Arctic Dreams

by Barry Lopez

The monotonic surfaces of the Arctic create frequent problems with scale and depth perception, especially on overcast days. Arctic hare and willow ptarmigan sometimes disappear against the snow when they are only two or three yards away. Even when a contrasting animal like a caribou or a brown bear is visible on snow or ice, it is sometimes hard to determine whether it is a large animal at a distance or a small animal at close range. In My Life with the Eskimo Stefansson recalls spending an hour stalking a tundra grizzly that turned out to be a marmot. A Swedish explorer had all but completed a written description in his notebook of a craggy headland with two unusually symmetrical valley glaciers, the whole of it a part of a large island, when he discovered what he was looking at was a walrus. Johann Miertsching, traveling with M’Clure aboard the Investigator, wrote of a polar bear that “rose in the air and flew off” as the hunting party approached. A snowy owl. “These comical deceptions,” wrote Miertsching, “are a frequent occurrence.”