Patty and I got to charter a plane together at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon due to business matters and we flew to Point Hope, our furthest and northernmost village. Point Hope juts out into the Arctic ocean and north of Point Hope the land curves northeastward to the top of the North American continent and Barrow.
Point Hope is definitely Polar Bear country.
Patty and I as we were flying over the frozen Arctic spotting herds of musk-ox and caribou, looked at each other and just grinned. We were seeing sights and experiencing things others only get to see on TV.
We get paid to do this.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact
carlo@samsicles.net
Last updated:
08/29/05
.jpg "A NAC plane unloading cargo.")
.jpg "Kotzebue in winter. It always looks so small from up here.")
.jpg "Camps across the sound in Cape Krusenstern National Park.")
.jpg "Those dots are musk-ox")
.jpg "Flying along the coast above the Arctic Ocean.")
.jpg "Open leads in the ocean north of Kotzebue.")
.jpg "Passing the village of Kivalina perched precariously on a spit of land.")
.jpg "The Arctic Ocean in winter.")
.jpg "Carlo in the Cessna 207-a Volkswagon with wings.")
.jpg "What can I say?")
.jpg "Another open lead.")
.jpg "Cliffs along the shore.")
.jpg "In summer the pilots cannot fly this close because of the thousands of migratory birds.")
.jpg "Just beautiful.")
.jpg "The Point Hope clininc.")
.jpg "Patty outside the Point Hope Native Store")
.jpg "The warning sign on the door of the store.")
.jpg "The transport this time was in style. A truck instead of snowmachine and sled.")
.jpg "Loading up for the trip home. Patty holding the cargo door for the pilot.")
.jpg "The pilot flew along the edge of the pack ice for a bit to the north of Point Hope looking for Polar Bears.")
.jpg "Patty scanning the ice.")
.jpg "The edge of the ice meets the ocean.")
.jpg "A view north.")
.jpg "Point Hope")
.jpg "The sun breaking through the clouds and shining on the ice below.")
.jpg "More cliffs. Note that we are flying lower than the cliffs.")
.jpg "This is an area where the military had experimental plans to using a nuclear device in the 50's to blast a harbor.")
.jpg "The pilot and cockpit.")
.jpg "We did spot where a polar bear had made a path along one of the leads.")
.jpg "Patty taking a nap.")
.jpg "The storage buildings for the Red Dog mine, the worlds largest zinc mine. The ore is stored here in winter and shipped out after breakup.")
.jpg "There is an old WWII runway on that bluff which is located in Cape Krusenstern National Park.")
.jpg "Again, those dots are musk-ox.")
.jpg "The runway in Kotzebue. If you come to visit the Alaska Air 727 you will fly in on will land on that short strip.")
.jpg "Once again, Kotzebue.")
.jpg "Rolling past the end of the runway as we taxi in.")