Imagine an incessant whining of mosquitoes, caribou hair so pervasive it sticks to food and covers clothes, days on end trapped in a tent sharing a single sleeping bag, not enough sleep, not enough food, months without a shower.

Not many backpackers would seek such a trip. But for the couple, to live as much like caribou as humanly possible was the main point of a grueling five-month journey across snow and tundra.

Karsten Heuer, an author and seasonal park warden, and his wife, Leanne Allison, a filmmaker, set out in April from the village of Old Crow in Canada's Yukon Territory to migrate an estimated 1,500 miles with the Porcupine caribou herd.

Their trek is both political and personal. In the debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Porcupine herd has become the poster animals, used by both sides to support arguments. Those opposed to drilling contend oil development could disturb the herd's traditional calving grounds on the refuge's coastal plain, used by the caribou for thousands of years. And hunting the herd is integral to the Gwich'in, Inuvialuit and Inupiat way of life, they say.

Drilling supporters contend the Central caribou herd has thrived alongside oil development on the nearby North Slope. Why couldn't the Porcupine herd also fare well with cautious development of new oil fields? They also point out the refuge's coastal plain is not used every year for calving.

Heuer and Allison oppose drilling but were not satisfied with anything they had read on the subject. Heuer said they wanted to learn firsthand how the caribou lived and how they made their trip from wintering grounds in the Yukon to calving grounds on the coastal plain and back again.

The couple plan to tell their story in Washington, D.C.

Speaking by satellite phone this month, Heuer said the hike has gone well, but he and Allison are running out of energy. They were both lean to begin with, and Heuer figures he has lost 20 to 25 pounds; Allison has lost about 15.

Karsten Heuer said one of the main challenges behind this hike was the lack of a route. It was challenging mentally, he said, to sometimes feel as if they were traveling in circles.

"We had no schedule or route plan and sometimes no idea where they were going," he said. "That's been decided entirely by the caribou."

Heuer said he was also surprised by the severity of the weather. At times they were holed up in their tent for days by blizzards, running low on food. Other days, they baked in heat and sunshine.

The Juneau Empire