On Part 1, Bill Brosge talks about when and where he was born, his geology education, getting his first job with the US Geological Survey, making topographic maps from photographs and using map making tools, J.B. Mertie's mapping expedition across the Brooks Range, his first job in Alaska testing permafrost at Cape Spencer, how he came to Alaska for permanent work, the 1951 expedition led by Bill Patton traversing the Brooks Range, the 1950 field season and helicopter crash at Shainin Lake, the use of tracked vehicles (weasels) for carrying out expeditions, what Umiat was like and early methods used to drill for oil, studying the Lisburne limestone in the northeastern Brooks Range in 1952, and the names of crew members on the 1950, 1951, and 1952 fieldtrips in the Brooks Range.

On Part 2, Bill Brosge talks about the boat trip down the North Fork of the Koyukuk River in 1958, bears getting into food caches and having boxes of C-Rations air-dropped to camps, using collapsible canvas boats to float the river, the purpose of the Koyukuk River trip, the area covered by walking versus riding in a helicopter, an accident where he injured his back, planning and preparing for field expeditions, preparation especially in later trips where they used helicopters, the use of helicopters for field expeditions, close-calls when flying and landing, running into bears, his last geological field trip in the Brooks Range in 1981, the joys and hardships of fieldwork, his retirement, getting his first color geologic map produced, changes in map making techniques, the effects of regulations and restrictions on doing geologic fieldwork, his contribution to geologic understanding of the Brooks Range, and his thoughts on the creation of Gates of the Arctic National Park.