In the summer of 2018, I set out to traverse the Alaskan Arctic via the Brooks Range. It was, according to our bush pilot, the coldest and wettest summer weather the Alaskan arctic had seen in 35 years, and things didn’t go exactly as planned. I bailed on the walking part of my route after 11 days due to how high and dangerous the rivers were (although those 11 days in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were incredible- you can read about them below!) and my hiking partner and I skipped ahead to the last part of the route, a 356 mile paddle of the Noatak River in Western Alaska, which was amazing (those daily blog posts are also below).

My other intention this summer in Alaska, besides adventure, was to use my blog posts to raise money for Defend the Sacred AK, a Native-led coalition working to protect Alaska sacred wild lands, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the last fully intact wildernesses left on earth, in particular. As of this writing, we’ve raised $9,150 for this rad org, and my goal is to raise $10k by the end of October. You can check out the fundraiser here, and Defend the Sacred AK’s website is here. Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far, and enjoy the blog posts!

-My full gear list for the Brooks Range
-Brooks Range Traverse 2018: introduction/route details
-Fundraiser for Defend the Sacred AK
-Specific gear and food that is new for the Brooks Range
-Intersectionality and Long Distance Hiking/The wilderness is not an apolitical space
-I’m on the Feminist Killjoys podcast talking about intersectionality and long distance hiking
-Carrot and Bunny’s Christmas Adventure
-How to make a cross country route using caltopo.com
-We start the Brooks range tomorrow

-ANWR day one: Storm
-ANWR day 2: the fourth season
-ANWR day 3: tussock town USA
-ANWR day 4: foot pain and an enchanted rockslide
-ANWR day 5: Kongakut
-ANWR day 6: Stuck on the wrong side of the river
-ANWR day 7: Bunny’s ankle is f*ckd
-ANWR day 8: Sheenjek
-ANWR day 9: and then there was one
-ANWR day 10: The whole world is either a swamp or a raging river
-ANWR day 11: East Chandalar
-Change of plans

-Back to the Arctic
Noatak day 1: why is it always like this
Noatak day 2: systems
Noatak day 3: faster
Noatak day 4: rapids
Noatak day 5: sun
Noatak day 6: jinxed
Noatak day 7: peace
Noatak day 8: Okak
Noatak day 9: full moon
Noatak day 10: Howarth’s cabin
Noatak day 11: Scooting right along
Noatak day 12: fish camp
Noatak day 13: oops wrong channel
Noatak day 14: Noatak village