Trevor, guide and bluegrass musician extraordinaire, has this to say about the Northern Traverse (or, as he likes to call it, the Northern se)
“The N Trav is a newer trip that we really began to understand this last year.
Waterfalls abound. Caribou, wolverines, wolves, and grizzlies occasionally roam the tundra.
Everything up here seems solitary in the arctic’s vastness.
Depending on your experience, we can transform the difficulty of this route.
One thing is for certain: getting over the passes makes this really worth it. By climbing over the mountains you access some of the route’s most beautiful country.
I kept thinking: this is like prehistoric Switzerland.
That being said, let me explain the passes. They feel like “stair masters” made out of sand. You take one step up and you sink a half step down. The best way up the steep shale slopes is often by going straight up, because zig zagging makes you put in even more effort. The days, mileage-wise, do not have to be long. But there is a lot of up and down. This is the first difficult part of the route.
The second is the weather. The arctic’s scope in what it can hit you with is absurd.
You need to pack for blizzards, and then you might get there and you could be sweating every night in your 20˚F bag. Expect very chaotic weather and high winds. Expect changes in your itinerary because of this.
Take our travel precautions seriously. If you can do that, and if you enjoy going uphill, prepare yourself for some of the most beautiful, remote, country you will ever be a part of in your life. “
