Jacqueline and Zoe, Switzerland
The Scouts of Switzerland/Explorer Belt Club
The Swiss have landed in Bettles. Fifty members of the the Scouts of Switzerland/Explorer Belt Club are visiting Bettles and Gates of the Arctic National for their annual trekking excursion. Jacqueline and Zoe, two of the club leaders, explain that in the past the group has visited places like Mongolia, Romania, and Greenland, but this year the leaders picked Alaska as their destination because “a lot of people dream of Alaska…it’s a big wilderness and far form home.” In fact, this year Zoe says, “There was so much interest we couldn’t accept everyone.” The group will be traveling in teams of two or three throughout the backcountry for ten days and will meet back on the Dalton Highway at the end of their journey to travel back by bus to Fairbanks.