July 23 - A flight inside the Arctic Circle

What a thrill I had today - a flight inside the Arctic Circle!  I've switched to working 4 days, 10 hours per day, so Tuesday was my first day off without Susan.  While disappointed we weren't doing something together today (though we are riding the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage for our days off this weekend), I took Arctic Circle Air Adventure flight from Healy Airstrip to Coldfoot and Wiseman, 60 miles inside the Arctic Circle.  This flight was the highlight of Susan's summer in 2018.  

Air Arctic flies Piper Navajo Chieftain, a twin-engine prop plane used by many excursion companies because of its reliability.  Over 3700 built by Piper, the Navajo is a 9-passenger plane piloted by Ben Calhoun, a Certified Flight Instructor. Thousands of hours in the left seat for sure!  

The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line around the earth at 66 degrees 33 minutes north latitude. It marks the southernmost point from which the sun's rays can be seen on the horizon at midnight of the longest day of the year (summer solstice).  Conversely, it is the southernmost point at which the sun's rays cannot be seen at noon of the shortest day of the year (winter solstice).  

 

Crossing 7 countries, this is what the Arctic Circle looks like from the air.  Hard to hear, but at the end of the video, I'm saying "3...2...1...Mark.  Outside the Arctic Circle."  What a thrill!  Did you see the line?  

We actually flew out of the Healy airstrip rather than Fairbanks, making this a 75 minute flight to Coldfoot, then a van ride to Wiseman to meet Jack Reakoff. Coldfoot is at mile 175 of the 414 mile long Dalton Highway, which you probably know better from Ice Road Truckers.  Coldfoot is the only gas station in the world inside the Arctic Circle. 

With a population of 34, Coldfoot was a gold mining town during the Yukon gold rush of the late 1800s-early 1900s.  About 10,000 came to Coldfoot, but when winter came, 9,000 left.  They got "cold feet."  Why the town is Coldfoot rather than Coldfeet, no one knows.  

Jack Reakoff is a trapper and subsistence hunter/fisher, born and raised in Alaska, who literally lives off the land.  In case you can't read the moose antler, it says "Wiseman - 63 miles inside the Arctic Circle."

Jack has built the homes that he, his wife Nickie, and children live in. They are super insulated (39 inches of fiberglass in the ceiling) and during the winter he piles snow on top of the roof as well (more insulation; think igloo!).  The ceilings are low, about 6 1/2 feet high (less space to keep warm), with triple pane windows strategically placed for maximum light but no more than one window per side of the house.  Wiseman is home to 12 people.  Jack talked to us about living on the land: the vegetables that they grow; how he kills, skins, and cuts up for meat a moose, caribou, or wolverine; fishing for salmon and halibut; and surviving in 40 below temperature.  He is probably the most intelligent, pragmatic person I've ever met, but he has to be in order to survive 8 months of winter inside the Arctic Circle in Alaska.  I hope you'll take a moment to read more about Jack Reakoff.

After leaving Wiseman and heading back south to Coldfoot, we got on our Piper and flew back to Healy.  I took a lot of pictures along the way. They're a bit washed out because I was shooting through the airplane window, but I hope you enjoy them. 

From the air, so many oxbows and braided streams.

Confluence of Nenana and Tanana Rivers, where Nenana Ice Classic is held.  

Right arrow - railroad bridge over Tanana River.           Left arrow - Parks Highway Bridge

This is the huge Yukon River, the 3rd longest river in North America.  This is the only bridge in Alaska over the Yukon River for its entire 1,982 mile length.  (There are 3 other bridges over the Yukon River, but they are in Canada.)  This bridge carries both the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline over the Yukon River.   

The Dalton Highway parallels the Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Fairbanks north to Prudhoe Bay.  (The pipeline continues south from Fairbanks to Valdez, a total of 800 miles.  Here is a link for more detail on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, an incredible engineering marvel.  Completed in 1977 and designed to last 25 years, because of the incredible "over" engineering, it is projected to last another 50 years!)

These are flowers from Jack's home:  on the left, the state flower of Alaska - the Forget Me Not and on the right Sierra Larkspur.

 

And my certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle.  What a thrill!

Oh happy day!!  And for our weekend together, we're riding the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage to spend the night away from Denali.  More on that trip soon.