Instructor Amy Sheldon and students Lindsay Gibson and Justin Harkins link up to cross a cold, glacially-fed stream.
Photo: Chris Bessonette
The Brooks Range is one of the wildest mountain ranges in North America.
Stretched across the tundra north of the Arctic Circle, this Land of the Midnight Sun is defined by big open river bottoms, steep mountain slopes, and expansive tundra.
After flying into the area with an experienced Alaskan bush pilot, you’ll spend the first 10 days of this extended Arctic expedition on foot, moving across the tundra and up braided river channels.
Then you’ll swap boots and backpacks for folding canoes and touring kayaks for a three-week river trip in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or Gates of the Arctic National Park, one of North America’s largest mountain-ringed river basins.
The mountains are spectacular and rugged and the rivers flow through wilderness for hundreds of miles. It’s possible to see Dall sheep, moose, caribou, wolves, black and grizzly bears, and lynx as you travel.
Brooks Range students get
an up-close look at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, center
stage in the environmental battle over U.S. energy policy.
Photo: Andy Rich
