Hiking the Arctic Refuge

Hi all,Erv here.We just got back from a few days hiking in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge- Not! ANWR as the industry refers to it to depersonalize it. As Sandra’s entry touches on, its beauty is magnificent. Its size is humbling, Its silence is deafening. It’s everything they say, but NOT an easy place to get around in. We covered just a few of the 11 million acres by hiking in from Atigun Gorge across wet spongy tundra covered with tussocks, little mounds of grass about a foot high and spaced so you can’t find a rhythm in walking them. The ones you think are firm, will sink under your feet and soak you, the ones you think are soft are hard as rocks and twist your ankle. Makes for slow, wet travel. Even so, a flyin would have been around $800 so we hiked. Another Alaskan conundrum. If the pipeline wasn’t built, the road would not be there for us to travel on. If the road wasn’t there, we and thousands of others would never know this place in person. But one road and one pipeline is all that should ever be here. Because of our choices of lifestyle, they are necessary scars on the land. If you ever find yourself arguing the point against more drilling, ask if the other person believes in God. If the answer is yes, remind them that this is quite possibly the last place on earth that is as God made it. Keep it that way for your children should they ask what the world was like then.