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Junior Hiked 130 Miles on Alaskan Adventure
Kyle Shieh had the chance to experience the exhilarating sights of Alaska for a month over the summer.
By Max Slepian
Staff Writer
One night in the Alaskan wilderness, Kyle Shieh was pitching a tent in extremely high winds while the temperature outside kept getting colder and colder. As rain began to fall from the sky, one thought went through his head, “What the heck was I thinking when I signed up for this?”
Kyle had the chance to experience the exhilarating sights of Alaska for a month over the summer.
Kyle, who is now a junior, was looking for summer wilderness survival programs and he came across a website introducing the Alaska experience. However, it wasn’t the first extreme trip he went on, as he had gone to Wyoming with the same organization in the past.
Kyle said he wanted to go on this trip because he had always wanted to see Alaska, as people said it was beautiful.
To prepare for the trip, Kyle went to the gym four times a week for a month and a half, working out and building up strength for the insane rollercoaster of a summer he was about to experience. It took nearly 24 hours to get to Alaska due to a flight delay, and he arrived on June 28th.
Kyle went on the trip with 11 other high schoolers, none of whom he knew. All of them slept in tents. Kyle also backpacked the entire time, so he always had what he needed on his back. Also, Kyle learned how to navigate using a compass and a topographic map: a type of map identified by large-scale detail.
He described the weather as unpredictable. Sometimes it rained, sometimes it was nothing but sunshine and warmth; they were in the mountains so the sun never really failed to make an appearance.
There was a rare hail, too.
Along the way, Kyle saw lots of plants, including bluebell flowers and cow parsnip. He also saw bald eagles, caribou and moose.
Kyle hiked about 130 miles throughout the course of a month. Some of the challenging aspects of the trip involved rocky terrain, steep trails and boulder fields. Most days he would hike six or seven miles; although there were some more laid-back days. There weren’t any cell phones allowed on the trip, but this wasn’t an issue for Kyle.
The best parts of the trip were seeing Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America; re-rations, which is when they received extra items from a pilot; and some of his favorite instructors. It was a real learning experience.
Along the way, Kyle developed strong leadership skills that should be beneficial in life. In addition to that, he learned first aid.
Kyle enjoyed the trip so much that when he was asked whether he would do it again, he responded with, “No doubt.”
“It was over too soon,” he said.
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