OTZ+WLK+Spud+WLK+Spud+OTZ= Cranky Pilot

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Here are some more photos of my weekend at Spud.




This is the sign at the end of the runway out at Spud. This is where me and one of the staff, we'll call him "Bob", were waiting to catch our plane. He was headed home to Selawik and I was heading back to Kotzbue. The routing of the plane was Kotz-Selawik-Spud-Selawik and back to Kotz so staff could rotate. While we were at the runway waiting for the plane, camp security called to say that Bob's relief never got on the plane in Selawik. So when the pilot landed Bob told him of the problem and explained that when we went to Selawik that lady needed to be picked up and brought back to Spud.




So the pilot grumbled about starting and stopping the engine and the price of fuel while he threw our bags into the belly of the Cessna Caravan and off we went for our 5 minute flight to Selawik.




So the plane lands and the village agent for the airline drives up and the pilot, while climbing out of the cockpit says to him, "Nothing like another *ucking cycle for nothing!" Charming, ah?.

So relief lady gets on and Bob gets off and me and relief lady have to spend 20 minutes sitting in the plane while the pilot stands on the ground passive aggressively smoking cigarettes and chatting with some dude. Haha, whatever. So then we take off, head back to Spud to drop off relief lady and then head to Kotzebue.




The path of the flight took us over the village of Noorvik.




Noorvik has about 642 residents.




It is located on the right bank of the Nazuruk Channel of the Kobuk River, 33 miles northwest of Selawik and 45 miles east of Kotzebue.




One of the many tundra lakes on our way back to Kotzebue.




Kotzebue.









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