirk couldn't locate Neal or any signs of his camp. Blake was frantic. His father must be there. He explained over the radio that his father was unable to move far

and was going to stick to the area. That was his plan. In a later interview, Blake tearfully recalled how worried he was that his dad had died while he was out on his own journey. And how guilty he had felt for ignoring his dad's advice about the group trip thing. And then also, you know, about splitting up. There was a lot of like survivors' guilt thoughts going through his head. And obviously making the decision to leave him behind was difficult to grapple with as well. Yeah.

Dirk had radioed for additional support and another pilot joined the effort. Blake hopped aboard his helicopter insisting to be part of the search. Despite knowing the general area of where to look, the search was extremely difficult with the dense vegetation in the rugged terrain. Hours went by as the men scanned the ground for any indication of Neal until finally they spotted him. They dropped a tent, a sleeping bag, and food to hopefully hold him over until the park service rescue could reach him. When they finally arrived four hours later, the chopper landed and an EMS member rushed to Neil's side. Shaking him, Neil finally awoke.

So it wasn't immediately clear that he was alive. So he didn't get the tent or any of the gear that they dropped for him? Well, they spotted him originally, like when they first flew over. They spotted him and they dropped it. But they weren't, he wasn't like standing up waving his hands and, you know, they weren't sure. But he was roused awake. and he was surprised to see rescue members there. So he hadn't seen the bat.

No. And he's, yeah, he stammered. He's like, how did you know I was here? And the EMS member responded, your son told us. With tears welling in his eyes, he was assisted to the helicopter and into the arms of Blake, who, hugging his father, said, man, you look like hell. To which Neil responded, so do you. Now let's get the hell home. The men later learned their initial case.

camp was not on the flight path of any local aircraft, which means if Blake hadn't made the decision to try and make it to battles, the pair would have almost certainly died in the Alaskan wilderness. Dirk Nickish continues to work as a bush pilot in Alaska's Brooks Range and high Arctic in a family owned an operated business called Coyote Air. After the accident, Blake moved his family from Alaska to Oklahoma City to be closer to his parents, and the two continued to pursue their love of the outdoors together, regularly hiking and camping, but they have never gone rafting again. I don't blame them. That would be enough for me, too. Like that one and done, I'm good.

It's a sign. It's a sign. We're not supposed to be out here. And I feel like Oklahoma City from, well, I guess I weren't living in Alaska. It's just, well, he was, Blake was. Oh, yeah. He was in seward. Yeah. I just feel like it's like, okay, let's get out of this tundra, too. Oklahoma City that seems safe. Yeah. So that's the story. That's the survival story of Blake and Neil. And yeah, I thought it was a good one just because it went along the lines of breaking rules. Usually we talk a lot about, you know, sticking to the guidelines and the importance of that. And overwhelmingly, that's true. But this was a good story of using your best judgment and how every situation is different and requires thinking situationally. So I really enjoyed this story for that.

Yeah, I'm glad I had a happy ending and I'm glad they survived because there were a lot of moments in that story where I was like, you're like, he left him behind. I'm like, no. It's like they went under an ice shelf and there was no air. I'm like, no. There were just so many points in that whole story where I was like, this is not going well. So I'm glad that they have a, I mean, I'm sure it's something that they can laugh on now in a trauma bond kind of way. But I'm glad that it worked out for them. And it's certainly a memory that they'll carry for the rest of their lives. Sure is. All right. Well, that is it. That's all I have for the gates of the Arctic. Cassie's signing us up for a group trip as we speak. Yeah, I'm sure.

A rafting group trip through gates of the Arctic. I don't know if I would want it to. I did enjoy rafting when we went in Alaska. But those were baby. They were babies. They were what she said? I actually hope that they were two or three, I think. I think they were two. They were very small rapids. Like I was like, we go over a little bump. Like, oh, that was fun. I was almost like, okay, I can handle more than this. Because when we first went on, I was nervous because I hadn't done it before. And then like, we went over one. I'm like, okay, cool. And then we went over another one. I'm like, all right, let's get, let's get a good one. And then it was like, hello. I feel like the hardest I've laughed all year was on that rafting trip because you kept getting smashed in the face with water. I was in the front of the raft.

So every time we hit a rapid, and I don't know why, but I was on the right side of the boat. And for whatever reason, it was just me. It wasn't like the left side. You were shielding me. It wasn't, yeah, you were right behind me. So you were just like watching me get soaked. And I'm just, I get completely soaked and I look around and everyone else in the raft is dry. It's just me.

It was awesome. It was so awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Next time I'll take the front and take the beating. Okay. I'm holding you too. Now it's on the podcast too, so it's forever set in stone. All right.

Okay. That's it. That's everything. Everyone, enjoy the view. But watch your best. back. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at npaddpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our outsiders only community on Patreon

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