The April 28 Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Michelle Gavel and Jordan Bishop entitled “Remarkably Close, Shockingly Remote: Six years of Adventures in the White Mountains of Interior Alaska.” Michelle and Jordan lived in Fairbanks, Alaska from 2017 to 2024. During this time, their work and recreation took them all over the state, but this talk will focus on one of their favorite places, the White Mountains National Recreation Area.

Described as “remarkably close, but shockingly remote”, the White Mountains hosts multi-season recreation opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds. Located just an hour’s drive from Fairbanks, the BLM-managed White Mountains National Recreation Area holds one million acres of outdoor adventure in Alaska's Interior. Jordan and Michelle will share several shorter trip reports centered in the White Mountains and surrounding areas in hopes that others will be inspired to seek out adventures in what they both believe to be an underrated region of an incredible state. If you are interested in type 2 fun, winter cycling, sweeping views of granite tors (what IS a tor, anyway?), the “packing” part of packrafting, or adventures that make you hallucinate, you’ll find it in the White Mountains. Along with fifty million mosquitos (seasonal).  

Michelle and Jordan grew up in different small towns in central North Carolina, and they met in their freshman year of college at UNC Chapel Hill. Michelle found her love of the outdoors through working as a camp counselor for several years in high school and college. Jordan grew up enjoying the quiet of the outdoors through hunting and running cross country, and he started backpacking to spend more time with Michelle. Work and graduate school brought them to Fairbanks. They came to Alaska knowing little about what life would be like there, and left the state married, with two cats, and a U-Haul full of outdoor gear.

We welcome all to this Mountaineers’ meeting on the regular fourth Tuesday of the month. The social hour, with cookies, begins at 6:45 PM and the program at 7:00 PM. The presentation will be in-person at Los Alamos Nature Center; the slides will be live-streamed on Zoom. Registration is required to Zoom and recommended for in-person – we would love to see your smiling face. Registration details will be posted once available.

Winter biking in Alaska’s White Mountains