Brooks Range

Gear List



July 1st, 2020

Flew into Fairbanks on June 30th and bought bear spray at Fred Meyer. I had booked a flight to Arctic Village for $180 but since Arctic Village had recently had its first 2 cases of Corona, the Tribal Council has stopped non-residents from traveling to the village. Conveniently, I found this out literally at the last minute as the plane was about to board. I ended up having to get a charter flight to Spring Creek (a bit NW of Arctic Village) for $2200. The flight was incredible and really put into perspective how deep in the wilderness I was going to be. The only signs of people I saw on the flight was a small cabin on the Yukon River and Arctic Village. I got dropped off at the tiny, barely noticeable air strip that sits near the end of Spring Creek. It rained for most of the day. I stopped early to catch up on sleep and get out of the rain.

July 2nd, 2020

Next to my camp is a very old man made stone structure. I assume it is the remains of an old hunting camp. Travel up to this point has been very easy. I’ve been seeing tons of interesting song birds and shore birds, especially buffleheads, gulls, different sandpipers, and semipalmated plovers. The caribou trails were excellent at a few points today. They cut deep into the scree slopes. I set up camp after it started to rain in the afternoon. I’ve been on high alert for grizzly bears.

July 4th, 2020

Today was super scenic but absolutely brutal, painfully slow, and long. In the morning, I went through a long series of narrow canyons that closely resemble the canyons of the Southwest in a strange way, excluding the ice of course. As I got up really high, I stopped being able to follow my map and ended up just wandering west. I went through a bunch of high passes and saw some stunningly beautiful country. There was tons of sheep sign up there and also tons of birds, even at the highest elevations. I mostly saw what I think were pipits, snow buntings, semipalmated plovers, and sanderlings. The areas that were flat-ish were very wet and spongy. As I descended, the terrain got harder and harder to traverse. I became both blocked and mesmerized by gigantic waterfalls, steep cliffs, ice, and lots of scree. Lots of scree. There were many times where I had to climb 1000+ feet up and down steep scree slopes to avoid obstacles. Sun the whole day.

July 5th, 2020

I started to learn from yesterdays mistakes and got a bit better with route planning. I’ve learned that it’s important to stick to travel on rivers and streams that have large valleys, that are high elevation, and are relatively flat. There were a few long stretches with some brutal tussocks today. For another long stretch I traveled down a stream that was filled with huge boulders and choked up with willows. Still, today was way easier compared to yesterday. Like everyday so far, I saw a ton of birds but no large animals. The willows reduced my visibility for most of the day so I was constantly talking loudly so I didn’t spook up a bear. There was a ton of bear, fox, wolf, moose, sheep, and caribou sign. Sun the whole day.

July 6th, 2020

Going up the pass was very easy compared to the 7/4 passes. Lots of snow and ice and tracks up there. Going down was a breeze as there was lots of flat, firm tundra to walk on. A falcon was hunting at the pass. Most of the Ribdon River Valley was pretty easy to travel through. There were only a few tough spots. I saw a muskox and a caribou. Except for the very beginning, the whole Ribdon River was dry. At one point, I had to go up into the mountains to find some water. I ended up just setting up camp at the water source. Like always, tons of birds today. My favorites were the black bellied plovers and some terns w grey body, white neck, black cap and beak that I couldn’t ID.

July 7th, 2020

As I was walking through some shrubs this morning and unintentionally spooked up a small but very bulky grizzly bear right in front of me. It didn’t run far and it didn’t look like it was bothered, intrigued, or interested at all by my presence. It was pretty weird. Travel up the Ribdon and the creek wasn’t too bad but there was a lot of spots with tussocks, willows, and wet ground that slowed me down. I saw a bunch of mergansers and ducks today. I was supposed to have a hiking partner come for the Anaktuvuk to Ambler section but I found out today that his flight got canceled because of covid. I’ve decided to end this trip at the Haul Road. I really shouldn’t be going through any villages now to resupply. I’m real disappointed because I’ve been planning this trip for years but there’s really nothing I can do. I was feeling good this evening despite my realization that the trip would need to be cut short. The river that I traveled up in the evening was crazy full which was strange to see since I just came from such a dry area. Dense willows and tussock made travel difficult.

July 8th, 2020

The midnight sun was especially beautiful this moring. I stopped to sleep at 2 AM. I’ve been trying to hike more at “night” because the mid day sun had been surprisingly draining the past few days, especially in the low elevations. Today was difficult. Lots of tussocks, willows, soggy marshes, bluffs, etc.

July 9th, 2020

The terrain started to get easier as I got up into higher country this afternoon. I passed some beautiful lakes and got to walking on a few long sections of flat tundra. As the terrain finally started to improve, my mood definitely did too. Today was a great day. Passed through lots of big glaciers today. Most of them receded quite a bit from where they were on the map. I wish I knew how old my map is. I also passed through some incredible shimmering shale mountains today.

July 10th, 2020

Today I slowly ascended quite a ways up to a “pass” but was disappointed to find it was impassable. A vertical, ice covered cliff blocked me. I climbed up to a nearby saddle on the ridge that I was trying to get over to try and get a better vantage point on the topography. No luck, I was cliffed out. Thick fog rolled in so I set up camp on a protected moraine. It got real cold, snowed for a few hours then rained through the “night”. 

July 11th, 2020

The mountains across from the valley received a thick coat of snow last night. I made my way back down to the river and started going downstream. At one point I caught a small arctic char by hand in a shallow braid of the river and ate it raw. It was pretty good. It had been very windy the whole day.

July 12th, 2020

For Brooks Range standards, it rained pretty heavy in the early morning. It then continued to rain on and off the rest of the day. Today, I made my way up another drainage to another "pass". I couldn't actually see it until I got high up to the base of the pass because a dense fog. Again, I was disappointed to find the "pass" to be impassable. It was straight vertical to the top. If it wasn't raining, I would've made the climb but in the rain it would be too risky. At this point, I would have to hike north up to the plain then west to the Haul Road. I saw a few Arctic ground squirrels and a grizzly bear by the river. Lots of tussocks today but overall, travel could've been a lot worse.

July 13th, 2020

I waited out a bunch of heavy rain in the morning. When the rain stopped and the sky cleared, I washed my clothes and myself in a clear pond. I started hiking again and the rain picked back up. It eventually got too heavy and I had to set up my tent to wait it out for a few hours. In the evening, the rain went away but the bugs got really bad. It was hard to find a spot to ford the Sagavanirktok but luckily I didn't need to swim and only had to go through belly button deep water. Travel was kinda rough today. Very spongy, very hilly, and lots of tussocks. I set up camp in the evening and turned on my phone to look at the map. The thing broke and went to a screen that made me factory reset it. I think I'm 5 miles away from the Haul Road. Lots of mosquitoes today.

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