Teshekpuk Lake

July 5: We just flew in from Coldfoot, Alaska where it was 80 degrees and sunny. On the Kealok Creek it’s sunny, but windy with a high of 65. As I got off the plane, I was filled with memories of previous expeditions out on the Arctic slopes. Each of the adventures was unique in their own way and the memories were fond ones. This trip will be a little bit different not only because we’re going to a completely new area of Alaska, but we’re also paddling a creek (which means a lot less water/no white water). It empties into a beautiful lake called Teshekpuk Lake. As we got off the airplane, I got overly excited because there was not a mosquito in sight, boy was I wrong! Once the wind died down, the mosquitoes emerged in heavy masses and were eager to take our blood.
They swarmed around us as if they were little black flies hovering over a dead carcass. When we were in Fairbanks on our way into Coldfoot we met a group that had just come off the Canning River and had informed us that the mosquitoes were worse than they had been in 20 years. Uh oh, this meant that they were extra bad, but hopefully there will be a nice steady breeze for most of the trip, thus keeping the “masses” of mosquitoes away. As we started to unpack our gear, I noticed that I had accidently grabbed part of my parent’s tent rather than my tent. Since the pilot could only take the first 3 people with gear that meant that there would be two trips coming in. So it’s my Mom, Mark, and I on the first trip.
The plane ride in had gone quite smoothly and I had used an hour of our ride to take a much needed nap. As I started to set up my parent’s tent I noticed that they didn’t have the fly (part that goes over the body to keep the rain off), which could be a potential problem. I asked my Mom if she had remembered to grab the fly on our way into the plane and she said no. So the other possibility was that the second group had it back in Coldfoot, which was the likely scenario. To make sure, we thought we should call them on the Satellite phone just to reconfirm they had it with them. Now since my mom is completely challenged when it comes to technology/electronics she asked for my help. We called and they confirmed they had it. All was well so far.
Our camp area is sandy and flat. The ground is covered with wildflower and holes. There are no trees, or bushes. The tallest plants are a few inches high. It looks like we are on a huge plain, no mountains or hills. In trips to the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge, we would start in the mountains and paddle out to the coastal plain. For this trip, we are starting on the coastal plain. The coastal plain is much wider here, so we don’t have views of the mountains of the Brooks Range. It is subtle, but beautiful landscape.
When the second group flew in around 10 pm, we finished setting up camp and ate dinner, washed dishes and went to bed. We were all tired for we had had a long day packing to get ready to go into Kealok Creek and Teshekpuk Lake.


What’s really special about these trips is that throughout the trip you learn not only a lot about the native land and the culture that surrounds you, but as well about yourself. As I look up at the scaling mountains that engulf us on our flight into Teshekpuk Lake, I remember a quote that defines the essence of why we take these kinds of trips. “Most people stand in sight of the spiritual mountains all their lives and never enter them, being content to listen to others who have been there and thus avoid the hardships” (2 Pirsig). As I soak in the words of this quote my mind races to the time when my dad and I flipped our canoe on the river, which could have been fatal (hypothermia), luckily we survived. Even though I was scared s_____ when this happened, later I learned that my communication could have been better with my dad, which is what created the problem in the first place. Point is that I grow and mature as a person each time I take adventures like these. If you never go out of your comfort zone (your home/town), you will miss out on the opportunity to find yourself, strengths and weaknesses, and you will miss all the wonderful aspects that life had to offer.

Starting today I am taking this blog site in a somewhat different direction. Not only do I want to share with you the environmental importance of the Teshekpuk Lake area but I want to share our experiences. Our 18 year old daughter, Alena, has written a diary of our trip that I will post. Before posting the diary I want to acquaint you with some maps of the area.

Teshekpuk Lake is in the National Petroleum Reserve and it is the blue area in the north east area. The second map shows where oil companies have done seismic testing. The third map shows how the area is divided and can be used to determine oil lease sites. Although this is an environmentally sensitive area, it appears that there has been a lot of traffic from oil companies, trappers and fishermen. Having made this statement we met some researchers from the University of Alaska that had not seen any people using the area for recreation but us on the ground in four years. The tundra is very delicate. It takes many years to recover and the scars stay for a long time, so this is why we can see where there has been activity some time ago. Included is a photo of a scar created by an ice road. The oil companies claim they can drive cats and other vehicles over the frozen tundra in the winter time with out having an impact. This is an argument they have been making when proposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in an environmentally friendly way.

Teshekpuk Lake in The National Petroleum Reserve

Teshekpuk Lake is located in the National Petroleum Reserve south east of Barrow Alaska. It provides vital habitat for up to 60,000 molting geese including a large proportion of the world's population of brant geese. The tundra supports a wide variety of birds that migrate here to hatch their chicks. In addition to birds, it is the home of the Teshekpuk caribou herd estimated at 26,000.

The environmental importance of Teshekpuk Lake was recognized as far back as the Reagan administration and it was protected from drilling. Today the Bush administration wants to open this area to drilling for oil. This is a give away to big oil. They have millions of acres under lease that they are not drilling. We can not allow our special places like Teshekpuk Lake, The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Polar bear seas to be destroyed. It won't change our price at the pump and it won't eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. We don't have enough of the worlds oil supply to meet our needs if we drill every where in the US.

Please view our photographs from our trip in July to Teshekpuk Lake, then contact your congressmen and senators and tell them you are against drilling in these special places.

For additional information visit the Alaska Wilderness League site alaskwild.org.