The Arctic Circle

Hello. Sorry that I'm departing from chronological order with this update, but this way you can hear some of the latest. I had a rough week at my clinical last week. (It was mid-term week). Evaluation, evaluation, evaluation! Would you like some more feedback, Liz? Thankfully I had something to look forward to that weekend apart from the break in performance review.

I was booked to do a "Fly and Drive" to and from the Arctic Circle. I can now say that I've been to the arctic circle! It was fun. We flew up to Coldfoot and then drove back on the Dalton highway which is a mainly gravel road ruled by the big rigs servicing the pipeline that drive back and forth from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay (on the Arctic Ocean). If I had had more than one day, I probably would have been crazy enough to want to go all the way up the 500 miles of gravel road. I had previously contemplated driving the Supersube up to the Arctic Circle but people told me I would need to bring along 2 spare tires, be prepared to have my window cracked or smashed, and yield to the semis flying right past me. I wised up in time.

Here are some photos from the 12 hour trip.
Here I am feeling good before take off.


A lake that looks like a music note - an 1/8 note, I believe. It's been a while since I read sheet music!



45 min into the 1 hour and 10 min flight and I was no longer feeling so good. Thankfully for me and those travelling with me, nothing made it's way up, but it sure was threatening!

What the "towns" look like up that far north. Not pretty that's for sure. It's all utilitarian and recycled from the housing units used by pipeline construction employees in the 70's

The proof that I was at the arctic circle.

The proof that Alaska is a wild place.

That was only 2 days before my tour!
Below: Me and the pipeline

Above: The pipeline is zig-zag in shape to allow for expansion and contraction from the wide ranging extremes of temperature that the area experiences (nearly 200 deg different from winter to summer). The pipe moves on teflon strips on the horizontal supports. The engineers had to calculate the amount it would move and which direction. This one was miscalculated because there is no bumper between the pipeline and the vertical support and the pipeline just happens to be resting right up against it (that's not supposed to be the case, if you were wondering).

Below: The Yukon river and some explorers travelling the length of it in an epic journey in there motorized and man-powered canoe. Just FYI, if you stop on the bridge in your vehicle you willed be yelled at via LOUD speakers. It is considered a terrorist threat because the pipeline travels right along it.



Below: Fireweed, a wildflower that proliferates particularly after wildfires, covered the countryside.


Thanks, Mom and Dad for making this possible!

Fires Follow Fairbanks

Fires are a simply a part of Alaskan summers. You don't hear about it in the lower 48 because there's so much land up here that no one flinches if 100,000's of acres burn. That is, until it gets close to a community. On my way to Fairbanks after officially ending my roadtrip in Seward, I encountered a fire just after Denali NP and 50 miles from Fairbanks. I had heard of it word of mouth and there was some concern as to whether I would be able to get to Fairbanks in time because the fire had jumped the road at numerous locations and at times the smoke cut the visibility down to nil. What follows are glimpses of my first close-up encounter with an active forest fire, how the sky went from bright blue with scattered clouds to a dense, surrounding canopy of smoke and how the landscape was newly scarred. It was 45,000 acres at the time. I was on my way to meet my new friend, Dave, of LDP a year's prior to my year, who happens to live in Nenana. His living quarters were threatened and his boss lost his home.

So it depends on how the wind blows how smoky Fairbanks is, but the sun has had a hard time getting through because of clouds and smoke. Fairbanksans just have to deal with it. I can't say they've gotten use to it, but they cope. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/09/alaska.wildfire.ap/index.html

That's what the fire looked like June 11th. One week and one week later on my way back from two days in Denali NP. The fire had moved, but was still raging here's what it looked like then. Again it was all blue skies until...(and no, those are not storm clouds...it's smoke!)

The Parks Highway fire is now at "115,500 acres at 60 percent contained.This fire is one mile southeast of Nenana in black spruce, tundra and grass. Numerous residences, native allotments, recreational cabins, commercial property and utility infrastructure remain threatened. Fire activity was minimized due to favorable weather conditions." (http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html)

It's too bad this fire began because someone dumped out there fire barrel before it was cool.

Two years ago there was a huge fire just Northeast of the city in the Chena Hotsprings area (home to the hotsprings and the ice hotel...yes, you can live in a room entirely made of ice, using a caribou hides to separate you from the bed of ice...interested? well you better have a credit card ready and be patient because there's a long waiting list and the price hurts).

Seakayaking in Seward

(Continued update about my trip to Seward over 3 weeks ago...that is, I'm still getting caught up on sharing stories and pics).
So I'm managing to overcome my frugalness, well somewhat. I paid the $70 to go seakayaking for 4 hours. Of course, I tried to make up for it by sleeping in my car for 3 nights. Silly, Liz.
Here are the sights from the trip and then the next day at Exit Glacier just outside of Seward. May I just say that Seward is much more my kind of town than Homer. Mountains over fishing any day for me. Below is the view from our launching point. Yep, it was cloudy and threatening rain, plus it was 45 degrees. I had to suck it up and pile on the layers, but I convinced myself I should go for it.

Below: Our fearless and knowledgable guide.

Below: Me and my 3 co-adventurers who mistook me for a guide as I walked up to the office. How wrong they were! Check out the "pogies" that tried to keep my hands warm.

Below: The waterfall that we paddled 3 miles to. I paddled in the stern and use a rudder for the first time. I think I found another activity that I would really enjoy getting into if the opportunity presented itself. There are great places to camp all along the coast, of course, the tide here can make things interesting.

Below: The view back towards Seward from where we got out to view the waterfalls and eat a some snacks.

Below: One of the greatest surpises and adventures of this trip was crossing this rutted-out, single lane bridge going to and from the beach. We probably should have had helmets on to protect us as we bounced all over the place!

The following am after overnighting in the Supersube I went and hiked around Exit Glacier. I slept great! 10+ hours I think! I finally realized that if I taped up newspaper (I used the Fairbanks visitor guide) into the windows I could block out some of the perpetual sunlight.

Below: The underbelly of the glacier.

Below: The view away from the glacier.

Hope you enjoyed looking at the pics. The next pics will of my summer in Fairbanks and trip to Denali a few weeks ago.

Love,
Me