Posts by Andrew Skurka

Ruby, Alaska To travel between Kotzebue and the Alaska Range, I’m using snowmachine trails, which are hands-down the most practical way to get around terrain that is either swampy and buggy or covered in snow and ice. The snowmachine trails “connect the dots” of bush villages in rural Alaska. These villages are not connected to…

Ruby, AK I’m almost three weeks into this trip, and today I feel much more hardened than I did when I landed pre-dawn in Kotzebue 500 miles ago. The process of morphing from just an aspiring adventurer into a lean, mean adventuring machine has three components: physical, mechanical, and mental. Physical The body must become…

Unalakleet, AK Tomorrow morning I head inland via a historic portage route between the Bering Sea (the Unalakleet side) and the Yukon River (at the village of Kaltag). This is a transitional point in the route—moving from the coast to the interior—and a good opportunity for me to wrap up the last 280 miles. My…

Koyuk, AK A few hours out of Buckland things felt like they were really coming together. It was calm, sunny, and in the high-10’s—ideal Nordic skiing temps. My kick-and-glide rhythm felt expert-like compared to when I skied out of Kotzebue 100 miles earlier. For the first time on this trip, my mind began to drift,…

Kotzebue, AK The contents of my pack are almost entirely need based. During this trip, my legitimate needs will include staying hydrated and nourished, keeping my body temperature regulated, and traveling efficiently and safely over the land–snow-covered tundra, glacier-fed rivers, and dense alder forests. I can think of only one item, my camera, which can…