Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

While in Fairbanks, we were told that we should visit Chena River State Recreation Area. Adolfo liked this idea since it got me away from the stores. So, on our third day we woke up early. I put on shorts to work on a bit of a tan and Adolfo wore short sleeves.


Adolfo and I got out of the truck and began to hike at our normal speed. Within seconds we realized we were being eaten alive. My legs were covered with mosquitoes. Adolfo’s arms were covered, too. Determined to continue, we decided to hike briskly. As long as we kept moving, the mosquitoes left us alone. Unfortunately, there were areas where fallen trees made us slow to climb over or under the trees. The mosquitoes seemed to know this; they were waiting.

We made it half way through the trail before we gave up and returned. It just wasn’t worth the blood donation.

Wonder Lake in Denali. (Blow up photo to see mosquitoes.)

In Denali National Park we were told that Wonder Lake was a beautiful place to tent camp. So, we decided to head to Wonder Lake for our last two nights in the park. We took the 5-hour bus out to the lake. It rained most of the way. As we entered the Wonder Lake area we noticed that people were covered from head to toe with mosquito nets and rain ponchos. It looked like a HAZMAT zone.

The second we stepped off of the bus we realized that we were dinner. The mosquitoes made clouds around us. I quickly put on my mosquito net, but Adolfo tried to rough it (within an hour he had his on, too).

Resisting the less-than- macho mosquito nets, Adolfo fiercely swats at mosquitoes.

It rained all night, and we chose to spend most of our time inside our tent where we could kill all mosquitoes that got in and torture those who couldn’t get in.

Instead of staying a second night, we took the first bus out in the morning. In fact, the camp cleared out. As the bus pulled up, a soldier stationed here in Alaska exclaimed, “Get me out of here.” My sentiments exactly.


Adolfo and I resort to taking photos inside the tent.