Alone Against the Arctic by Anthony Dalton

Author:Anthony Dalton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-926936-76-5
Publisher: Heritage House
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Northwest to Point Hope

As I tried to find a way round the shoals to get into Kivalina Lagoon, a heavily built man ran down the gravel beach, waving to me. I stood up and waved back. He pointed to his right, well northwest of my position. As he did so, he walked in the same direction. I carefully motored parallel to shore until we were opposite each other and about 50 metres apart. The man beckoned me toward him. When I was no more than three boat-lengths from shore, he motioned me to turn right and indicated a navigable channel to safety. The rest was easy.

I hadn’t seen any sign of ships or heard any talk of the supply vessels since I left Nome, so I was surprised to find a tug at anchor and a barge being unloaded behind the village. I cruised past on the placid water of the lagoon and beached well away from the action. I was cold, stiff and hungry. My legs creaked and complained as I forced them to move on the unyielding dry land. Standing up for much of the nine-hour run from Kotzebue, even though I constantly flexed my knees to maintain balance, had created tense muscles and the beginnings of cramps. I stamped my feet a few times, did a knee bend or two and rotated my aching shoulders, but all it did was amuse a couple of kids. The soreness remained. I tied up to a lonely looking metal post, which showed signs of having once restrained a dog, and breathed a sigh of relief.

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