Travelgirl: 5 Ways to be Frigid In Alaska

Bright as a Velvet Elvis, the autumn foliage reflects in the dark waters of Alaska’s Yes Bay. I release the rope swing and shatter the 49-degree-Fahrenheit waters.

Like many cheechakos (newbies to the north), I’d had a sort of Glacial Age impression of cold weather in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Come fall, the freeze descends, trapping musky hermits in a sheet of ice, right? Then the survivors huddle up with homebrew and sled dogs, gazing at Russia’s balmier shores like eagle-eyed Sarah Palin.

I did not expect to swim. Outside. In September. Paddling the
Inside Passage.

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