Camping on the wild side! Lolly and Polly spend a few days camping in the Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska, and when they leave not a trace of them is left behind

Ranger Rick, July, 1997 by Roger Kaye

"We made it!" Lolly Andrews says to her sister, Polly. After a long hike to the top of a ridge, the 11-year-old twins and their parents slip off their backpacks. Below, the Alatna River flows through a wide valley. This is the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska.

No roads reach the remote park. The family flew there in Dad's small airplane from Fairbanks, some 200 miles (320 km) to the south.

Lolly and Polly watch as eight or nine caribou wander across the valley. The fresh smell of spruce trees blows in the breeze. In all directions as far as they can see, there are no buildings, no other people, not even a discarded wrapper or soda can.

"It's as if we were the first people ever here!" Lolly says. The girls, who are half Yupik Eskimo, have been waiting a long time to make this trip. Now Polly has fun imagining they are explorers. She points up the valley to where the river disappears around a bend. "Wonder what we'll discover tomorrow. . . ."

Now the family needs to find a good place to camp. They put their backpacks on again and head downhill. Soon, Polly pauses by a flat spot.

"Here?" she asks. "It'd be comfortable to sleep on soft lichens." (Lichens are algae and fungi that grow together). But the girls know that lichens grow slowly during the short arctic summers--and heal slowly after getting trampled.

"We don't want to squish them," Lolly reminds her. "Remember, we want to leave no signs we've been here." Near the river, the girls find a flat, sandy area. They could camp there without disturbing anything. This family practices some- thing called Leave-No-Trace Camping. And to the girls, it's like a game. "We try to leave our campsite looking as if no one had ever been there. It's a challenge--but it's fun!"

The twins set up their tent, and their parents put theirs nearby. Then the girls look around to find a good cooking area. Usually they cook with a camp- ing stove. But tonight they'll make a fire. Polly gathers sticks, while Lolly digs a shallow pit away from any plant growth. Then Lolly builds a small fire in the sand pit.

After dinner, Mom asks the girls to do the dishes. They carry them to the river and fill them with wet sand. Why use sand instead of dish-washing soap? Soap has chemicals that can pollute the water. And sand works as a scrubber, so bits of food scrape off easily. As Lolly washes the last pan, Polly playfully throws a splash of water on her. By the time their water fight is over, their clothes are wet. But the summer sun stays up late in Alaska, and soon the girls dry off.

"Remember Apa's stories?" Lolly says to her sister as they climb into their sleeping bags. Apa, their grandfather, is a Yupik Eskimo. He knows all about the animals that live in the forests and on the mountains. When the girls were young, he told wonderful stories about living outdoors for months while on hunting trips. Listening to Apa's stories, the girls had learned to love the wilderness.

"I'm so glad we're here!" Polly whispers. But Lolly has already fallen asleep.

A while later, the girls awake from a deep sleep. Ahhoo, ahooo--howls fill the air. They're the haunting calls of a wolf pack. The girls aren't scared. But a shiver runs down Polly's back--she feels a sense of awe to be in the wolves' homeland.

The next morning, after a breakfast of raisin oatmeal, the family leaves camp to explore upriver. Lolly leads the way. Soon she comes across some fresh wolf tracks.

"I wonder if these were made by one of the wolves we heard last night!" Polly says excitedly. "Look!" Lolly cries. On a grassy stretch in the distance stands a lone wolf. He pauses, then trots off towardthe forest. The girls can't believe their good luck to have seen a wolf in the wild!

A while later, hiking up a slope, they discover some bear tracks. Dad reminds everyone that wolves may not be dangerous, but bears can be. People need to be alert and makenoise when walking near thick brush or trees. "It's important not to surprise a bear," he says. "If it hears us coming, it'll probably run off before we see it." For the girls, making noise is no problem--they know a lot of songs! A mile farther, near a stream, Lolly hollers, "Look what I found!" Lying on the ground is an old jawbone with a few teeth missing. Mom says that it may be from a fox.

"I'll put it on my dresser when we get home," Lolly says. "But should you take it?" Dad asks. They all talk about that for a while. It would be nice to keep it, they agree. But then others who come later couldn't enjoy discovering it too. "I'll leave it," Lolly says, putting the bone down, "just where I found it."

Finally the adventure comes to an end. They take down the tents, pack every- thing up, and start to naturalize their camp area. That means make it look as if they'd never been there. Polly scoops the ashes from the fire pit and scat- ters them about. That's easy because they had burned only small sticks. There are no ugly charred logs to be left lying around. Then she covers the pit with sand.

Near the fire area is a log the girls had brought over to sit on. Each grabs one end, and they haul the log back to the exact spot where they'd found it. Now they look for litter. "We don't even bury anything," Lolly says. "Bears or other animals may still smell it and dig it up. 'Leave No Trace' means leaving nothing behind."