Selected Trip Journal entries:
Going to leave for breakfast in about 10 minutes... today it is finally north of the treeline, crossing the Tundra to Deadhorse... really looking forward to seeing some big game animals (moose, bear) -- they can't hide in the forests anymore!! And of course the Brooks Range should be amazing! Coldfoot is juuuuust at the start of the range ... Also driving by the Gates of the Arctic National Park ... all these names that have inspired my trip! OK, off the breakfast now....
Only $11 for breakfast and worth it! I'm good for many hours now!
6:50 AM = Started driving
7:15 - 9:15 = In Wiseman -- great tour of village by Jack Reakoff living here since 60's.
11:10 = Atigan Pass el. 4823 feet (approx); the mountains are up to ~6000 feet.
11:30-45 = A white GRIZZLY!!
12:30-1:10 = Lake Galbright -- lunch; walked on a patch of arctic ice for the first time!
Herd of 3000 migrating carribou (according to a truck driver's CB message) -- then dall sheep & more carribou! Lot of strays... Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the right 5 miles away, earlier this morning it was Gates of the Arctic National Park to the left 5 miles away.
5:04 PM = Deadhorse! Arctic Carribou Inn!!!
This room has a bathroom (like yesterday's), an alarm clock AND a 13" color TV! This is what they said was "rustic" in Fairbanks??
Now on to the oilfields tour in Prudhoe Bay and then -- THE ARCTIC OCEAN!!! Tour starts 5:30 PM.
7:30 PM = Back to room after dipping my feet in the 37F arctic ocean! Now to dinner - $20 buffet.
Prudhoe Bay is 1200 miles south of the North Pole... There was a grizzly bear seen in the parking lot of the hotel yesterday, so they told us not to go out tonight (day) or be extremely careful and vigilant! There are polar bears also ... On the tour, we saw an arctic fox (red color fur in the summer), and several more carribou... I wasn't too keen on the oil company stuff -- but still impressive what the people working here have to go through as part of their job! But the money is good... $70000/year for 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off (working all 14 days, 12 hours/day) ... in the cold weather!! With wild animals all around!!
Back in the room by 8:30 after dinner. Tomorrow have to be out by 8:30 AM and flight to Barrow later in the morning!
I picked up 3 stones from the shoreline at the Ocean! "From the spot where I first set foot in the Arctic Ocean"! One of the tourguides even jumped in completely -- but no one else in the group!
Other things about today, not written in the journal:
Today's drive from Coldfoot to Deadhorse was gorgeous, but one of the highlights of the day was the tour in the town of Wiseman. It was given by a man named Jack Reakoff, one of the long-time residents of the town (year-round population = 30). We all went into his home, had a look around the house and the gardens, and then the town. He told us a lot about daily life in the summer and winter -- a personal point-of-view.. things about hunting moose, carribou, lynx, grizzly & black bears, (apparantly moose meat is tastier than bear meat), and how the state of Alaska regulates all of these among people who live here and depend on hunting, gathering, and farming for survival. All in all, a very informative tour, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone visiting Alaska -- it's a part of Alaska few people from the outside get to experience!
The Brooks Range was good -- but not great. I had a picture in my mind of these jagged peaks that are topped with snow year-round. Unfortunately, that's only the case about 10 months out of the year, and July is not one of those 10 months! Well, it did make for a pleasant drive -- no need to stop to put on snowchains -- but I was really expecting more. They ARE jagged peaks that rise straight up from the valley below -- and that is very impressive, particularly since this is north of the treeline! Atigun Pass was at 4800 feet and it was cold and windy up there, but not too much in terms of snow and ice. The pipeline also runs through there..
North of the Brooks Range is the North Slope Burough (county)... a large tree-less tundra landscape. The permafrost is everywhere under the ground, unlike south of here. And because of the lack of trees, large animals are much easier to spot even off in the horizon! As soon as we came down from Atigun Pass, one of the passengers in the van spotted a grizzly bear! The second grizzly I've seen in the wild, and the first one up close -- REALLY up close! So that was something special!
As for that herd of carribou, a truck driver radioed that he saw "3000 carribou migrating"... HOW he knew it was 3000 wasn't really a concern of mine.. I was looking forward to see that up ahead! I wasn't dissapointed...
Later on I learned that the North Slope Burrough has two large herds of carribou each numbering greater than 100,000 -- there are more carribou than people in Alaska.
The tour of the oil fields was interesting from the people point-of-view, not so much from the stories of the oil companies there. Like I wrote in my journal, its amazing what these workers go through every year, but this is one place where they can make good money -- most of them are goal oriented -- our tourbus driver said he was working toward "buying a few toys" for himself. 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off work. They work all 14 days of that, 12 hours/day. And the living conditions are not exactly the Sheraton hotel...
The stop at the Arctic Ocean was in the end of the tour. Before leaving we were asked who wants to "join the Polar Bear Club" by jumping in the ocean... one of the tourguides was going to do it, but none of the tourists did! Everyone did dip their feet in the sea, including me.. The water was chilly but not freezing. Not what I expected the Arctic to be. At least not yet.......
The guy who jumped in got a certificate saying he's now a member of the "Polar Bear Club" -- the condition is that you have to submerge COMPLETELY underwater for at least 1 second... but you also had to get out within a minute... any longer than that and there's a danger of getting hypothermia. It was fun watching him scream and shiver after coming out, but there was no way on earth I was going to jump in completely like that!
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| July 27 | Contents | July 29 |