The flight from Fairbanks to Beaver, Alaska, located above the Arctic Circle, takes about 50 minutes to cross the 110 miles of wilderness of the White Mountains and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. During my trip there in mid-September, the terrain was ablaze in shades of golden yellow against a sapphire-blue sky.

After we landed on the Beaver airstrip, tour guide Cliff Adams, a Native Alaskan, met me with a wide smile and big handshake. Adams has no official training as a tour guide, but agents would be hard pressed to find anyone more knowledgeable on Native Alaskan traditions. A lifelong resident of Beaver, Adams lives there with about 50 village residents of Japanese, Eskimo, Gwich’in Athabascan and Koyukon Athabascan descent, and most live a subsistence lifestyle by hunting, trapping and fishing. 

“There are no roads connecting us to the outside world,” he said. “Everything must be flown or barged in. We must catch or hunt much of what we eat.” 

Tour guide and local resident Cliff Adams explains to visitors the way of life in Beaver, Alaska. // (C) 2010 Christopher Batin

The streets of Beaver are mostly gravel paths, just wide enough for a car to pass, but you’ll only find a few vehicles here. Most of the transportation is via four-wheelers, or snowmobiles and sleds pulled by sled dogs. On the main road, Adams pointed out the village school, waterworks, power plant and community center before stopping off at the village cemetery.

Much of Adams’ overview of area history is passed down through oral tradition. He said Beaver was founded in 1910 by Frank Yasuda, a Japanese explorer who arrived in Barrow on a whaling ship. He hired Eskimo guides who led him across the Brooks Range and up the Yukon River, to where he settled on the site that is now Beaver.

The tours change with the season and so does the colorful frontier wisdom Adams gives on each tour.

“In winter, people can hike out on the frozen Yukon,” he said. “The coldest I experienced was 76 degrees below zero. It stayed that way for three weeks. Heating oil stops flowing at 65 degrees below, so it’s good to have a big woodpile.”

I visited during hunting season and watched as a bull moose was quartered, with cuts of meat packed into freezer bags so that the young men of the village could distribute it to the local residents.

“We hunt and fish for the community,” Adams said, referring to himself and the younger men of the village. “It’s important for everyone to learn how to not only take care of themselves and our community, but also to explain our ways to guests. Tourism is the future of our community. Visitors are amazed when they see how we live here and, for us, tourism brings cash into a basically subsistence economy.”

Later, we enjoyed a box lunch on a picnic table he built overlooking the Yukon River in front of his log home. After a cup of tea, we readied for the flight back to Fairbanks. Once airborne, I could see Adams waving goodbye on the fast-disappearing airstrip. It was then I realized a newfound appreciation for the Alaska frontier life that only a firsthand experience can provide.