Sketches from the Western Arctic
Dan Ritzman | December 10, 2010
Reprinted with permission from Cindy Hunt- Ritzman I’ve always wondered why my husband Dan loves guiding for Arctic Wild. Every year since I’ve known him, he usually disappears for a few weeks in Alaska, returning sunburned, disheveled, yet also happy and more ‘centered’. This year I had the opportunity to travel with him, on a trip [...]
Wolverine on the Utokok
Josh Ferris | May 15, 2010
Lying in northwestern Alaska, the Utukok River twists 200 miles through sharply folded green hills with rocky ridges that stretched east and west in long rows – Archimedes Ridge, Meat Mountain, Eskimo Hill. Once you’re on a ridge the hiking is easy. One night I turned from Richard and Sharon, saying I would take another [...]
Utukok River
RKahn | April 9, 2010
What are the elements off a perfect day? Here, in this place, this day played out in a perfect way…I woke up to hot sunlight streaming through he tent…The heat was a heavy weight pressing me down, the effort to move, to leave the tent required all the energy I could muster. I stepped out [...]
Leaving the land of light
Shannon Huffman Polson | August 17, 2009
After the haze from faraway forest fires had cleared, we would often sit speechless watching the low light from the midnight Arctic sun paint the gentle hills and mountains around us. The light is perhaps one of the biggest gifts of the Arctic, one of the spectacles of this part of the world less noted [...]
The Final Stretch: Our Last Days in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Shannon Huffman Polson | July 24, 2009
To make it to the airstrip, we had to reford the Aichilik- though this time below the confluence with the Leffingwell Fork with higher water. We planned to make it to the landing strip a day early. My digestive track was upset- to say the least- so we determined if we arrived a day early [...]
The Leffingwell Fork
Shannon Huffman Polson | July 24, 2009
The first order of business the next morning- morning relating only to the time we had breakfast and started moving, not hours on the clock- was to ford the Aichilik. From there we would ascend the saddle crossing over the range to the Leffingwell Fork. Though we had been hiking on the Aichilik for the [...]
Crossing an Arctic mountain range
Shannon Huffman Polson | July 23, 2009
In the middle of a deep sleep I woke suddenly to a grunting and snorting. We chose our Tarptent in part for weight and in part because we can see out through the mesh around the bottom. Peter was in between me and the grunting- I shook his shoulder. He was sound asleep. “Peter!” I [...]
Gear for the Ultima Thule
Shannon and Peter | June 24, 2009
We have modified this list a bit to make it specific to the Arctic shotgun with shot and slugs bear fence Ursack or other bear-proof container bear spray mosquito head nets SAT phone (Iridium 9555) maps overview map of area compass GPS and extra batteries sunglasses sun screen first-aid kit knife matches water bottles iodine/filter nuun [...]
Cruising north from Ketchikan, Alaska to Haines via Juneau
Shannon and Peter | June 15, 2009
We left Ketchikan after a couple mile run- I’m not sure if Teton or I enjoyed it more, and lunch with Peter at the New York Café. I had the recommended curry carrot soup and a salad, which leapt with flavor especially in contrast to our ferry food; Peter’s roast beef and grilled cheese sandwich- [...]