August 4, 2023

~10 miles hiked 

It’s town day! Town day! The energy is decidedly excellent this morning even if the packing up of wet sandy tents is not. It feels exactly like a short nero into town along a long-distance trail. 

We follow the gravel in the river until we spot the ATV track and take that. It’s boggy for a bit, but then it goes uphill out of the riverbed and onto a plateau that would have made amazing camping. The ground is what we’ve been calling “crispy bits”—a sort of crunchy light green lichen punctuated by smooth rocks. It’s very nice walking. 

The track is wet again for a while as it dips into little depressions with lakes and ponds that reflect the blue sky. Then it climbs away from the lakes and onto a larger plateau and from there, for a long while, it is hard-packed gravel as far as the eye can see. 

“This has CDT vibes,” Carrot says of the road. “Just a long Jeep road. And you can look in the distance and see the actual good mountains that look interesting.” Carrot is not the biggest fan of the CDT. “But it’s hard to route through mountains. It’s complicated. So they just have so many Jeep roads.”

The sky is a searing blue. No trace of clouds or bad weather anywhere today. We’re in a massive river valley with towering mountains right up to the west of us and farther away on the east, on the far side of the meandering river. All four of us walk together on the road for the longest time. We are charging. Dr. Pepper! Pizza! A taco bowl! What awaits us at the store in town?

Unfortunately, as is the way of things, the nice road ends. At first we can still follow the muddy track, then that totally goes away and we’re left stranded in the bog. Oh my bog. Carrot proposes that we head straight up to our left to the base of the mountains to find the crispy bits. She and Gahl head right up on a crispy-looking light green lichen runway, but Chelsea and I, not wanting to backtrack, take the uphill at an angle.

Unfortunately, that angle is bog. All bog. So much uphill sucking bog. What even are tussocks? Are they all the same plant? Why do they grow like that? How was it more advantageous for them to evolve into terrible hairy basketballs instead of spreading out? These are some of the questions I resolve to Google when I return to civilization. 

I’m behind Chelsea now, so I put on some Gizz and settle in. I accept the fact that this sucking bog will go on for a very long time. It’s actually really hot today with the sun, and because it’s the Brooks Range there is no shade, so it’s rather a struggle to get up this muddy, tussocky hill. But if there’s anything this trip has reminded me, it’s that nothing lasts forever. Talus? It ends. One does not get hypothermia and in fact survives. Bog? It sucks in the moment, literally, but you will reach the crispies if you keep on moving.

When I finally reach said crispies, Carrot and Gahl have caught up to Chelsea. We take a luxuriant break where I lounge and eat peanut butter and we all talk about books. Carrot is listening to The Goldfinch on audiobook right now, and that’s one of my favorite books. We talk about writing novels and how some people like to have a firm control on their characters while others sort of take a backseat and see where the story goes. Carrot has just sent her manuscript of her novel to her agent, so she’s thinking about plot, and what serves the main story and what doesn’t. I get so sucked into the conversation that for a minute I forget all about the bog and the four-and-change miles we still have to town. 

Walking again, this time all together. We follow the crispies down as far as we can and then hit another bog. Crispies, bog, crispies, bog. We can see Anaktuvuk Pass in the distance and it looks so close. The sun is beating down. Ultraprocessed high-calorie food is calling. Chelsea takes one step and sinks to her thigh in the bog. We all start wilting a little. And then finally, the bog turns into a wet muddy road, and then a dry dirt road, and then gravel, and then we are in the little town. Cars! Buildings! Power lines! Other people! 

We make a beeline for the Nunamiut Store, which is both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. It’s bigger than I expected in terms of size, but once I start looking at what they have and how much at costs, it becomes a little shocking. Earlier today Carrot was talking about how some people she met when she was in Portugal earlier this year were always going on about how Americans were so fat—without realizing how many food deserts there are here and how the poorest areas have the least access to quality, healthy food and as a result have a heavier population. Everything in this store is processed, with the exception of one box of tomatoes. Many things are expired. And everything is expensive because of how remote this village is and the fact that everything they need has to be flown in on planes. That combination probably doesn’t lead to the best health. 

We do buy an armful of food each, though, and pick up some cardboard for a fire on the way. Carrot knows of a campsite down by the river, so they lead us there and we set up camp among the willows. We gorge ourselves on Fritos, bean dip, salsa, and cheese, followed by various cereals. All of us overdo it just a smidge and feel pretty terrible afterwards. But it was fun while it lasted.

We all take little baths in the river and do some laundry. I lie in my tent for a while digesting and later sit by the water, enjoying the mountains, the peaceful evening, and the knowledge that I do not have to set an alarm tomorrow.