Paddling soon to an island near you

VICTORIA BARBER

February 15, 2008 at 10:40AM AKST

A 4,000-mile trek will end in the Aleutians this spring, if all goes according to plan for two "crazy" environmental advocates who hiked, skied and rafted their way along the northern Pacific coast, starting in Seattle last June.

Erin McKittrick of Seattle and Bretwood Higman from Seldovia regaled a large crowd packed on Jan. 29 into the recital hall at University of Alaska Anchorage with slideshow of their trip so far. They also fielded questions from the audience.

"How is it that you people look so normal?" was the first.

"Well, you maybe just don’t know us well enough," Higman said, laughing.

McKittrick and Higman were in the middle of a two-week stopover in Anchorage before they began the final leg of their journey, which will take them along the Gulf of Alaska, through Bristol Bay, down the Alaska Peninsula and end on the first island of the Aleutian chain, Unimak.

They have hiked and skied and used packrafts for ocean crossings – one-person, inflatable rafts, weighing about five pounds and carried inside their backpacks. The couple fixed on Unimak Island as a final destination because they believe it is the furthest they can travel along the coast without motorized transport.

"That’s the end of the line for the bears and caribou, and we’ve got about the same range," McKittrick said in a phone interview. "We though we’d get as far as we could ... but a 12-mile crossing with the Bering Sea with a packraft, that’s too crazy."

McKittrick and Higman, who met at Carleton College in Minnesota in 1999 and married in 2003, have logged more than 3,000 miles in the Alaska wilderness over the past seven years. Both have backgrounds in science, geology and the studying of tsunamis.

Their current venture is part of what they call "ground truth trekking." As they progress along the coast they raise environmental awareness through their stories and photographs. The couple believes that it’s a unique, on-the-ground perspective possible only by traveling through a place step by step.

McKittrick and Higman make all their photographs free for nonprofit use on their Website at www.groundtruthtrekking.org, where they also provide details about their route and the gear they use, and blog about their progress when they are at rest points along the way.

McKittrick said that their backcountry treks give them the opportunity to explore the effect of industries such as mining, logging and fishing. However, she says that she and Higman are "educators, not crusaders" and strive to share their observations rather than advance an agenda.

"That’s the ground truth – you can’t argue with a photograph, it doesn’t tell you what to do. Our job is to go through places and pick up issues that maybe people aren’t aware of and put that out there for people," McKittrick said.

McKittrick said that their photographs of the area around Lake Iliamna, the potential site of the Pebble Mine, have been used for posters and presentations on the topic. The high quality of the photos is a resource for many people in the area, because "paying a photographer who doesn’t know the area to walk out there is expensive."

While topics such as Pebble Mine are controversial, McKittrick said that they find it easy to find common ground with the people in the communities they visit.

"Not everyone agrees with us (on environmental issues), but we haven’t talked to anyone who hasn’t shared some of the same values," McKittrick said. "Most people have some connection to the land and an interest in keeping the fish going. We haven’t run into anyone who said, ‘I don’t care if we have salmon, let’s just bulldoze the whole thing.’"

In looking forward to the next part of their trip, McKittrick said that they are excited to explore the "gorgeous country" of the Alaska Peninsula and volcanic Aleutian Islands.

The couple anticipates that Knik Arm will be the biggest challenge remaining on their route, due to the powerful currents of the Arm, which is choked with ice in the winter. If they are unable to finish the crossing, they will lose a week to hiking and skiing around the estuary.

Once McKittrick and Higman complete their loop around Unimak Island, the "no motorized transport" rule will end and they’ll try to hitch a ride out of False Pass on a fishing vessel or whatever is going their way.

"I figure if we can get to Unimak Island by walking and skiing we won’t have a hard time getting back," McKittrick said.

While environmental issues are a big part of the trip, McKittrick says that they are making the journey "sake of the wilderness itself," and that the wilderness is what people are drawn to hearing about.

"What interests people is the adventure," McKittrick said. "This state is home for the adventurous spirits of America, and so people can relate to what we’ve done."

Are they crazy? McKittrick answers, "You be the judge."

Victoria Barber can be reached at (907) 342-2424 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 424.