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  Weather:

Morning- Clear, Freezing with ice on the tent
Afternoon- Around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, Cloudy turning to Sun
Evening- Clear and Cold

  Journal Entry:

We woke up at daybreak to find a thick coating of ice on the tent where the rain had frozen from the night before. The air outside was not much warmer and we think it was below freezing. We decided to eat breakfast so that we could get moving and get warm. When we broke camp we realized that we were going to have to cross the river because there was no other way around.  The river was flowing fast, swollen from the night before and cold (37 degrees Fahrenheit) gray from the silted water flowing directly from the nearby glaciers.  I changed into my Tevas and crossed first. It was flowing fast and got up to knee on the first braid of the river and to thigh deep on the second braid. It was mind-numbingly cold and my feet had a combination of numbness and pain. I crossed back over and got Christina and her backpack and we crossed together. It was a dangerous crossing because the river was flowing so fast it almost knocked us over. It was cold. So Cold that I was completely numb, not thinking to well (near hypothermia), and Christina was crying. We put our warmest clothes back on and began to hike as fast as we could to warm ourselves up. After about an hour we began to feel more like normal. After a short break, we started hiking again and began to have to make little river crossings jumping from rock to rock.  We saw something moving on the riverbed in front of us and stopped. We peered closely noticing the animal's cat-like movements. It was a lynx.  Amazingly, it climbed almost straight up one of the cliffs lining the riverbed. At the top of the cliff, it stopped to look down onto us for a long time before it quickly ran back into the woods.

At one point, we came to a point where the main part of the river cut the whole way across the riverbed. The fast flowing deep river was in front and on the right side of us and the steep muddy, ashy, clayish cliffs were on the left bank. We were stuck! We stopped for hot chocolate to warm ourselves and to think about what to do. We knew how bad the river was so we decided to scale along the cliff. In the beginning it was rough with a lot of ups and downs and quick slides, which almost left us in he river. We picked up a game trail and the traveling was a little easier. After about a half a mile we were able to get down onto the riverbed again. The river was well braided here so even though we had to keep crossing through it was shallower, slower moving, and not as dangerous. Finally, we made it to the road and bus soon came along to pick us up to bring us to Unit 9. Unfortunately, after the bus stopped to pick us up it would not start again. People were not too happy with us. About an hour later another bus came along and we were on our way. 

On the way, we saw a huge Grizzly Bear. We think it was probably the same bear that we saw a few days before in this area.

Our driver of the bus dropped us off at "I Scream Gulch" to get down to the Toklat River (mile 53), which ran down the middle of Unit 9. A gulch is a riverbed that has deep steep sides. "I Scream Gulch" sounded scary. It sounded like there were lots of bear attacks or something but our bus driver explained that it was called "I Scream Gulch" because in the winter dog sleds often use it. As the dog sled is racing down the gulch it often bumps into the backs of the dogs, which makes them go faster. The driver really has to scream at the dogs to get them to slow down. Where the Gulch met the Toklat River, we stopped and had a lunch. It was beautiful. We had mountains to the North,  West , East , and the biggest snow covered mountains were to the South (some over 8,000 feet tall).

The gravel/ riverbed that we walked along was relatively smooth (small gravel, rocks, and dry tundra). We walked for a while enjoying the sun and warmth. We had already had a long day so we took a short break where Christina soon fell asleep. I woke her up to see the most amazing rainbow. For the first time in my life I could actually clearly see every color in the rainbow. 

We got up and had to hike some more. Finally, we found a great spot to set up camp. Chrisi cooked a great meal of Mac and Cheese and we had some cheese and pepperoni. During our meal we saw some Dall sheep across the valley chewing tundra high up on the side of a mountain. Shortly after dinner we were in the tent and fast asleep.