![]() The Brooks Range is the northernmost major mountain range on earth and has retained its integrity in ways that few places have. ![]() Only the highest peaks are labeled, and then solely by elevation. Over the last 139 days, we have traversed nearly three thousand miles, most recently through places so lightly traveled our topographic maps have little to say about them. I push away the voice in my head that echoes a single question. The only sound is the steady rush of moving water. I grip the straps of my pack, my fingers raw from the chill, and lean against Pat as we look down at the river that flows in a wide channel sixty feet below us. ![]() The temperature hovers just above freezing and the air is damp after a night of rain. The sky is a depthless sort of overcast, no definition in the clouds, no glimmer of sunshine. We're alone, as we have been for most of the past five months. I'm standing on the bank of the swift Chandalar River in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska, trying to gather the courage to swim across. ![]()
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