Alaska wildlife.

Mostly seen from the car, very far away, sadly.

On the way to Chena Hot Springs
(about 30 minutes into the trip - off to a good start)

Getting to the other side

Ground squirrel at Finger Mountain
(I was really hoping this was a singing vole)

Grizzly!

(seen but not photographed - black bear, also crossing the road)

Gray wolf spotted just as we crossed into ANWR territory
(it's there - squint real hard)

A remnant at Galbraith

Dall sheep we followed up the hill in ANWR
(later he paired up with a mate and laughed at us scrambling down scree)

Alaska swans at Prudhoe Bay

Caribou lounging at Prudhoe Bay
(they're there - squint real hard)

Species undetermined
(Googling fat Alaska bird black head unsuccessful)

And finally, the rare Canadian geese

Photo of the day, 7/23/2011: there's always one of these.

Alaska, Day 8: the end.

We had time to kill - a LOT of time to kill - before the first of many plane rides. So a few of us went to "town" in the morning to get coffee.

I got the Reese's Mocha - needed more peanut butter

We decided to save the general store for after breakfast. You know, just to break up the exciting day a little bit. So we headed back, ate blueberry pancakes (Tim's hard work in ANWR finally paid off!), packed up and headed back to "town."

It's not - I assure you

That took about 20 minutes.

So, we dropped our bags at the airport and walked across the street to the coffee shop/hotel to kill time. Tim and I played seven games of pool, Mary read a book, and we learned that Amy Winehouse had died. Good times.

In Barrow I said goodbye to my travel mates and wandered around town while I waited for my flight back to Fairbanks. Barrow was just what I expected.

The northernmost point in the U.S.!

Not in PDX anymore

Alaska puts antlers on things

I watched people departing the plane I would soon board, and they were carrying all sorts of craziness - pizza boxes, buckets of KFC, one girl even had a goldfish in a plastic bag. Makes total sense (I know I always bring back cherry corn scones from Arizmendi when I go to Oakland), but I did find it amusing.

I was also entertained by the fact that I was freezing and wearing numerous layers, and little kids were walking around the airport in shorts and t-shirts waiting for their family or friends to arrive. Kind of the opposite of San Francisco in the summer, where the locals have scarves wrapped around their necks for warmth and the tourists are in shorts and t-shirts. Forty degrees above F must be absolutely balmy to the locals up there.

To Seattle

And that was Alaska. Now where?

Photo of the day, 7/22/2011: *&^%$ !!!

Alaska, Day 7: to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay.

Headed to our northernmost stop today. The landscape changed pretty drastically, pretty quickly.

Mountains no more

Like Kansas, only much, much prettier

Our goal was the 5pm Prudhoe Bay tour. My other goal was a shower. I didn't really care, personally, but thought I'd be kind to the people around me on the plane the next day. Both were accomplished.

The tour was interesting but pretty limited for security reasons. We weren't allowed off the bus except at the Arctic Ocean, so most of my tour photos are blurry, through-a-bus-window shots.

Hisssssssssss

Everything in Prudhoe Bay is temporary, and like the pipeline, when the oil stops Prudhoe Bay will be shut down and the site cleaned up. I don't remember many of the details from the tour, so allow me to pilfer from the Ice Road Truckers web site for a moment:

Sitting 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, 400 miles north of Fairbanks and 650 miles north of Anchorage, the Prudhoe Bay region of Alaska is home to the largest oil field in North America. ARCO and Exxon first discovered oil in the region in March 1968, drilling the Prudhoe Bay State No. 1 well; BP Exploration drilled a confirmation well in 1969. Over the next eight years, the three companies worked to delineate the region and set up an infrastructure, and Prudhoe Bay came "on stream" in June 1977. In 1979, production at the field reached a maximum rate of 1.5 million barrels per day. By 2006, more than 10 billion barrels of oil had been produced at Prudhoe Bay.

I was surprised at the attention to protecting the tundra. They don't drill or test until the ground has frozen, which minimizes impact on the land, and truck tires are specially designed for minimal impact. The design of the drills is also fairly low-impact. Or so they say...

The inventor of these tires had someone actually drive
a truck over him to prove the tires wouldn't hurt the tundra

The tour included a stop at the Arctic Ocean. For safety reasons, you can't swim anymore, but you can stick your feet in if you wish. I did not wish.

I was really hoping for a polar bear photobomb

After the tour, shower and dinner we headed back to camp.

It's all fun and games until a trucker actually picks me up

The sky was clearer than it had been, and since we were as far north as we could go, I finally decided to try time-lapse to capture the sunlight.

