Brooks Range Day 6

We skirted a lot of creek edges like this

But it didn't always go, somtimes you just had to climb up up up to get out

We popped out into this wonderland

River ice is good walking, way nicer than unconsolidated slope snow

Woke up late after a night spent coughing nonstop. We descended Alinement Creek, which wasn't so bad. The crossings weren't super deep, maybe a fast one or two, and we could often skirt the edge of the side we were already on to avoid crossing. Eventually we climbed up across a hill connecting it to our next drainage, the North Fork Koyukuk. We stopped for lunch, but Nano has to get water so he descended to the Koyukuk and I stayed on a bluff enjoying the views of big mountains, possibly Wien Mountain and Mount Doonerak.

And then there were three wolf puppies playing with each other maybe thirty yards away from me. I go a good look at them through the monocular. So cute. Unfortunately in my attempt to get Nano's attention I scared them away, so I didn't get to watch them for that long. Their den was clearly very close by in the brush, but I didn't want to bother them too much, so we headed up the Koyukuk. 

One time I said "does this go? If not it's not the end of the world, we can just come back here and climb up and around." It went. But then a little later it definitely did not. This was a rager in a tight canyon. We looked at the maps and decided the best option was straight up about 700 vertical feet, where we hoped it would flatten out and we could avoid the canyon entirely. So we scrambled up a steep, slippery, slate slope, did a final airy move on the ridge, and topped out on grass, just like we hoped.

The traverse back to the Koyukuk was pleasant, but once we got there the super flat broad valley was boggy as heck. Right next to the water, far from the water, didn't matter, all was boggy. And this was the least gravely river we've walked yet. We followed it "up" but it didn't really go up, for several more hours, and camped on a rare patch of dry ground. The views are good, but hampered by the boggy boggy terrain.