Note: All pictures included are courtesy of members of the AK Geo 2025 Yaghanen Swan Lakes Canoeing Expedition

Twenty-three days after being accepted: Day 1 – Orientation

After breakfast, I finalized my packing, making sure that I had what I would need for the journey. After lunch (and some jumping on our then-new trampoline), my dad and I left for orientation. Orientation was held at Alaska Geographic headquarters in Anchorage, from 4pm-7pm. When we got there, my two expedition leaders introduced themselves, followed by everyone else. There were twelve of us in total – two expedition leaders, a student leader, a lady from Fish & Game (one of AK Geo’s partners), and eight teens including myself. We then answered the important question of, if we could only have one condiment for the rest of our lives, what would it be? Mustard was my reply, since that’s the one condiment I sometimes use, but I would’ve said Nutella if I’d known that counted as a condiment!

We then played an ice-breaker game to better get to know our fellow expedition-mates. For this game, a roll of toilet paper was passed around, and we were instructed to tear off as many squares as we would normally use when using the restroom. For each square of toilet paper we took, we had to share a fun fact about ourselves. I learned that our student leader plays a lot of musical instruments (ten, I believe!), that one girl (who later turned out to be one of my tent buddies) has seven siblings, and that two of the boys had rather badly injured themselves by doing backflips. We quickly made it a rule that there would be no backflips (unless it was done while in the water) on the expedition.

Next, we got our gear (sleeping bags, duffels, and such) from Alaska Geographic and went through what we brought with us, checking our items off the packing list as we went. Since nighttime temperatures in Alaska in June can still get quite cold, we all made sure to pack winter hats, puffy jackets, and gloves. For those items on the packing list that we didn’t have, we borrowed from Alaska Geographic. We did a bit of “garage sale shopping,” as it was called. My teammates and I then packed those items into either a duffel (for clothes and sleeping bags) or dry bag (everything else), both of which we shared with one other expedition member. We only packed the bare essentials. We weren’t allowed to bring phones; a group camera was provided for taking pictures, and our expedition leaders would carry a satellite phone and inReach for emergencies. We also weren’t allowed to bring any smellables – no lotions, creams, soaps, shampoos, deodorant – or hairbrushes. I though that was quite extreme (I tried to reason that my wooden hairbrush could be used as a weapon), but we were instructed to pack as lightly as possible since we would be carrying all of our gear, including the canoes, during our portages (and looking back, I’m glad I only brought the bare essentials!). Not only that, but our leaders didn’t want us to attract any potentially hazardous wildlife, such as bears and moose, by bringing a lot of smellables into the raw, Alaskan wilderness of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

If it wasn’t obvious before, at this point it was pretty clear that this would be an unforgettable expedition.

After packing was complete, we all went over setting up tents with our tent buddies (there were 2-3 teens of the same gender per tent), water purification, and outdoor bathroom use. I learned that the extended entrance area of a tent is called the vestibule, and that the outer covering of a tent, which protects from rain, is called a rainfly. On a map, we traced out the entire route we’d be taking. My group would be doing 16 portages, canoeing on 16 lakes, and traveling around 16 miles in total, on foot and via canoe. Looking on the map at where we’d be going made everything feel all the more real.

Finally, we loaded up our bags into the back of the van, concluding orientation and the first day of my six-day-long trip. Rather than going home and driving back the next morning, my dad and I stayed at a nearby AirBnB.

Day 2

I don’t think there has been a time before a trip or vacation when I have slept soundly the night before – and this expedition was no exception. I could hardly sleep from my excitement, and woke up several times during the night to make sure my dad and I hadn’t somehow slept through our alarms.

By nine o’clock in the morning, everyone arrived back at AK Geo headquarters. Soon after, we all got into Clifford the Big Red Van and embarked on our four-hour-long drive south to Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Our route was simply spectacular, and the sunny weather only added to the natural majesty. We skirted along mountainsides and passed many sparkling lakes and rivers; we were surrounded by mountains on all sides.

For the last half an hour or so of our drive, we followed a winding, gravel road through the forest. Our final destination was the Outdoor Education Center at the wildlife refuge. Upon arrival, my teammates and I were assigned cabins. I stayed in the Caribou Cabin along with my two tent buddies and student leader. Once we set up our cabins for the night and made sure that all food and toiletries were in the van (to keep wildlife away from the cabins), my group went over wildlife safety, the parts of a canoe, and portaging.

Portaging was not easy whatsoever. Lifting a 60-pound, 20-foot long canoe onto your shoulders certainly takes some getting used to! Luckily, we had a good group, and we all supported and helped each other.

Once lunch was finished, we headed down to a nearby lake to practice canoeing, portaging, and fishing. We learned about how the front, or bow, of a canoe provides the power for moving forward through the water, and how the back, or stern, is best for steering. My group also learned about different canoe strokes and their uses, such as the J-stroke (for moving forward) and the C-stroke (for steering).

After what felt like a long day out on the water, we headed back to camp for a barbecue. As we ate dessert (apple pie!) around the campfire, my expedition leaders handed out nail polish for painting our nails. Apparently, painting nails before embarking on an expedition is their tradition. By the end of the night, even the boys had gotten their nails painted – one boy even used neon green polish! This reminded me of my wonderful, if sometimes crazy, fourth grade truth-or-dare days.

After filling out a few pages in our little workbooks (provided by AK Geo) over topics we had learned earlier in the day, we went around, popcorn style, and gave our ownerships – a positive ownership for something you felt you had done well, and a constructive ownership for something you feel you could have done better. After ownerships, we gave appreciations, where everyone would say at least one thing that they had appreciated someone else doing. Finally, we got chosen for the next day’s duties. As we all closed our eyes, one of our leaders would read the list of jobs, and we would silently raise hands for the ones we wanted. Our other trip leader would come around with her magic stick, and if we were tapped on the shoulder, then we got the job. This reminded me of what my teachers in preschool-1st grade would do when selecting the quietest child during nap time or quiet time. I wasn’t quite sure what job I wanted, so I figured I would listen to the options and choose whichever one got my attention. We had previously been told what a few of the jobs on the list were, and what I did know was that I didn’t want to be the navigator. Not for the first day of navigating through the wilderness, at least.

Naturally, I was chosen to be our group’s first navigator.

Finally, once dishes were cleaned (every day, two teens were chosen to do the dishes; this was based off of the numbers we had taped on our whistles. Numbers 1 and 2 had dish duty for the first day), we all headed off to our cabins for the night.

Dare to explore!

Vivienne

P.S. Although there aren’t very many pictures in this blog, there are lots of beautiful pictures to come in the blogs that’ll ensue!