An account of the arduous journey the Arctic caribou undertake to give birth to their young.
Read More
This is the story of a man who had always been fascinated by the Arctic and its hardy inhabitants. I )espite a passion for mountaineering, Robert Leonard Reid had never set foot north of the 55th parallel. Regarding the Arctic, he was the classic armchair traveler. He had read about the region, written about it, and talked about it; in his youth he had even vowed to visit it after meeting an activist named Fred Meader who was working to block development in Alaska's Brooks Range, long before the current proposals to develop the oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Time is short," Meader warned Reid, "Come and see the Great Land. Then write about what you find."On the eve of his sixtieth birthday, Reid at last decided to make good on his vow: Two weeks later I found myself on a hillside in northern Alaska, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle." Enthralled by the Porcupine Caribou herd that inhabits this region, Reid found himself plunging deeper and deeper into the Arctic, in search of ivvavik, the Inuit name for the promised place where, at the end of a staggeringly long migration, the caribou give birth to and raise their young.The caribou's journey, a 2,700-mile ordeal of extreme weather, hungry predators, and treacherous terrain, is the longest migration of any land animal on earth. The great mystery of this migration and its centrality to the life of these creatures absorbed the author, who, finding in their land a refuge of his own, began to think deeply about the costs of its loss.A writer and musician, adventurer and gentleman, Robert Reid writes with passion, insight, and lyricism about the Arctic. His story of discovery will resonate with anyone who has considered the beauty of the wild, the mysteries of the North, and the possibility of its demise.
Read Less