David writes...

Today, we woke up and we were blessed with a hole in the weather to the north slope.  This was one of our goals, but the weather didn't look good earlier in the week.  The weather briefer and air traffic control said they couldn't believe the day we picked to go as the weather is rarely ever forecasted to be this nice.  

We flew north from Fairbanks and landed at Bettles, Alaska.  Just above the Artic Circle, Jim and I officially joined the Artic Circle Club (Earl is already a member).  After refueling and double-checking the weather reports, we headed east to pick up the "Haul Road."  The Haul Road got its name from all the trucks that hauled supplies to the north slope to build the pipeline.  Supplies are still hauled on it today as the complexes and people living in and around Prudhoe Bay are numerous.  

We followed the Haul Road and pipeline (they run together) across the Brooks Range.  The Brooks Range is a range of mountains running east to west for several hundred miles across the northern part of Alaska.  They are beautiful mountains of average height (4,000' to just over 9,000')  and they separate the north slope of Alaska from the interior.  They are some of the northern most mountains on earth and are considered the end (or beginning) of the Rocky Mountains.   

Even from 8,500', you can tell that building the road and pipeline over and through these mountains is quite a marvel of engineering.  Most spectacular is at Atigun Pass, in the middle of the Brooks Range, where the road and pipeline rise steeply.  

The Brooks Range ends and the north slope begins...just like that.  The north slope is flat country sloping for about 75 to 100 miles to the Arctic Ocean.  The rivers, lakes and earth up here thaw for the first few feet only each summer.  Below a few feet, it is permafrost or permanently frozen ground.  The pipeline is built above ground for most of its length.  The reason being that the flow of the oil through the pipeline, creates friction, which means heat.  The legs of the trusses are built to transfer this heat to the air before it gets to the ground.  If it didn't, the heat would melt the permafrost and the pipeline would sink into the marshy ground.  

Jim and I were flying in the Cardinal as we reached Deadhorse (about five miles south of the Arctic Ocean).  It was about 8:30 p.m., so not much activity.  We asked the controller if we could fly out over the Arctic Ocean, Prudhoe Bay and return for a landing.  He called the oil companies and let them know we would be flying over.  Our instructions were to not fly over any of the complexes.  We were still 20 miles out, so we didn't know what to expect.  The controller also said to keep an eye out for a herd of 10,000 or so Caribou that were east a few miles earlier in the day.   As we got closer to Prudhoe Bay we could see the oil company complexes--they are numerous with pipes running in all directions.   Making a big circle out over the ocean and Prudhoe Bay, we descended for landing at Deadhorse.  

The controller was leaving for the night, but called for fuel for us.  Cell phone coverage was great here, and I was so excited we had just flown over the Arctic Ocean, that I called Debbie!  She was as excited for me as she could be given it was about 11:30 at night her time!   

The sun was out, but after a half hour on the field, we realized how cold the biting wind  was and were ready to get back into the planes.  While we would have liked to have gone to Point Barrow (the furthest most point in the U.S.) about a hour and a half away, it was late and we decided it was better to head back down and not tempt nature.  Good thing too, as while we were passing south through the Brooks, a front started to develop and we picked up rain as the ceilings began to come down.  We got back to Fairbanks around 1 a.m.  

By the way, just a mile or two after take off from Deadhorse, we spotted the Caribou grazing.  I was too far up and my camera doesn't have enough zoom, so I didn't get any pictures.  But there were hundreds of them in and around the oil complexes and pipes.  I believe Earl said their were four major herds of Caribou in Alaska--this must have been one or part of one.  It was interesting to see these animals grazing in such close proximity of the oil fields unfazed by all the unnatural structures in their grazing land.  Interestingly, after the pipeline was built, it was found that Caribou and other animals actually cozied up to the pipeline...they liked the heat it gave off in the winter. 

Back in Fairbanks, we had a drink and toasted our trip to the north slope and our trip as a whole.  Unfortunately, Jim was going to have to leave us in the morning.   He had to get back to Redding and Earl took him to the airport a couple hours later.

In the past two days, we have flown over 16 hours and more than 1,600 miles of the most beautiful, remote and wild country in America and the world.  As disappointed as I was not to make the trip to Russia, I am amazed at the amount of Alaska we got to see and the blessing/luck/good fortune, or whatever you want to call it, of the weather opening in the locations we wanted to see, then closing after we left.  In this land, the weather changes fast and furiously.  I think I speak for Earl and Jim on this when I say that I have a greater appreciation for the pilots who live and fly in these remote areas every day...my hat is off to them. 

That small speck is Earl flying over the Haul Road and the pipeline.

A quick stop on the gravel strip at Bettles made Jim and I official members of the Arctic Circle Club.  Earl already had his membership.

Atigun Pass in the Brooks Range.  

I believe this is the Sagavanirktok River as it empties into the Arctic Ocean.  

Oil company buildings, complexes and pipes intertwine for several miles around Prudhoe Bay.

On the ground at Deadhorse Airport.  

"Hey guys, the north pole is just over 1,200 miles away, if we leave now..."

On the way back across the Brooks Range, the sun was lower and the clouds started moving in.  Next time we'll spend the night to make sure the sun doesn't really set.