Mouth of the Yukon. Closest spruce tree is 100 miles upriver. Sinuous snakes and worms of river channel all around. Not a hill in sight.

We're travelin' light. And waiting for a few sleds from Anchorage so we can start our 800-mile journey.

Kenji has drilled a permafrost observatory, a hole about 4 meters deep, and he found no permafrost. That's what this trip is about, to find out the state of the state's permafrost. "Emo" floods from ice jams every few years, and Kenji said that water inundation might be what thawed permafrost here.

And you thought gas was expensive in Bethel . . .

Tohru enjoys his visit to a family restaurant.