"Go. Go and stand before things that are much bigger then yourself." Alaska is big. Much, much bigger then myself. And I'm standing right smack in the middle of it! A few need-to-knows about Alaska to make you appreciate my new home just as much as I do. 'The last frontier' is by far the biggest state of America and covers 1,717,854 km². That's about the size of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain combined. The total inhabitants of this enormous piece of land are an 'impressing' 722.000! Denali National Park and Preserve takes up 24,585 km² of that, which is roughly half the size of the Netherlands. It's situated in the middle of 'Alaska's Interior', and a 2,5 hour drive from Fairbanks, the closest city. The park is home to grizzly, brown and black bears, wolves, wolverines, coyote, fox, moose, caribou, eagles, dall sheep and all kinds of smaller mammals and birds. And during the summer season 300 people get to call the park home. So proud to be one of them! Living in this park is something else. My days are filled with working outside on the Trail Crew, enjoying or enduring the crazy weather, trying to keep up with the light, hiking the front country trails, spending time with friends, celebrating another bar or restaurant opening in true Alaskan Style, admiring wildlife, walking my husky dog Chulitna, and playing with my camera trying to capture it all. Working on the Trail Crew is very hardcore and badass work! Apparently, being a member of this crew makes me part of "the proudest, hardest working and best" of the park. Well folks, I can tell ya, I ain't gonna argue with that! We start most of our days with an hour of PT (physical training); so at 7.01 AM I am hiking up some sort of killing trail, trying to keep up with the guys who skip up the mountain whistling tunes and talking loudly to scare of the bears. The rest of the day is mostly spend outdoors, no matter what the weather. The last couple of weeks have been about preparing for the upcoming season; organizing stuff, setting up camp in the park, working with wood and gravel, inspecting trails, designing trail projects, attending lectures and readings, learning about all the different tools, dragging and driving materials around, and getting sore and strong!  It's incredibly hardcore and physical demanding work, and it's safe to say that I'm completely exhausted when I go home at the end of the day. Nonetheless, I am enjoying myself, like the challenges that come with the job and am proud to be one of the best! A very interesting part of working outside all the time is dealing with the flipping crazy Alaskan weather! It's half of May now, and we are finally starting to see the first signs of spring. Most of the snow has melted by now, the first spring flowers have been sighted and the plants are about to explode in 'greenness'. That being said, we still need to be prepared for any kind of weather! It's still freezing and snowing, and temperatures vary from 0 to 20C. The best thing that can be said is that I am finally no longer wearing my wool base layers... Continuing the flipping craziness; the amount of daylight Denali gets these days is insane! The sun rises well before 5.00 o' clock and sets long after 23.00, and it doesn't get 'dark' until far past midnight. It's quite weird and very special to experience, but it's also completely throwing of my sleep cycle. Sometimes I won't fall asleep until 2.00 when it's finally 'dark', or wake up at 5.00 because it's all bright and shiny outside, good mooooorning!  Another amazing aspect of living in Denali is the wildlife. A bus ride into the park will almost guarantee you some serious wildlife view. By now I've seen heaps of moose, many caribou, dall sheep, grizzly bears (spring cubs!), coyote, a wolverine (very rare!), eagles, porcupines and endless ground squirrels and ptarmigans.  I've also been enjoying the close and continuos presence of a caw moose with her yearling calf, who apparently loves the grass and greens around my home. Even more exciting these days are this years moose calves, who are very young still and can be seen wobbling along on the road and in the forest. Then there's also the case of 'Tripod', our famous three legged grizzly bear. He's been wandering around the area, and it will only be a matter of time before I run into him. Hopefully not too close of course... No worries mama ;) :)  But seriously, the past few weeks have just been filled with pure awesomeness!  I've met a lot of new people (and continue to meet more still) and made some great friends. We hang out a lot, share drinks and diners, watch our favorite shows and movies, walk our dogs, take a trip to town, explore the park and go on hikes. I really love the atmosphere and very much enjoy being part of the community, it's such a special and wonderful new home! I am the only foreigner here, and so (almost) everybody seems to know me; "Are you the girl who's from another country?", "You're the Netherlands girl!!!" or simply as Ing-ge. They are all incredibly supportive of me being a foreigner, and are great in involving me in everything that's going on. They listen patiently as I ramble on in Dutch ("Sure Ing-ge, that's just what I was thinking!"), ask questions about the real "gggchauwdse kash" and explain me about "pb&j's". Having me around seems to inspire everybody to make sure I won't miss out on their favorite American past times and traditions. Whether it be a national celebration or food - most of them involving a lot of peanut butter, jelly or marshmallows. I went to some very Alaskan parties, mostly openings of local bars. The first and best one was at a barn-transformed-to-bar; an open fireplace in the middle, bear pelts on the walls, a couple hundred people dressed in their Alaskan best (outdoor gear), getting cosy outside by the hobo fires cradling their Alaskan brewed beers, dancing to the great tunes of the local Blue Springs band on wooden planks, under the starry sky with the Alaskan mountain range in the background. My friends and I ended up jumping around endlessly and full enthusiasm to the great music; "Show us some Dutch moves Ing-ge!" and so I taught everybody 'The Holland'! Awesome night, daar kan echt geen Nederlandse bar tegenop! And perhaps the best aspect of living in Denali; all the hiking! I've done a fair amount of hikes in the front country, and now that the snow has melted we slowly start moving in to the back country - into the wild! Last weekend I took the bus out to Toklat, a settlement with park employees (friends) 53 miles 'deep' in the park. We got of the bus somewhere, and I did my very first off-trail hike. There are no trails in the back country, so you create your own path through wet tundra, bushes, gravel and rocks. Definitely something else then hiking the French mountains! But absolutely awesome; we reached the top after a 2,5 hour climb and had a stunning 360 C view of nothing but pure wilderness. Descending was a lot easier, faster and very fun, we literally sled down the steep slopes which were still covered in snow - on our bums! Just like that!  I could keep talking forever, but I've rambled on enough.. I think you all understand how much I'm enjoying myself here - how happy I am! Denali is very quickly becoming a very loved home :)