“There are strange things done in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold…” So starts the first verse of Robert Service’s classic poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. There is a great story woven into the rhyme…
Poetry and the River
Absurdity
5:30am on an Arctic morning and I was barefoot, standing in three inches of wet snow, wearing just my boxer shorts and holding a 12-gauge shotgun in my hand. That was the moment I realized the absurdity of what I…
The Chilkoot Trail
In 1896 a fellow by the name of George Carmacks and his companions discovered gold in the headwaters of what was then known as Rabbit Creek, a tributary to the Klondike in the Yukon territory. Their discovery caused and uproar…
The Names of Mountains
An unnamed tributary to the upper Sheenjek River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. In the Rockies of Colorado, where I spent a lot of time during my formative years, one of the things I loved (still do actually)…
Thinking South
A couple of months from now, I’ll be stepping on a plane and heading to Chile. At the port city of Valparaiso, I’ll be boarding the Silver Explorer, an expedition cruise ship operated by SilverSea Expeditions. From mid-March to mid-April,…
Atop an Arctic Ridge
When I first saw the Kokolik River from the approaching bush plane, I was disappointed. The undramatic river flows quickly out of the Brooks Range and does not become large enough to float a canoe until it is well away…
Wild Places: Storm over the Kokolik River, Alaska
Today I launch a series of posts reliving my summer’s travels. Since I was woefully absent here throughout the summer, I’m now given the opportunity to make up for it. Starting right here on the Kokolik River. The Kokolik is…
Birds of Isla Taquile
As I noted a post or two ago, I’ve been spending a lot of time sorting, editing, and keywording some older images. The whole process, while at times tedious, has been to relive some very good memories. One of those…