Arctic Traverse: A Thousand-Mile Summer of Trekking the Brooks Range

National Outdoor Book Award Winner • Independent Publisher Book Award Winner • Nautilus Book Award Winner • Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist

"Engelhard locates life--biological, cultural, and geophysical--in every mile of this vast, wild landscape." --Robert Moor, author of On Trails: An Exploration

A lyrical memoir that interweaves wilderness, homeland, cultural connections, historical figures, humor, and gritty experiences across northern Alaska, Arctic Traverse: A Thousand-Mile Summer of Trekking the Brooks Range takes readers along on a once-in-a-lifetime journey.

From the award-winning author of Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon comes an intimate exploration of Alaska's northernmost mountain range with observations on Indigenous cultures, conservation, and intense cross-country travel, all shaped by respect for the land. Follow author Michael Engelhard through tussock-studded tundra for a remarkable tale of bear encounters and white-knuckled river moments, as well as poetic reflections on a vast, untamed landscape. A trained anthropologist, Engelhard evokes classic writers like Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, and Ellen Meloy with profound dives into human and natural history and vivid meditations on Alaskan wildlife, flora, and geology. When he embarked on this thru-hike, fewer people had completed it solo in a single push than had dived to the floor of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of Earth's oceans.

Much more than a captivating account of a human-powered solo thru-hike and float, Arctic Traverse illuminates the spirit of Alaska, drawing on encounters with Indigenous elders, guided clients, scientists, and others as well as on Engelhard's long-held dream and his experiences of the land itself.

Author: Michael Engelhard
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
Published: 03/19/2024
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 7.90h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781680516784


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/01/2024 pg. 13
Library Journal 02/23/2024 pg. 1
Foreword 04/25/2024

About the Author
Engelhard, Michael: - A cultural anthropologist and an outdoor instructor for twenty-five years, Michael Engelhard specialized in land use, subsistence, and symbolic aspects of landscapes. He has edited four anthologies and is the recipient of several literary awards, including a Rasmuson Individual Artist Award and three Alaska Press Club Awards. His writing has been featured in Outside, Audubon, and National Parks. Engelhard is the author of several books, including Ice Bear, Where the Rain Children Sleep, and the forthcoming essay collections No Walk in the Park and What the River Knows.