By coincidence, I was once again picked up by some German students. When we arrived in Fairbanks, it happened to be June 21st, the summer solstice. We camped in someone’s backyard, pitching our tent there, and then went to a pub to celebrate the solstice. I remember the pub had all its windows closed and darkened, and we drank quite a few beers, playing pool and darts and so on. When we finally stepped outside around two in the morning, the sun was still high in the sky — and it was about 30 degrees Celsius. I have to say, it was quite a rough night: the tent was stiflingly hot, and on top of that, my head was pounding from the party in that smoky bar.

I then hitchhiked to Denali National Park, the area surrounding Mount McKinley. There I met two guys from Israel who had just finished their compulsory military service and were traveling around the world. Together we set out early into the vast open plains around Mount McKinley. The weather in this region is known to be mostly gloomy and overcast, but we were lucky — for three days the sky was completely clear and bright blue. Very soon we…

I set out with my two new partners from Israel across the plains toward Mount McKinley, which was completely covered in snow — the views were absolutely breathtaking. As I mentioned, the landscape was mostly open plains with few trees, so we could see incredibly far. On our way, we had to cross a small river, also named McKinley. We camped for the night just below the glacier, and the next day we climbed right up onto it. The weather was perfect, and I was truly enjoying every moment — taking lots of photos, including a few rather bizarre ones, like this one here.

The journey back turned out to be a bit more dramatic. As I mentioned, the sun had been shining for three straight days, and that small McKinley River had turned into quite a strong and wide stream. When I tried to cross it, the current swept me away, and I ended up being carried about 20 or 30 meters downstream, backpack and all. One of my two Israeli friends — I can’t remember either of their names anymore — managed to reach me just in time, handing me a long stick and pulling me out of the water. I remember that moment vividly, and ever since then, I’ve had a healthy respect for river crossings — something that would later come in handy during my travels in New Zealand, where I’d be fording rivers almost every day.

After I had dried myself, my sleeping bag, tent, and everything else, we started preparing dinner. Suddenly, I looked up — and about 15 to 20 meters away, there was a grizzly bear. I was just cooking my meal, while the two guys from Israel were about 200 meters away. The grizzly stopped, stood up on its hind legs, and began sniffing the air. At that moment — and I’d already seen quite a few bears before — I have to admit I was pretty scared.

I tried to think what to do: should I leave the spot and let him have the food, or should I somehow try to scare him off? I decided to stay completely still, just as I was. Fortunately, after a short while, the grizzly got back down on all fours and slowly wandered away.

Then I said goodbye to my Israeli friends and hitched on to Kodiak Island, where I did a solo two- or three-day trek. I remember that I didn’t meet anyone at all for most of the hike, but as I was getting back toward civilization and walking along a medium-sized river, I saw a woman with a child — and a backpack — about three hundred metres ahead. When I was ten metres behind her I thought it would be polite to make my presence known so as not to startle her, so I coughed. In that instant she turned around and I found myself staring down the barrel of her revolver. She was clearly experienced and knew how to defend herself, but when she realised I was just a fellow hiker we both laughed, and I walked with her to the end of the trail.