Do you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
That’s exactly how it felt kicking off our midnight fun run. It’s not uncommon in Alaska for rafting trips to do a late-night run with their crews down their assigned river. For us, it was the canyon section of the Nenana, which has some pretty gnarly class 3 and class 4 Alaskan rapids. We launched the boats at 12:05 a.m., and the silvery twilight was absolutely beautiful, setting the perfect mood as the river carried us into the wild
I was having too much fun to take pictures going down the river, but we did camp on this sandbar, built a huge bonfire, and fired up a sauna.
If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see a red igloo fishing hut. Inside, we heated granite stones until they were glowing red, then dragged them into the hut. Pouring water over those stones created an incredible, silky sauna experience. And when your body got too hot, you took a quick plunge into the river…what we called a “Nenana plunge,” ha ha. There’s nothing like that mix of heat, cold, and laughter to make a night unforgettable.
It was now 3:15 a.m., and we were still having an incredible time, with the fire rolling and the river roaring all around us. What a night with great friends. I think I slept about 30 minutes that night—some of us had to work the next day, some didn’t—but I’ll never forget those silvery skies, the laughter that echoed across the canyon, and the glacial river splashing on your face as we ran the rapids. It was pure, unfiltered adventure…one of those nights that makes life worth living
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