A story about Steese National Conservation Area

A few weeks ago I returned from an American Hiking Society Volunteer Vacation. We send groups of volunteers to beautiful public lands in need of help to maintain trails and restore natural resources. I was interested in planning a trip far in advance that would take me to some place that I would never have thought to visit otherwise. The knowledge that most trails on public lands are maintained by volunteers provided a lot of my motivation, but the opportunity to explore a unique, beautiful location with a federal land management agency employee as a guide and a guaranteed place to stay certainly played into my decision.

One trip stood out among the 80-or-so others: the Pinnell Mountain National Recreation Trail in the Steese National Conservation Area, north of Fairbanks AK. This PMT is approximately 30 miles long across a ridgeline formed by several small mountains and offers opportunities to see caribou, grizzlys, marmots and pica, as well as several rare wildflowers.

The trip was incredible. The combination of good honest work after weeks at a desk, the fields of nearly florescent fireweed, and incredible hundred-mile views under the midnight sun made this a trip to remember. I’m excited to volunteer on more units of the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System soon, both to give back to our national treasures and to explore their unique beauty.