The Route

About the Route

Beginning on Alaska's western coast (Chukchi Sea), the Arctic 1000 Expedition will leave Point Hope on June 11, 2006 and begin walking east, towards the "Haul Road" and the village of Wiseman, Alaska, more than 600 miles away.

Section 1: Point Hope to North Slope Ridges

Heavy packs, unpredictable terrain (including snow, tussocks, and swift rivers), and the need for physiological acclimitization will demand a slow, but necessarily purposeful pace.

• Distance: ~ 150 miles
• Time: ~ 7 days
• Type of terrain: peninsula beaches, tundra, river delta, and river valleys
• Average distance traveled per day: ~20-22 miles
• Average elevation gain per day: ~1,200 feet
• Average pack weight per person: ~37 to 50 lbs

Section 2: North Slope Ridges

As packs get lighter, mileage and elevation gain increase dramatically as the party connects some of the longest and most topographically spectacular ridgelines found anywhere in the U.S., interspersed with some of the worst tussocks in the North. This section includes the hardest expected day of the first half of the trek (33 miles, 6400 feet of elevation gain with 30-pound packs), a crossing of the mighty Colville River, and an exact traverse of the remotest spot in America (to be verified by GPS), which lies 120 miles from the three nearest habitations.

• Distance: ~ 220 miles
• Time: ~ 7 days
• Type of terrain: mountain ridges, large river crossings, tundra, tussocks
• Average distance traveled per day: ~29-33 miles
• Average elevation gain per day: ~2,700 feet
• Average pack weight per person: ~22 to 35 lbs

Section 3: Central Brooks Range

With mileage increasing to more than 40 miles per day, this section contains the five hardest days of the trek - all of them consecutive - through the rugged Central Brooks Range. This section includes perhaps the most difficult day of the journey - 47 miles of cross-country mountain travel with 4,700 feet of elevation gain.

• Distance: ~220 miles
• Time: ~ 5 days
• Type of terrain: mountain passes, ridges, creekways
• Average distance traveled per day: ~41-47 miles
• Average elevation gain per day: ~4,900 feet
• Average pack weight per person: ~11 to 20 lbs

Section 4 - Option 1: Hammond River Exit

This day deserves its own section, since it's the only day with sustained downhill travel. It promises to be a welcome reprieve from the previous five days, but with no apologies made for mileage.

• Distance: ~40 miles
• Time: ~1 days
• Type of terrain: down a river valley
• Average distance traveled per day: ~40 miles
• Average elevation gain per day: ~0 feet
• Starting per person pack weight in this section: ~7-9 lbs

Section 4 - Option 2: Tinayguk River Exit

• Option 2 will be considered as another alternative from Anaktuvuk Pass to Wiseman, depending on available remaining body fat and feet condition.
• Pick up packrafts at Anaktuvuk Pass, walk from Anaktuvuk Pass to the Tinayguk, packraft down to the Koyukuk, and trek into Wiseman.

Total: Point Hope to Wiseman

• Distance: ~620 miles
• Total elevation gain: ~51,500 feet
• # Roads Accessed: 0
• # Trails Used: 0
• # Resupplies: 0
• # of meals hunted, foraged, or fished: 0
• Amount of gear, food, and supplies carried on back for entire trek: 100%

View the Map Here

Comments

[tom]

These distances would be ambitious on developed trails, which I assume would not exist in such remote terrain.

Did you factor in the extra difficulty of bushwacking vs. hiking on trails?

[roman dial]

Hopefully, there'll be very little brush per se, as that can be really slow. The route by and large is pretty straightforward so there need be very little stopping and parsing out the terrain for the next move.

Jason and I (and others) have made this sort of mileage before, just not for weeks in a row. My personal record was 200 miles in under 6 days, starting with a 35 pound pack. Of that 150 miles was off-trail -- we did the 50 miles of trail the first day.

Yes, it is very ambitious, the most ambitious walk I have personally attempted in three decades of walking Alaskan wilderness; however, we have picked the best terrain in the wildest place, and hope it goes well.

We'll need luck, persistence, good gear, and all the positive thoughts we can muster from ourselves, our family, our friends -- and you, if you're willing!

[tom]

It's hard for me to know what to make of this adventure because on the surface it look very much like something I'm familiar with -- hiking and camping out -- and yet it's so far outside the universe of anything I would ever attempt. You're in the daredevil realm of flying jet fighters or tightrope walking over the Grand Canyon. Thing is, successful fighter pilots and highwire performers know what they're doing, which greatly decreases the risk.

You guys'll be fine; it's not like you're rookies at this stuff.

[Jen]

Good Luck out there!! This is very exciting!! How did you guys determine this route? Were there alternative routes that would essentially place you in the same final destination? Was this something that was a dream of all of yours? What was the "moment" that took place when all of you decided that you were going to do this? I traveled to Ambler, AK about five years ago and stayed for a bit and I'm thrilled that true spirit of remote exploration lives on in all of you!