Transportation

The other and better-known boat was the kayak. Kayak, which means "hunter's boat" in Inupiaq, is a narrow boat with a covered deck. Typically, a kayak was for one person, although two or three-person kayaks were also sometimes used. Kayaks are arguably the finest single-person boats ever created. An experienced paddler can handle rough seas and surf and travel long distances quickly and efficiently. The fact that in the 21st century, kayaks are still the boat of choice by most ocean paddlers is a testament to their superior design. 

Making kayaks and umiaks would start with building a frame of driftwood or whalebone lashed together with rawhide cords. Next, they stretched cured seal or walrus hides across this frame. Finally, they coated the boat with seal or whale oil. Kayaks had a covered deck and paddlers wore a seal skin spray skirt (tuilik) to insulate the rider from the cold and prevent the boat from being swamped by waves. Yupik living upriver adopted Athabaskan-type birchbark canoes for river and lake travel. 

During the dark, very cold winters, Inupiaq and Yupik traveled little. When they did, they went overland, hugging the coast or following frozen rivers and lakes. There were established networks of winter trails, some of which connected coastal and interior areas. They had flat-bed sleds constructed from driftwood and fitted with ivory or baleen runners. They pulled these sleds by hand or by dog team. For walking, they used snowshoes, wood or ivory ice creepers, and a pointed staff helped the people keep their footing.