10:38pm

11:30pm

12:54am, at which point rain clouds rolled in
(and I got bored with this project)

Prudhoe Bay and many other northern towns are dry. That didn't stop us from drinking a toast to the Arctic, though!

Carefully rationed over 500 miles

Portland representing in the Arctic!

In true prohibition style, Sean traded lettuce and cereal
with our campsite neighbors in exchange for a couple beers

Despite the awful mossies, we all stayed up a little later than usual - I think we were all sad that our adventure was coming to an end...

Song of the day: Inaudible Melodies, Jack Johnson

Photo of the day, 7/21/2011: ... and me.

ANWR

Alaska, Day 6: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Today was all about the hike. About eight miles, about as many hours, probably about 1600' elevation gain, and EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND BAZILLION mossies. I think my arms were as tired as my legs just from waving them away all day.

But? Sooooo worth it.

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, from Atigun Gorge

Atigun River

Atigun Gorge, part I

Atigun Gorge, part II

Photos do not do it justice. So frustrating.

As we headed back to the road Tim picked blueberries for breakfast pancakes. Rain clouds started to move closer and we reached the road just as the drops started to fall. We still had an hour before Emily was picking us up, but as luck would have it, a nice lady named Heather (originally from Portland, now in Fairbanks, up north for a short camping trip) had parked her truck at our pickup spot to take her dogs for a walk. At that very spot, on an otherwise fairly deserted highway. I knew Tim was thinking exactly what I was thinking, but before we could even ask, Heather offered us a ride. I hope to be able to buy her a beer one day - either when she's visiting family in Portland, or in New Zealand (we'll both be there in February).

Small world.

Song of the day: Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder

Photo of the day, 7/20/2011: truth in advertising.

Sukakpak Mountain, 4459'

Alaska, Day 5: to Galbraith Camp.

First stop was Wiseman (population 16), a slightly larger town just up the highway from Coldfoot. Lots of characters in Wiseman.

I really wanted to buy something at the mercantile
just for this experience

I didn't meet 8-Ball, but we talked to Jim, who runs the Wiseman museum (a 10x20' building crammed top to bottom with local memorabilia, sports paraphernalia and random candy), for a bit. Very friendly guy. Most other folks we ran into treated us like tourists - not to say they treated us badly, they were just indifferent to our existence, much like we in Portland ignore map-holding travelers downtown. Jim would've talked our ears off if we'd let him.

In front of Jim's museum

Wiseman's cemetery is a bit larger than Coldfoot's.

But not much larger

We spent an hour or so wandering around the town, then continued north. Amazing views along the way...

Somewhere between Sukakpak Mountain and Chandalar Shelf

Lunch spot

Chandalar Shelf, part I

Chandalar Shelf, part II

First glimpse of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The guides were not licensed to go with us into ANWR and Mary opted to try a less strenuous hike the next day, so Tim and I were on our own. That night we all pored over Emily's map, studied the mountains across the way, and consulted Tim's Lonely Planet to see where the wildlife hung out. We were going to make the most of our day in ANWR come hell, high water, or a bazillion mossies.

Song of the day: Virgin Mountain, Loch Lomond

Photo of the day, 7/19/2011: map drawn to scale.

Coldfoot "map" provided by tour company manager -
those trucks were actually there

Alaska, Day 4: to Coldfoot.

About 60 miles today, with random stops when we needed a break from the bumpy road.

I made them go back for this one

Pretty mossie-riddled lake - we didn't stay long

I thought the sign said "no services 216 miles"?

Grayling Lake Wayside

After a quick stop at the Arctic Circle Visitor Center we headed to Marion Creek campsite. This was my favorite campsite by far, and later we'd all lament that we only had one night there. We set up camp and headed on a muddy waterfall hike. If I'd been in Oregon, I would've been pretty disappointed after slogging through several inches of muck for a few miles only to find that the waterfall was ridiculously far away. But it was Tuesday afternoon and I was in Alaska. I didn't care.

Marion Creek

Picking blueberries along the trail

You call THAT a waterfall? COME ON!

We gave up on the hike eventually, and found a place where we could scramble down to the creek. Sean headed back to make dinner, Emily waded, Tim skipped rocks, I napped and Mary created a little extra zen in an already completely peaceful environment.

I want to live in a van down by Marion Creek

100% organic

After dinner we wandered into "town." The story goes that Coldfoot was where the faint of heart changed their mind about working in the mines. It's basically a truck stop halfway between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay, and the truck stop is basically all there is to the town. Our foray in town took about 20 minutes, including the time it took to drink a beer at the truck stop and walk through the 3-person cemetery.

Continuing my tradition of visiting foreign places of rest

The hike must've worn us all out because we were in bed early. And still the sun shone on.

Song of the day: Lady on the Water, Blitzen Trapper