Alaska Author of Nature Books
400 Mile Canoe Trip Across the Arctic, June 2009
Our journey started near the headwaters of the Nigu River on the western boundary of Gates of the Arctic National Park. This is where I began a 400-mile canoe trip that would take me from the crest of the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean. Our route followed the Nigu, Etivluk and Colville rivers, all located within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA), managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
We hiked to Etivlik Lake, an important historic site where indigenous people lived more than 3,000 years ago.
We saw bands of caribou that were swallowed by the vastness of the land.
During the first leg of our journey, we canoed more than 100 miles down the Nigu and Etivluk rivers,
major tributaries of the Colville River. Caribou trails flowed into our campsite in the midnight sun.
Our views along the Etivluk River were dramatic and far reaching. This is a spectacular wilderness area.
We constantly heard the varied voices of nesting birds, such as the gray-cheeked thrush and the semi-palmated plover.
Canadian geese were abundant, and we occasionally saw their nests.
The dryas and lupine were in full bloom above the Colville River.
The gravel and mud bars were laced with the tracks of bears, wolves, caribou, and moose, along with countless geese and shorebirds.
We discovered many marine fossils, such as this ammonite.
To learn more about how you can help protect the Colville River watershed and other special areas within the western Arctic region, visit the Alaska Wilderness League (AWL) at www.alaskawild.org. Their mission is to protect Alaska's extraordinary wilderness.
Many thanks to the Campion Foundation, and to Mountaineers Books in partnership with Braided Rivers publications, for their vision and sponsorship of a future book that will document the wilderness and wildlife values of the western Arctic region through photography and words. This incredible trip marks the launch of this book project.
It's
in Fairbanks, Alaska