The Ultima Thule

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

The Aichilik River

July 23rd, 2009

The Aichilik River

Shannon Huffman Polson | July 23, 2009

Rain and sleet pounding on our tent woke us close to noon. It fell for two hours. The lightweight Tarptent held up great; we stayed nestled in our sleeping bag and read and journaled.
After a breakfast of oatmeal, walnuts and raisins, we filtered more water, and headed down the drainage. The steep slopes into the [...]

To the Arctic

Shannon Huffman Polson | July 20, 2009

Someone once said that “a plan is something you deviate from.” And we all know things rarely work out as planned- especially in the wilderness. This Arctic trip was no exception. Our planned route was to land on the Aichilik at the coastal plains and hike south, upriver, to the continental divide, cross it and [...]

Voice blog #2 from the Aichilik River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Peter Polson | July 11, 2009

Click here to listen to the voice blog via satellite phone (online posting delayed due to technical difficulties)

Voice blog #1 from the Aichilik River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Shannon Huffman Polson | July 9, 2009

Click here to listen to the voice blog via satellite phone (online posting delayed due to technical difficulties)

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Shannon Huffman Polson | June 27, 2009

Our first leg of the Ultima Thule is two weeks hiking in the north-east Arctic, beginning in the foothills of the Romanzov Mountains along the Aichilik River and hiking south to the Upper Sheenjek River, designated in 1980 as a Wild River. We hope we might see some of the caribou migration, though it’s always [...]