Flying beyond the Arctic Circle

Alaska

We started our aerial expeditions heading north beyond the Arctic Circle. Coming from Fairbanks I met my pilots in Coldfoot, and we flew west towards the National Petroleum Reserve. It is a vast landscape of open valleys, soon turning into treeless tundra. Only willow bushes remain. Beneath us I see the trails that caribous have carved into the ground over decades and centuries. On the riverbeds, we also see the tracks of grizzly bears and wolves.

On the gravel bars of the Nigu, we find a spot to set down the bush planes. It is a wonderful Arctic night on the Nigu River. The sun never sets, but colors the mountaintops at the edge of the valley.