The pictures below are from a backpacking trip in the western Brooks Range of Alaska. The route travelled from the upper Nigu River to the Ivotuk airstrip. It was entirely within the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska (NPR-A), northwest of the Gates of the Arctic National Park. The Brooks Range is the largest wild area left in the United States, and the NPR-A is the single largest area of the Brooks of contiguous wildness. The trip was run by Arctic Treks, a small family run outfitter in operation over 30 years.

The future of wildness in northern Alaska is threatened in the short term by oil development and in both the short and long terms by global climate change. If you care about this, consider contributing to the Alaska Wilderness League or a similar organization.

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The Cast

Getting There

We flew from Fairbanks to Coldfoot on an air taxi, and then waited much of the day in Coldfoot for our bush flight to the upper Nigu. While we waited, we watched a DC-3 shuttle cargo somewhere. The starboard engine was running a little rich! Our flight was on a de Havilland Beaver:

The Land

More so than anywhere else I've been, an overwhelming sense of wildness pervades the Brooks Range. The experience is continually dominated by views of vast open spaces, empty of other people. While I know that it isn't true, there is often a strong feeling of being in the first group of humans to visit.

Travel


We were in foothill country for most of the trip, between the rugged mountains of Gates of the Arctic National Park and the flatter country making up much of the NPR-A.


		Relatively gentle topography did not free us from the need to travel–sometimes for relatively long period of time–over tussock. This consists of tightly packed clumps of grass, 6" or more high. Trying to walk on top of the clumps risks slipping off and doing damage to an ankle. Trying to walk between the clumps is complicated by the tight packing and the occasional deep hole.

Geology

Geological features along the way included strange uplifts of water ice poking through the tundra

Fauna

Megafauna encountered on the trip included two bears, seen from about three quarters of a mile away (left), bear tracks seen from a bit closer (center), and a large moose seen from the Coldfoot road. Mesofauna included two wolves seen from the air as we were about to land (no pictures). The most prominent microfauna were mosquitoes (right, seen trying to get into my tent), though fortunately there was often enough wind to keep them at bay.




		Lots of birds, both in the air and on the ground. Since there are no trees this far north, birds nest on the ground. The nests are sufficiently hard to see that on several occasions we came close to stepping on them. To the left are chicks that hatched a day or so before the picture was taken.