Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Commuting Alaskan Style.

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Here are some photos from my Friday morning commute to work.

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Flying to work that morning in Northwest Aviation's Cessna 206.



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Me, the pilot, one other person and tons of stuff. I am amazed at how much stuff the pilot crammed in there.



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Heading down the runway.



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This is Lockard Point, about 5 miles outside of Kotzebue. In the background is the mouth of the Noatak River where it empties into Kotzebue Sound.



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A closer shot of Lockard Point and the Noatak mouth.



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Pressure ridge on Kobuk Lake (Hotham Inlet).



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Tundra near the village of Noorvik.



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These are seismic lines. These lines can be found all over Alaska even in the most remote areas. These lines were created years ago when regions all over Alaska were being explored for oil and whatnot. During the winter equipment was brought up that would send sound waves into the earth and the waves reflected back were analyzed to see if they showed deposits. Large paths were cut through the vegetation so that the equipment could go in straight lines. The vegetation on the tundra grows very slowly so these paths will be visible for many, many years. Well, either that or these are survey lines...one or the other.



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This is the village of Noorvik. Can you see it?



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Here is my destination. Maniilaq's family recovery camp, Mapsigvik, about 10 miles outsiide of the village of Selawik.



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This is where I was last Friday through Monday evening which is why the blog has been so quiet.

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4 comments:

Peruby said...

Okay. Did you just parachute out? Did they just push you out the door? I don't see any landing photos. LOL!

Anonymous said...

Oh Boy! The picture of all the freight inside the plane reminds me of a trip I did between Inuvik and Paulatuk once - with a washer and dryer in front of myself and two other passengers. When the side door blew open on the tarmac before take- off, we all yelled like banshees for the pilot's attention... Thankfully, he heard us and could secure the door - but I'm not sure any one of us took a real breath before we landed.

K'man said...

So when you fly into a recovery camp for a week, what do you do? Are you the camp photographer? Medic? Story teller to entertain for the week?
As I read your blog (look at the pictures) I long to take a trip to America's great state and see it for myself. Of course, I would have to convince the rest of the family to go that far north.
So is it true, can you see Russia from your house?

Cathy said...

No, I didn't have to parachute out the door. There is a landing strip out there.

K'man, when I go out there I am filling in when they have a staff shortage.