Arrigetch

My most favorite shot of the trip. The word arrigetch comes from the Iñupiaq language (an Eskimo-Aleut language spoken in northern Alaska) and means “Fingers of the outstretched hand”. Here Dave’s outstretched finger points to Wichmann’s Tower while Craig retains a firm grip on the mountain. This was probably at about 9pm or so.

Forty years ago one of the greatest adventures of my life was unfolding: a trip that would take a far-flung group of people north, past the Arctic Circle, into Alaska’s wild and untrammeled Brooks Range.

The idea originated in the minds of my life-long friend Dave Jones and his friend Tony Doyle. I met Dave in 1961 on my very first day of kindergarten in Pacific Palisades, California. The Jones family lived on a cul-de-sac nestled at the edge of The Santa Monica Mountains. In his backyard was a hillside that stood as El Capitan to our wild young imaginations. What is now Topanga and Will Rogers State Park was to us the Louisiana Purchase and we thought ourselves akin to Lewis and Clark trailblazing in the chaparral. Dave’s idea for this trip was incubated in this heady heritage.

I carried a journal on this adventure and here is the entry from August 15, 1986 from Topanga, California. Click to enlarge:

I plan to add, day-by-day entries from this journal along with photos. I invite you all to add your own photos and memories as we go along. I look forward to hearing from you comrades!