Wolverine on the Utokok
Wolverine on the Utokok, by Josh Ferris
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 route down and see them soon in camp, but instead of returning to camp, I decided to climb to the top of a nearby knoll for the view. That knoll lead to a slightly higher knoll beyond, and then another. I knew that I might never reach the summit, so I hiked faster and faster, trying to make the final peak that I felt was close. But a moose cow and calf appeared in a ravine and scrambled to the top of the final knoll. The cow and calf stood there framed in silhouette against the sun. The cow approached the brow of a hillside and gauged the route of their escape. The land fell sharply away in a steep decline. I didn’t have the heart to push them on – they had come up here to take refuge from the mosquitoes that formed relentless clouds everywhere but on the windy hilltops. I reluctantly turned back. But with my goal abandoned, I turned to see that the low tundra and rocks were glowing in russet light. Every blade of grass and flower stood out from deepening shadow. I ran back down the hill feeling foolish and full of life, everything beat at once, and the world glowed. Two figures emerged over the brow of a hill calling my name. Long past midnight Richard and I sat talking in the cook tent, long enough to watch a wolverine scramble along the far bank in a roiling mass of fur and muscle, piss on a stump and hunt on again.
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