The Ultima Thule

Journeys in America’s Northernmost Lands: a web anthology of the Alaskan Arctic

Journeys in the Alaskan Arctic

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

2010 was the 50th Anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and yet the Coastal Plains- the 1.5 million acres referred to as 1002 (ten-oh-two) which are the canvas for the annual migration of millions of birds and a hundred thousand caribou- are still not protected.  Journey to this wild space through the stories and images shared below.

Angels in the Mist, by Jeff Fair.   Reprinted with permission from Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Wilderness or Wasteland? Blogs from Amy Gulick

Inside the Endangered Arctic Refuge, by Peter Matthiessen

Ground Truthing, by Terry Tempest Williams

The Miracle of Migration:

blog entries, voice blogs, photos and video of backpacking from the Jago River to the Aichilik River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Porcupine Caribou Migration June/July 2009, Shannon and Peter Polson

The Western Arctic

To the west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lies the largest block of public lands in the country, the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska.  The most remote place in the nation is in this block of wilderness. Though replete with natural wonders, including the largest raptor population in the world,  this land remains completely unprotected and largely unknown.  Experience a piece of it through the adventures below.

An Encounter, by Shannon Huffman Polson

Bound for Tomorrow, by Jeff Fair

The Cry of the Loon, by Jeff Fair

On the Edge of Ice, by Monica Devine

Flower of the Fringe, by Seth Kantner and Bob Uhl

The Other Arctic, by Jeff Fair

In early June 2008, Richard Kahn and his wife Sharon Blackburn, along with a friend, Josh Ferris, were dropped at the headwaters of the Utukok River. Our trip was funded in part by the Alaska Wilderness League for the purpose of collecting video footage of the NPR-A (the AWL produced the video “Refuge” from this material). Richard, Sharon, and Josh spent a month paddling on the Utukok.   Josh and Richard spent the next six weeks paddling to the village of Nuiqsut.

The Colville River-I

The Colville River-II

The Colville River-III

The Pik Dunes

The Utokok River

Alaskan author Debbie Miller canoes the Nigu River to the Etivluk and finally the Colville in the summer of 2009.  A few of her photos can be enjoyed here.

At age 50, nature writer and wilderness advocate Bill Sherwonit went on the longest backpack of his life: fifty miles in two weeks, across mostly untrailed wilderness in America’s remotest and arguably wildest parkland, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Traveling alone, he explored parts of the Central Brooks Range first made famous by Robert Marshall’s Alaska Wilderness. America’s “ultimate mountains” are also where Sherwonit first got his taste of Alaska’s wilderness, while working as a geologist in the mid-1970s; in a very real way, the Brooks Range transformed his life.

The following excerpt is taken from Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness (published in fall 2009 by the University of Alaska Press), which describes Sherwonit’s solo trek and also moves across space and time while reflecting upon his days as a geologist, his Connecticut roots, the importance of wilderness to humans as a life-affirming, life-changing, and life-enriching presence, and, just as importantly, the inherent value of wild nature, in and of itself.

Wilderness Music, excerpted from Changing Paths by Bill Sherwonit

Wolves in the Western Arctic: blog entries, SAT phone voice blogs and photos from a failed attempt to kayak and then basecamp toward the headwaters of the Nigu River between the Gates of the Arctic National Park and the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, Shannon and Peter Polson July/August 2009

Alaska

Alaska

Interested in supporting preservation of these special places? Please consider a donation to the Alaska Wilderness League- become a member, and get involved! AWL is YOUR voice for Alaska in Washington!

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