Arctic Revue Day 10 "Arctic Landscapes"

Here's a view of the Kongakut River near the source in the high Brooks Range.  The mountains tend to be a little higher in the southern part of the range and begin to level out as they approach the Arctic Ocean in the north.

Kongakut River through the Brooks Range

Here's another view downstream as we moved north to the coastal plain.  This picture shows how braided and rocky the Kongakut River is.  I concluded that kongakut must be a word that means "boat-basher," in light of our kayak damage.  But what a place to wreck!

Compare the two pictures above with the one below, which is further north at Caribou Pass.  The peaks are beginning to flatten out.  The spot pictured below is where we ended our river travel.  Because of the damage to our kayak, we contacted the bush pilot by satelite phone (no cell phone service here) and arranged a pick-up at Caribou Pass a location where he could land.  Alas, we did not make it to the Arctic Ocean.



Kongakut River near Caribou Pass

Since we weren't traveling as far north as we planned, we had a couple of extra days at Caribou Pass.  One morning we hiked up the slopes to an expanse composed of rugged tussocks.  Tussocks are called "ankle-twisters," and they make hiking cumbersome.  Each clump of grass and forbs is about 2 feet high.



Arctic Tussocks

Here's a view from about 500' above the river looking straight across at Caribou Pass.  Around us we could see paths trammeled by migrating Caribou taking advantage of breaks in the landscape.  The mountains are separated from the tussocks in the foreground by the river valley spanning about 200 yards.  This is a vast place.

Tussocks overlooking Caribou Pass