Over the Arctic Circle and Anaktuvuk PassAug 6, 2008
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4 am check in for my "Native Culture" tour
heading north out of Fairbanks
clearing skies, a good start to the day
My head is still spinning with all I saw and learned and it has been cloudy and raining since I got back so I still haven't gotten a story written but as we have finally a sunny day and my internet is working I am going to post the pictures before we move on to Fairbanks today. I took a tour with Northern Alaska tour company by van and plane on the 6th., one of the only days we had nice enough weather to fly. There were 8 of us so it was a really nice tour. I shared the van/plane with a great family from the Chicago area on vacation and a couple over from England to celebrate his birthday. What a great group of people, I really enjoyed the company and Stephanie,our tour guide was great. I was busy as usual with my camera and got lots of pictures. Hope you all enjoy them and I will be back to tell you more about the trip soon. My arctic circle adventure began when we(7 other tourists & our guide) left Fairbanks at 5am to travel in a 10 passenger van up the Dalton Highway to Coldfoot and then by a small 8 passenger plane up over the Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Brooks mountain range to the Nunamiut Eskimo village of Anaktuvuk Pass for a walking tour of the village and then a flight back to Fairbanks. I went with Northern Alaska Tour Company and would recommend them to anyone interested. They were very helpful in sitting up my tour and Stephanie, our guide, really knew her stuff. I really am glad I took the drive/fly trip as I learned so much more about this whole area on the drive portion and totally fell in love with the Brooks mountain range on our flight over it. This IS what Alaska is all about, the BIG wide open spaces and huge mountains and valleys, it just amazed me over and over how much wild country there is and if I get another chance to fly over Alaska this way in a small plane you can bet I will jump on it. We didn't fly really high like the big planes but it sure was the biggest high I have ever had. If you can't tell, I am still in awe of it all, its like I felt at the Grand Canyon- you can take pictures and pictures but you can never get it all-- its that big. This was the best part of the trip for me so far. On the road trip, we stopped every couple hours to get out and stretch, restroom breaks, and just because there was so much to see,read and take pictures of. The Dalton highway surprised me by being partly paved and not anywhere as bad a road as I had heard from years past. We met a few big trucks but Stephanie says they now try to run the tourist stuff during the day, and the work trucks at night but if you meet one or see one coming up behind you, you slow down and let them go because they are working.. We stopped and walked under the Trans Alaska Pipeline, It is truly amazing that anyone could have planned this out and had it work as it does. At the Yukon River, we drove over the only bridge over this river in Alaska- You can't stop on the bridge because the pipeline also crossed here and they won't take a chance on terrorism or sabotage but we stopped at a visitors info cabin and walked down to the river for pictures. At the Arctic Circle we stopped and all crossed over the imaginary line as Stephanie welcomed us to the Arctic and we got a certificate for our Arctic Circle travel. It was fun and so was the great group I traveled with. There was a family of 5 from the Chicago,IL area and a couple over from England and I sure enjoyed their company for the day. I was as usual busy taking pictures and gave both families our card so they can check and see what my pictures turned out like and make copies of them if they like. The flight to Anaktuvuk Pass and back to Fairbanks was fantastic, I saw Dall sheep, Caribou, great mountains and valleys and rivers and wild wild country, when it rained we had rainbows or parts of them all over . It was a fantastic day, I learned so much about the whole area I would have to write a book to tell you all about it so I sure hope the pictures will give you a better idea and if anyone has questions, please just email me at the website or call and I will share what I know. Thank God for this great country he has given us to live in and for my opportunity to share it with you. Hugs and good wishes until next time.
