"frozen desert with few signs of life."
It wasn't frozen when I was there around mid-summer, but it was pretty cool. We drove north of Fairbanks to, I think, Coldfoot. Then by wheeled plane to Bettles, then a long flight northeast by floatplane. Went way up a narrow valley, force back by weather, made it thru another pass about 50 miles east. Landed at Peter's Lake north of the Brooks Range.
The ice had just gone out, and there were still blocks of ice floating around in the lake. Spent 4-5 days wandering around the edge of the mountains, and climbed almost to the top. Heard a common garden-variety robin chirping away 3/4 of the way up. Who knew?
Daylight 24/7. One morning awoke to find a herd of caribou across a creek 150 feet away. A wolverine came bounding along, paused in front of a bull caribou, and sniffed noses with it. Then bounded off.
Walking along the low rocky ridges I saw black areas that looked like oil shale. Caribou, sheep, and mountain goat shit all over the place. Caught grayling, pike, and lake trout. Most sluggish fish I ever saw due to the extremely cold lake water. Flushed about 30 ptarmigan in a little valley. Friends on a different route saw a brown bear.
Had oat cuisine every morning for breakfast. Be nice to go back some time for a longer trip, with a satellite-connected laptop along to stay in touch. |
