Hiker Overlooking Canning River Valley, Arctic Refuge

A hiker stands on open tundra above the broad Canning River valley in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, looking out over braided channels and distant peaks under warm afternoon light. The Canning River forms the western boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and drains north out of the Brooks Range across the coastal plain to the Beaufort Sea.

This is a roadless corner of Alaska, accessed almost exclusively by small plane, and the ground cover is pure arctic tundra. A hiking trip out here is as much about the scale and the silence as it is about any particular destination.

Hiker, Canning River valley, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Brooks Range, Alaska. Photo © copyright by Carl Donohue.

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