The History of The Jago's

Jago River

90 miles (145 km) long, the Jago gets its name from a Lt. Jago who sailed on the ship HMS Enterprise captained by Richard Collinson of the Royal Navy. Collinson's voyage between 1850 and 1855 was one of the last to be made in search of the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin, who set out in the vessels Erebus and Terror looking for the Northwest Passage in 1845 and was never again heard from.

Jago River: Mountains to the Sea

Location: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Brooks Range, Alaska

The 90-mile Jago River runs through the heart of the northern half of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This glacial river is fed by McCall Glacier on Mt. Isto. The Jago is flanked by the Romanzof Mountains; here lie some of the highest peaks in the Brooks Range. These snowcapped peaks are the source of the Jago's turbid whitewater.

During the first week of this expedition, we backpack about 30 miles down the Jago, among fields of wildflowers. The river is swift and rocky, filled with scoured granite boulders. The valley shelters the complete spectrum of arctic wildlife, including wolves, caribou, muskoxen, foxes, moose, and grizzly bears. Raptors such as rough-legged hawks and peregrine falcons frequently next on cliffs in the river corridor. Where the foothills roll gently down to the arctic coastal plain, we hike through an area of preferred calving for the 129,000-member Porcupine caribou herd. We will likely find plentiful evidence of their presence here. Female caribou drop their antlers around the time they give birth, and the tundra is littered with lovely antlers of all shapes and sizes.

During our second week of travel, we pick up canoes and paddle the braided river, now somewhat tamed by a loss in gradient, to the sea. We've timed the trip to see lots of caribou. With luck, we will intercept the Porcupine caribou herd during their post-calving aggregation, a time when tens of thousands of caribou gather en masse, moving to the coast where the wind keeps the insects down.

At the mouth of the Jago, we explore sand dunes, and then paddle across the Jago Lagoon, a body of water protected from the open ocean, to Barter Island. With the Brooks Range at our back, and the Arctic Ocean icepack along the horizon, we are truly at the top of the continent. We paddle along the barrier islands to Barter Island, and pull our boats out at the Native village of Kaktovik. Here, we pack up our boats and gear, and fly back to Fairbanks via a commercial flight.

The Jago River foothills and coastal plain are in an area targeted by the oil industry for development, should Congress ever vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. This area is also a preferred area for the caribou. Obviously, this area needs to be off-limits.