Photographically, I’ll take a stormy day like this over a bluebird day anytime. As a wilderness guide? Maybe not.

My first wilderness trip of the summer guiding season for Arctic Wild was a river I’d paddled once previously. It’s not a river that gets a lot of traffic, and yet it may be the finest canoe trip in the state. And I don’t say that lightly; we have a lot of great canoe trips here in Alaska.

It’s so good, I’m almost hesitant to mention it by name… but I’m going to anyway. (Just think of this is as whisper in your ear): It’s the Kokolik River. Various hilarious pronunciations aside, the Kokolik is amazing. It’s a north-flowing river that starts in a series of creeks in the western Brooks Range before consolidating north of the mountains. Unlike the usual rivers I run, this one never really flows through big mountains. Rather, it cuts through a strange series of ridges known as the Utukok Uplands.

The Utukok Uplands are extremely significant ecologically, are important breeding areas for dozens of species of birds including Gyrfalcons, Peregrine Falcons, and Bristle-thighed Curlews, and is a vital migration corridor for the Western Arctic Caribou herd which currently numbers about 300,000 animals.

But at first glance, the uplands are not dramatic. The ridges run east to west across the landscape, and the river cuts through south to north. From the Kokolik, they rise in gentle ramps a couple of thousand feet. If you make the climb to top of some of the taller ones, you’ll experience a view you will not soon forget. And that is actually one of the highlights of the trip. The hiking is AMAZING. The arctic is generally not a friendly place to hike. It’s wet, and enormous fields of tussocks stretch for miles. But here, gravel ramps, covered in low, friendly tundra climb gently up to the highest points. You can walk for miles, dozens of miles, without getting your feet wet or touching a tussock.

Then there is the river itself. It’s water made for canoes. Swift riffles and a few easy rapids keep things interesting without ever creating much of a danger. As it winds north it cuts through the ridges of the Utukok Uplands alternately closing and opening sweeping views of the landscape.

In June, when Arctic Wild runs the river, the bulk of the Western Arctic Herd is migrating through and frequently we encounter tens of thousands of animals. And that is exactly what happened this year. Rarely were we out of sight of caribou for the 12 day trip, and during a few hikes, my clients and I were utterly surrounded by animals as they swirled around us.

Photographically, I love the Kokolik. Of course it’s a wildlife bonanza, but I’m just as excited by the stark arctic landscape. When hiking away from the river, or paddling along through the vast open spaces between ridges, you are forced to think at every moment “I am definitely in the Arctic”. Some places you can forget where you are, but not on the Kokolik. If the landscape doesn’t remind you, an icy upstream wind will.

Here are some images from this year’s journey. If you are interested in floating the Kokolik, or exploring elsewhere in Arctic Alaska, contact me and Arctic Wild and I can help you come up with an unforgettable journey.

As usual, the flight into the river from Kotzebue was knock-your-socks-off amazing.
The furthest south ridge of the Utukok Uplands rises from the Kokolik.
It would have taken a 100 shots like this to capture every caribou we could see.
Marmot!
Like I said, rarely were we out of sight of Caribou.
Looking south.
The newly born calves were in abundance as the caribou migrated away from their calving grounds on the north slope.
Camouflage. A fledgling Horned Lark does not need cover to stay hidden.
Running with the storm. Caribou!
Drone shot of our campo on a gravel bar on the north side of the Utukok Uplands.
Alaska Arctic boating Canoeing Kokolik River Paddling Travel Trips Wilderness