due to permafrost
Barrow is an interesting town. I could describe it as "primitive", but that's not really fair. "Utilitarian" might be a better word. Roads aren't paved because they'd be destroyed by frost heave, and none reach more than about 15 miles out of town anyway. Buildings were all mostly on pilings so that they didn't melt the underlying permafrost and collapse. Old cars and other large items sat in many yards as a source of salvage instead of being disposed of. Everything comes in by air or barge, and barges can only make it a couple months out of the year. I had hired a guide to show me around town and he said it cost $8000 to ship his pickup into town. Fuel gets barged in once a year and stored. There are natural gas wells that produce for local use and electricity generation, but there's no avenue to ship it out for commercial production. The native Inupiat still practice subsistence hunting and many houses had strips of caribou meat hanging out drying.
There's a pretty good tourist economy, with several hotels and restaurants. Alaska Airlines operates 2 flights a day there. I stayed at the King Eider Inn, which was right across the street from the airport. It was comfortable and the Wi-fi worked, what more could you want?
I had packed prepared for some cold weather, but it went mostly unused. The coldest it got one afternoon was around the mid-40's; most of my stay it was in the mid-50's. As another bonus, the mosquitoes weren't particularly troublesome. They tended to approach slowly and would blow away in any breeze.
I accomplished my goal of seeing some snowy owls, and one even cooperated for some nice photos!
| Snowy Owl |
The buildings are all on pilings due to permafrost |
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After a couple days of foggy and mostly overcast skies, the sun came out again in Barrow. I was seriously tempted to stay another day, but that meant risking not being able to get back into Fairbanks the following day (if the weather forecasts were to be believed). I settled for a late afternoon departure, and spent the morning doing more bird photography.
After chatting with the folks at the FSS, I filed my first DVFR flight plan (no different than a VFR flight plan except a different box gets checked) to fly through the ADIZ and around Point Barrow. No big deal. Nor was the maintenance crew who were working on a portion of the runway while aircraft were asked to land beyond them. Aviation is just a little more practical in Alaska.
| Very, very north! | Point Barrow |
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I called for fuel after the flight. It took a while as the fuelers had to swap trucks offsite (they had been driving around with Jet A). It wasn't until later that I noticed in addition to the $8.50/gal fuel, a $75 callout fee was tacked on. What can you do? (Regular unleaded was $5.90 in town. No more complaining about high gas prices in the lower 48!)
The outlook for the flight to Fairbanks looked OK, although smoke from distant wildfires had blown into the Brooks Range. Bettles had gone IFR due to low visibility. The first part of trip was fine flying at 5500', but things started getting hazy due to the smoke approaching the Brooks Range. I climbed to 7500 and then to 9500 to try to stay above the smoke, and found myself sandwiched between the smoke below and clouds above. There were some occasional showers, but it didn't seem to do much to reduce the smoke. Forward visibility seemed good, but essentially featureless as the haze below obscured the terrain save looking straight down.
I considered calling for an IFR clearance, but I didn't want to be sent higher and into the clouds, so I flew on expecting better conditions to the south. Ground visibility eventually improved and I descended into Fairbanks uneventfully.
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Oumalik River or perhaps the middle of nowhere |
Approaching the Brooks Range |
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As I was securing the aircraft, my cell phone rang. It was flight service calling because I was overdue on my flight plan. Oops. I had gotten accustomed to having them closed automatically by flight service on CTAF at Deadhorse and Barrow.
Tom met me at the airport again and we chatted over dinner regarding my experiences. He was particularly interested in how well the PIREPs I had called in were reflected in the actual reports - some ok, but some not so accurately. As sparse as weather stations are in Alaska, PIREPs are a useful tool to gauge conditions. I saw several during the trip with comments specifically calling out whether some pass or other was open.
Tom mentioned that it must be the week for visiting Barrow as he had met a couple at the airport campground who had flown out there in a Cessna 182. They had noticed my plane on the ramp at Barrow, wondering if it was some sort of experimental.
It was raining in the morning, so that was a good excuse to sleep in. As mentioned previously, Sophie Station offers a free shuttle that visits some points of interest around town. I took advantage of it and spent the afternoon at the University of Alaska's Museum of the North.