Art Chowder: Which destination was the
most difficult to get to/work in?
Linda: One would think the answer
would be Antarctica as our 100-pas-
senger ship endured 48-foot waves and
wind gusts up to 126 mph crossing the
Drake Passage. But, the canoe trip down
the Noatak River in 2012 would be the
most difficult. Located entirely north of
the Arctic Circle, I paddled a canoe 459
miles from Gates of the Arctic National
Park to Kotzebue, Alaska. The six of
us in three canoes had no guide and no
resupply. The three-and-a-half-week
adventure, we were told, occurred during
the coldest and wettest Alaskan August
on record. But, I did get to see musk ox
in the wild.
Art Chowder: Nice. Ever have a close call
with a large animal?
Linda: Yes, more than once. Probably the
most challenging one was up in Alaska
when I did the Noatak canoe trip. I was
alone, and ran into a grizzly bear. It was
a two-year-old and probably on his own
for the first time. He may have never
seen another human before too, because
we were in a really remote area. There
were only six of us and with the strong
wind at my back the five others back at
camp couldn’t hear me.
We hadn’t seen any grizzlies so I’d
walked away from camp and wasn’t
thinking anything of it, but from my
time in polar bear country I know there
are three important things to remember.
1) Make sure you’re upwind so they can
smell you.
2) You want to be in a large group.
3) You want to be wearing bright colors
so you don’t look like food.
Well I was downwind, I was in
camouflage, and I was by myself. He
was coming across this little spit of
water about a foot deep and upwind of
me, which was a bad position.
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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE