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Recently: Visitors of the wild

Posted on October 11, 2007October 11, 2007 by Staff

 By Valarie Schwartz

A call from Mel Rashkis in June was my first knowledge of Arthur Clark. The men had become acquainted at the Cedars of Chapel Hill, where each resides. Mel thought I’d want to know about his peer, soon to leave on another trip to the Arctic.

Clark, 85, has trekked through the Northwest Passage so many times he couldn’t count how many when we met upon his latest return in July. But he knows this about his 2007 trip: “We saw essentially no ice. I’ve seen a lot of ice at the same time of year,” previously. “I’ve seen a difference in the glaciers,” he said.

He doesn’t go to study the melting ice caps; he goes for the adventure and to observe the flora and (especially) fauna. Photos of polar bears, grizzlies, caribou, reindeer, whale, walrus and more provide proof of his sightings, along with stories that describe his adventures.

His was a Sierra Club party of 12, traveling for over a week aboard a small-expedition vessel known as an “icebreaker.”
One day headed toward the Bering Strait, they passed a herd of about 20,000 caribou, he said, pulling up photos on his computer. Watching the herd they noticed a grizzly sow with her cubs headed toward a lame caribou. It was an old lame doe that couldn’t keep up with the herd — “grizzly bait,” he said.

His photos showed polar bears waking up, sprawling, stretching, yawning, fighting, dancing, eating kelp (which is only in a bear’s diet when meat cannot be found), followed by what a bear is often referred to as doing in the woods after the kelp didn’t agree with him, and cavorting himself into a snow hole, all shot with a long lens from about 20 yards away.
His most frightening adventure took place some years ago when his party was exploring in a Zodiac (an inflatable boat) and got between a herd of walrus and the beach.

“I was in the greatest danger of my life,” Clark said. “I thought they were going to take us out,” but little more than a tusk-length away, with Clark shooting photos madly, the boat passed out of harm’s way.

Life is rough, rugged and raw in the Arctic, a place where nobody goes out alone and each of any party carries a loaded firearm — to be shot only if threatened. After all, humans are minorities in this wild land where many natives are carnivores struggling to survive.

These examples are but the tip of the iceberg (sorry) of what this retired U.S. Air Force general who led an exciting life involved with U.S. intelligence during the Soviet age can share.

Of all the things Clark enlightened me about during two visits, the thing that stuck most was his secret to success.

“The secret of success is making a habit of things that failures don’t like to do,” he said simply.

For instance, he gets up each morning at 4:42.

“I used to sleep ‘til 5.”

Daily, he rises, walks up the hill to the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont and is standing at the door as it is unlocked at 5, for his morning workout. Though legally blind, he walks each weekday to an office he rents about a mile up the road.

He continues to travel; he and his wife spent much of September in France. He presents a slideshow to interested groups about his travels to the Arctic, where he plans to return next year.

“Why would I stop? I’m trying to deteriorate in an orderly way,” he quipped.

Any group interested in his fascinating presentation may contact Arthur Clark at ArtWClark@aol.com.

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