“There are strange things done in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold…” So starts the first verse of Robert Service’s classic poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. There is a great story woven into the rhyme…
Poetry and the River
Absurdity
5:30am on an Arctic morning and I was barefoot, standing in three inches of wet snow, wearing just my boxer shorts and holding a 12-gauge shotgun in my hand. That was the moment I realized the absurdity of what I…
The Chilkoot Trail
In 1896 a fellow by the name of George Carmacks and his companions discovered gold in the headwaters of what was then known as Rabbit Creek, a tributary to the Klondike in the Yukon territory. Their discovery caused and uproar…
Over the Noatak
Canon 5D iii, Canon 24-105 f4L IS, ISO 400, f8.0, 105mm, 1/640th sec, handheld. This August, for the third year in a row, I guided a canoe trip down the Noatak River in Gates of the Arctic National Park for Arctic…
Atop an Arctic Ridge
When I first saw the Kokolik River from the approaching bush plane, I was disappointed. The undramatic river flows quickly out of the Brooks Range and does not become large enough to float a canoe until it is well away…
Wild Places: Storm over the Kokolik River, Alaska
Today I launch a series of posts reliving my summer’s travels. Since I was woefully absent here throughout the summer, I’m now given the opportunity to make up for it. Starting right here on the Kokolik River. The Kokolik is…