Paddle Mountain

Despite having lived in Arctic Village, my jaunts into the countryside have been limited.  Being overwhelmed as a first year teacher, I restricted travel to only a couple hours, usually just taking short hikes or ski excursions in close proximity to the school.  So Saturday when I was invited to climb one of the nearby peaks I jumped at the opportunity.

For the last two months three photographers from New York have been working in Arctic Village.  They came from a college on a grant to study, record, and capture the story of the Gwich'in people.  Through video interviews and photographs this professor and two students hopes to capture the essence of what its like to live North of the Arctic Circle.  As the professor briefly explained to me, its part of a life long project he's called "Polar Souls".  He's fascinated by communities living in such remote, sometimes inhospitable locations in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Sunday morning we shoved off the shore of the Chandalar River in two inflatible kayaks.   Our group of four paddled about 1.25 miles downriver.  We began our hike on the far shore.  The first and last three miles of the hike would become some of the hardest hiking I've ever done.  Forget steep inclines or hiking at elevation, crossing tundra tussocks was exhausting.   Totally draining the energy out of every muscle as you not only use legs, but core strength to balance on these floating islands of grass.  It was like walking on marbles.  And forget stepping inbetween the grass domes, some gaps were shallow, while others caused you to sink knee deep in freezing water or muck.

Our climb began on the slopes of Paddle Mountain.  We navigated towards a narrow ridge, eventually rising above scrub line and flanking around the main scree covered slopes of the massive mountain just west of Arctic Village.  Topping out at 4750ft, the vista provided new views North and West deep into the foot hills and larger peaks of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

We arrived back to the school boat ramp almost 12 hours after we had left.  The total hike covered 9.5 miles, and the total paddle was 2.5 miles.  Linda, our school Special Education greeted us with warm stew (thanks Linda)!

After an amazing day in the wilderness, we were blessed with a spectacular sunset.