North Pole, AK - Flying To Deadhorse 2

Well, people come up here to work, eat and sleep. 14 days on and 14 days off is the regular schedule for the workers here - no need to make it homey.

Here’s our ‘dorm.’

Now, before we check into our room, we need to obey the bootie protocol. It’s muddy around here and to keep the mud outside, we put on booties - either over our shoes if we are going to leave right away or, we can put our shoes on the shelves if we’re going to stay for a while and just wear the booties over our socks.

And, here’s our room. Twin beds, twin closets, a kind-of desk near the window. But, check out the light, right over the bed and the plug-in? Right below it, right over the pillow - looks like a real opportunity to bang ones head. The heat was marvelous. Now, where is the bathroom? Not in the room, not just down the corridor, but down the corridor, around the corner and down the next corridor, a long way away. In the women’s bathroom, 1 shower, 2 stalls and an 8” step up to get into any of these. The men’s room had 4 showers and 4 stalls. Obviously lots more men come here than women. Probably the most women come here for the summer tours.

We then took a tour of the area getting a chance to look at all the territory and the particular materials and equipment that are used for such a large undertaking. By the way, Deadhorse is pretty empty right now since the work up here is all done in the winter, when the ground is frozen and hard enough to hold all the equipment. There are thousands of people up here in the winter, less than a hundred in the summer.

Here are some things we noticed.

We met a German traveler named Klute who is biking from here to Patagonia in Argentina. From the top to the bottom of the Americas. His bike took a beating on the drive up here. The road, Dalton Highway is mostly dirt and it is the wet season. He built this bike and it’s been all over Europe. He’s been up here for 3 days waiting for better weather to head south.

Lots of heavy earth-moving equipment waiting for winter. Have you noticed all the water and mud in the outdoor pictures.

Here’s one of the new hotels in the area. Everything is built on stilts, nothing has a foundation since it is all permafrost here. A building with heat would melt the permafrost and then the foundation would be unsteady.

There is a general store and we checked it out.

I bought a t-shirt for my brother and we drooled over the Brach's Spice Drops. Can’t find these anywhere in the lower 48 since each store has its own brand. But, $4.00 is a bit much for us to pay. Everything is a bit more expensive up here since it has to be hauled so far.

Then we joined a larger tour for a trip to the Arctic Ocean. Still mostly covered with ice and small ice floes. But you have to step into it, right? Isn’t that the capper for the trip? NO? Yeah, you’ve got to be half crocked to do that. And, here are Gary and I standing in the Arctic Ocean. Funny, only one other person in our group did this. I wonder why. Oh, yeah, the ice floes. Gee Whilikers, that ocean is cold.

Typical landscaping around here. Permafrost and water. It’s called a wet desert since only 7” of precipitation falls per year but it is wet with all the ice.

When they bring up the oil, gas and water also come up. They separate these and put the water and gas back into the earth to maintain the pressure. In this case, some gas burned off and this company will be fined for this.

Here are some drills for new oil.

Here’s someone who drove their own RV up here. Not ours. I wouldn’t do that. Remember, this truck has to drive back. I'd rather be in someone else's vehicle.

This is truly a memorable highway but I’m not sure it’s scenic.



There's always a clown. 

Then back to the camp for dinner. Long galley kitchen, church dinner tables and chairs. Hey, where are the white table cloths and the flowers on each table? Not here, this room continues the industrial atmosphere. But the food was delicious and there were 6 choices in the buffet ranging from Mexican to Hungarian to Polynesian. Chicken, pork, beef, and a salad bar and a big blueberry buckle with cinnamon whipped cream. No, it was not Cool Whip, this was a real kitchen with a real chef - it was cinnamon whipped cream.

Here’s Mike and Elyse in the kitchen. He’s the chef, she collects the money and helps Mike.

And. here’s the dining hall with the kitchen in back.

By this time it’s 8:00, time to head back to our quarters and take a shower. Our dorm is the white building.

However, we are joined by another group of tourists, a Road Scholar group (previous name: Elder Hostel) with at least 15 women. And only one shower. I took my shower stuff, thinking that at least I could sponge off but - wonder of wonders - there was no one in the shower and I had it all to myself. WOW.

Then to bed. Lonely Planet had it right, this will stick in our memories. The setting, the atmosphere, the accommodations, all interesting and a real taste of what it must be like to live up here.