i Larry,
We really like the SOARs in our wilderness fleet. They allow all kinds of paddlers to go to some very wild and interesting places with safety and comfort.
I am attaching pictures from a trip we took last June in the far Western Brooks Range in an area seldom visited. I have never seen an area so rich in wildlife after guiding in Alaska’s arctic for nearly a decade. Daily we saw Golden Eagles, Gyr Falcons, and rough-legged hawks. We also saw wolves, musk-oxen and grizzly bears.
The best part of the trip was on the 8th day when as we were setting up camp the ridge-line to our east became covered with caribou. We stared in awe for the next 4 hours as the valley filled to overflowing with animals. Caribou walked through our camp they swam the river both upstream and down stream of camp. There was not a single place in this huge valley we could look and not see caribou. I think we saw 70,000 animals that evening. We could hear there guttural snorts and bleats. The river became covered (literally) in caribou hair (see picture). It was truly awesome.
The only way to access this wild country is by small plane. The only practical was to cover any distance is on the water and our SOAR inflatable canoes handle a great variety of conditions and are suitable for all paddlers. I can’t say enough about these boats.
Michael Wald
Co-owner Arctic Wild LLC Fairbanks, AK
