We awoke just after 4a and got our showers. Left the hotel at 5:45a so we could be at the Fairbanks airport to take our drive to the Arctic Circle at 6a. We chose to go with Northern Alaska Tour Company. The coach was nice, in addition to the four of us there were nine others. Mostly older, with the exception of a woman that was traveling alone. Our guide was a nice woman named Hannah who, while born in Washington and currently studying nursing there, lived in Fairbanks most of her life.
Left town heading north on Elliott Highway (AK2), a paved if a little bumpy road. There was evidence of a recent forest fire in charred trees, even a burn that crossed right through the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. The pipeline is fine, however, as it’s 4″ of insulation protects it from forest fires. We also passed an encampment of trailers and the like that the firefighters are using as a base of operations to fight the fire. Alaska normally has a “let it burn” policy but fires that threaten homes are fought. Along the pretty drive of black and white spruce, birch, and some small marshy ponds Hannah went into detail about the founding of the town and we watched a short video about gold mining.
Shortly thereafter Hannah pointed out the last power pole. Everything from that point and north is powered by generator or some other means. Cell service also completely died at about that time. We hopped on the Dalton Highway, the primary road from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. The 400+ mile road is fairly narrow (especially considering its primary traffic is long haul trucks) two lane dirt road with a few short stretches of pavement. The pavement is actually worse as the permafrost it is built on freezes and thaws throughout the year causing the road to buckle. Hannah pointed out a stretch of road made famous by Ice Road Truckers called “The Roller Coaster” — basically a huge trip down then back up the side of some hills.
Dalton Highway sign marking the beginning of the highway
Representative stretch of the Dalton Highway
A number of miles down the road we came upon the Wildwood General Store in Joy, Alaska and got out to shop and use the restrooms. Charming shop run by homesteaders, didn’t find much to buy however. The mosquitoes were particularly brutal and some got into the bus as well. After getting back on the bus we watched a video about the making of the pipeline from 1973 to 1977. Really fascinating stuff, all sorts of interesting facts (that I won’t bore you with).
We got out a bit down the road and walked to a section of the pipeline and Hannah pointed out some neat things. The pipeline runs above the ground in permafrost areas (due to worries that the 100F+ oil would melt the permafrost) and below in non-permafrost areas. Turns out to be about 50/50 split between the two over the entire 800 mile run of the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. When elevated the pipeline is suspended by two pipe looking things that Hannah informed us must be called “vertical support structures” instead of pipe. That was a very important during construction as the pipe laying union wanted that part of the pipeline work and the Teamsters union won it by insisting it wasn’t pipe. There are also arches with clearance stated clearly one either side of the pipeline when the access road has to go under the pipeline. The intent is that any truck that is accidentally over the clearance limit would not want to find that out by hitting the pipeline. There are also bumpers on the vertical support structures as the pipeline itself is allowed to move horizontally within its support during an earthquake (Alaska has a lot of earthquake activity). Finally at the top of the vertical support structures were some kind of venting vane and (something something Chemistry-related) helped regulate the temperature of the supports in the permafrost. I didn’t fully follow that part, haha.
Our guide Hannah talking about the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline
Closeup of pipeline and the bumper to stop the pipe should it sway in an earthquake
Clearance gates on either side of the pipeline to ensure that too-high trucks don't hit the pipe
The pipeline and Dalton Highway
Rode a bit more north and crossed the Yukon River over an impressive bridge. Loudspeakers lined the span. Apparently it is always watched by Alyeska (the company that runs the pipeline and represents all of the individual oil companies like Exxon and BP) down in Anchorage and if any foot traffic tries to cross they yell at the walkers. Yukon River Camp was neat, a frontier outpost with running water and some decent toilets. Picked up our bag lunches and hopped back on the bus.
A bit later we entered the tundra. Even little trees were largely absent and the landscape was covered in lush small bushes, grasses, and flowers. In places granite “tors” were scattered about, one over 40′ above the tundra was called “Finger Mountain” and is used by pilots as a navigational aid. We walked around and up one of the granite outcroppings. Very pretty, especially with all of the gorgeous purple flowers all over the place.
Tundra near Finger Mountain
Granite outcroppings near Finger Mountain
Forty foot Finger Mountain off in the distance
More granite
Tundra with gorgeous purple flowers
Finally about 2p or so we reached the Arctic Circle. Hannah laid out a mat with a dotted line in front of the very nice Arctic Circle sign and shook our hands as we crossed over (legend has it that every crossing adds a year of life, haha). Had a little chocolate chip cake and cream and a cup of water to celebrate.
Arctic Circle sign
Signing the back of the Arctic Circle sign
Hopped back on the bus and headed south, stopping shortly thereafter to go on a “tundra walk”. It was a neat experience. The clumps of grass were more solid but hard to stand on without rolling ones ankle into the space between the clumps. Hannah used a garden trow to dig into the dirt and we got to feel the still-frozen earth (amazingly dark, rich soil). She also picked some quite tart blueberries for us to eat.
View of the elevated pipeline
Closeup of the tundra and its dense clumps of vegetation
Went back to the Yukon and the Yukon River Camp for dinner, arriving just after 5p. The burgers, fries, etc. were actually really good. I had a bacon cheeseburger, potato salad, root beer, and cherry pie a la mode. After dinner we walked down to the Yukon and stuck our fingers in it (not as cold as I expected) and got some pictures.
Yukon River Camp way north of Fairbanks
Bridge over the mighty Yukon River
Tried to stay awake the rest of the trip but I was in-and-out of consciousness. Had been a very long day and an exhausting week. There was a video about Gates of the Arctic National Park that I mostly missed but what I did see was beautiful. We also stopped back by the trading post and got a few souvenirs. Two more hours found us back in Fairbanks where we got certificates for crossing the Arctic Circle and said goodbye to the tour.
Wildwood General Store in Joy, Alaska
Hannah really was great. She told many stories of her growing up in Fairbanks, the activities she did, friends and homesteaders she knows. Sang a couple of really good songs (she was in choir and sang very well), recited a long poem about the Klondike Gold Rush, and was generally very knowledgeable. She does the tours for the summer before heading back to Washington and nursing college. She told us about the native corporations, the Alaska dividend that every native gets from the oil profits (she got $1200 this year), etc. Tour guides make or break a tour and she definitely enhanced it.
It was 10p or so by now, left the airport (which has awesome charter planes and even a long artificial pond for use by floatplanes) and headed to McDonalds for some tea and then the hotel for sleep. Light day tomorrow along with some laundry.
Charter planes at Fairbanks Airport
Route for Friday, July 17, 2015