Coldfoot,
Alaska,
United States
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
An early start again, to drive to Fairbanks. Fairbanks was founded on gold and then on black gold - oil. We saw the Trans Alaska Pipeline which goes across Alaska - from Valdez ( where the fated tanker got its name) in the South to Dead Horse in the North. Half of the pipeline is underground and it zig zags its way across the tundra - about 800 mile, I think. They had to consider two things when building it - one was earthquakes which are a very common thing up here and these are still changing the topography of Alaska. Anchorage had a severe earthquake doing a lot of damage and so the pipeline sits on a plate that floats on the stand that the pipe is on. The other reason is the permafrost which is the earth that is permanently frozen which is under a lot of Fairbanks and Alaska. It is the layer under the soil and is permafrost if it has not thawed in two years. Evidently roads become bumpy and it is difficult for road construction but we didn't notice it too much. They had a system to ensure the warm oil didn't melt the permafrost otherwise the pipeline would just sink. They had fins on the side of the struts that were filled with ammonium ??? that also has a low boiling point which took the heat away from the permafrost back up into the atmosphere. As you can imagine the building of the pipeline was enormously expensive but the oil has made many of the native races very rich as it was found on traditional land. Fairbanks is very cold in winter going down to minus 40 to 60 and in the middle of winter the sun may rise about 11am and set about 1pm. Equally in Summer they can play all sorts of sports starting at midnight and not need any form of artificial lights. The guide said the only people in Fairbanks are those who have to be there (US Forces) and those who are running away from something. It reminded me a bit of Kalgoolie - founded on gold. He said the red light district was called the red flower district as in Summer there is no need for lights. Everything was warmed including the footpaths in the town (about 35,000 people)where big pipes blew warm air produced by gas. Gold miners built gun barrel log huts - so called because if you opened the front and back door you could fire a shot right through. We went on a paddle boat ride down the Chanana river. Saw some lovely log houses, a sled dog camp, a traditional Athabasken fish camp and village which had been all set up commercially - but it was very good. Then came what I had been waiting for - the flight over the Arctic Circle. The weather was OK, so I felt confident. We set off at 7pm in a twin engine Navajo Chieftan plane with 7 aboard with the pilot and yours truly parked up the front as the co-pilot. We flew over more tundra which at first was pretty and the further north we got the more remote, wild, unpopulated and desolate it became - but no snow or ice yet - in a few more weeks. We crossed the Yukon River flowing east to west bisecting the state of Alaska. - for 7 months it is frozen over - wide but shallow and could imagine the gold miners there years ago. At 66.33 degrees north the pilot congratulated us on crossing the Arctic Circle. We flew between the Brooks Mountain Range and landed at Coldfoot which again was an old mining stop , located at mile 175 of the Dalton Highway and were then taken by van along the Dalton Highway for about 45 minutes to Wiseman where a few people live in a little village completely self sufficient. They catch salmon and smoke them during early summer and then shoot a moose or caribou for meat. The few log houses were made from logs they had cut and then put lichen in the cracks. We didn't see the people but we doubt if they were full Athabasken as the houses looked more like miners cabins. There was a small school which had been built but now the 2/3 children there are home schooled. There was a tiny museum and by this time it was 10pm and just getting dark. We went back to Coldfoot and he took us to the truck stop - the one and only place besides the airstrip in the place. It looked like a truck stop that you would see in our outback - huge trucks outside - empty ones going south, full going north - some tired dirty truckies having a hearty meal in a small café area selling steak and coffee. The Dalton Highway which we were on is the one and only highway north and was built as a haul road for the pipeline. The pipeline was constructed in 1974 - 77 and the road became public in 1980. It is bumpy because of the permafrost below, but not as bad as some of our roads. The truckies earn up to US$250,000 per annum driving the 416mile icy highway. Back in the plane in the pitch dark it was just a case of trusting to God, luck and the pilot as we took off into the darkness, back over the tundra and mountains. The lights of Fairbanks were welcome and the pilot was very good, so we arrived safely at midnight having been to the most northern spot, we will probably get. We had hoped to see the Aura Borialis (Northern Lights) but all conditions have to be right for that to happen and we were probably a bit early - has to be really dark, clear and cold and the sun and atmosphere correct for them to be seen. However another really packed, interesting and exciting day with an official Arctic Circle certificate to boot.
