A Day in the Arctic

Woke up, fell out of bed

Dragged a comb across my head

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup

And looking up, I noticed I was late

Found my coat and grabbed my hat

Made the bus in seconds flat

Lennon/McCartney

June 27, 2021

My day in the Arctic certainly felt that rushed. Except for the comb part. Ha!

The wake up for the Arctic Circle adventure was 5:15 am. A tour starting at 6 am! Seriously, I woke up, fell out of bed, but it wasn't me that was late, it was the Lyft driver. But I did make the bus with time to spare. I have to continue the tradition of famous song themes in my blog you know.

Vacations are always about adapting to the unexpected. I've used my cool Vibedration hydration pack (like a Camelbak) at many festivals. It's great for carrying water and has pockets for stuff so it would be perfect for hiking trips and kayak trips and other excursions without worrying about water bottles or plastic. Of course it chose this weekend to spring a leak. Do you realize how much time it took to get that thing packed? Seriously, I unpacked and packed at least three times with different clothes rolling methods to get it in.

Welp, back to the regular day pack and...plastic water bottles, because why would I bring my handy and awesome Hydaway collapsible water bottles when I have my Vibedration. Always have redundancy right?

If you don't know, or I haven't said yet, most of Alaska is considered a sub-arctic zone. Part of Alaska is actually in the Arctic Circle, 66 degrees latitude. So we set off for a great adventure to that spot.

The planned 16 hour excursion would include a stop at a cafe halfway from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle. We found out on the morning of the trip that the cafe unexpectedly closed down its kitchen. So plan B was a stop/scramble at the local Safeway to get some kind of lunch. The problem is it was 7 am and not a whole lot was stocked yet and the deli was open yet. I got macaroni salad, cheese, salami, and bread. It wasn't until on the way out the door that I noticed the yummy looking cherries (from Washington State, probably). And I forgot veggies. Scramble. Mode. Expect the unexpected.

On the long trip north, we were regaled by our driver/ tour guide/botanist/historian on the joys and perils of living in Alaska and what the pioneers here dealt with. Cold, harsh, dark winters. Gold rushes, oil discoveries, statehood. Most people who live in Alaska came from somewhere else in the "lower 48." Alaska Natives are those born here. Native Alaskans are the indigenous peoples, who archeologists and geologists belive arrived across a now covered land bridge from Russia during the Ice Age. All of them nomadic tribes.

Alaskans, every one of them I have met, said they moved here for various reasons but the intention was only for "a little while." One more year,  they say. That year usually turns in to 15, 20, 30, etc. Alaska gets a hold of you.  Mel, our driver, came here for school at University of Alaska- Fairbanks, fell in love with the place and never left.

We drove the Dalton Highway, a loose term,  as it is a mostly gravel road. This is the road featured on the "reality" TV series. "Ice Road Truckers." Mostly though it is dramatized fake jeopardy.  Those trucks don't really have much trouble navigating the hills and ice and snow. People standing in the road are the ones in peril danger and get plastered if not watching.

We learned about methods of gold mining and prospecting. We learned of the difference between black spruce and white spruce trees. The difference between Aspen and Birch trees. That the tundra isn't just a sheet of frozen ice or ground. 

We traveled along next to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and learned its troubled and prosperous history and why some of it is buried underground and some sections have to be above ground on specialty made platforms and ice posts. Thousands of men and women moved to Alaska hoping to work on construction and its high paying jobs. Not all were fortunate to land those jobs. Delays over lawsuits, environmental issues, landscape challenges (how does a pipeline traverse a very steep mountain cliff?) plagued the project. But it was completed in 3 years and Alaska received a healthy sum of money. So much so, that the state was able to set up a permanent fund whose investment earnings provide an annual dividend to each resident of Alaska. To this day, the average annual payout from the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD), from interest on the fund only, is about $1500 each. 

The trees, buildings, pipelines all have to adapt to the permafrost. Just below the surface in the far northern hemisphere, there is solid layer of soil and rock held together by ice. All year round. You can't build houses with running water or interior plumbing if it is on permafrost. It will melt and your house will crumble into the soil. So they can't put a pipeline with hot oil running through it into the permafrost or it will melt, bust the pipes and you have an ecological disaster. Many houses in Fairbanks use outhouses or septic tanks on parts of land that do not have permafrost.  Some residents don't shower at home; they do it at jobs where facilities exist away from the permafrost. It is selective and not constant in a neighborhood, or a city. 

White Spruce trees can not grow in permafrost, they sort of grow their roots sideways, and they are kind of ugly, skinny, sickly looking, crooked trees. But they aren't dead. They just adapted to the surroundings. If you see small or no trees and just low lying vegetation and flowers, there is a good chance that the permafrost is there. This is what make the tundra.

White spruce trees have leaves and shapes exactly like the black spruce, but they hate the permafrost. They are more full, like a Christmas tree. They are greener and prettier. When you see them, there is no permafrost in that spot.

In all of Alaska, there are only about 8 species of trees. Two more are the Alaskan Paper Birch and the Quaking Aspen. Similar white or grey bark, but the leaves on the aspen are silvery and when the wind blows them, they sort of shimmer and flutter and looks like it is quaking. The leaves on the birch are greener and the bark kind of peels off like paper. It is sweet smelling and like maple, produces a sap that is harvested for syrup. Birch syrup. I had some on pancakes. Delicious.

Finger Mountain is a place on the tundra that is in a higher altitude than the surrounding plain. Just an outcropping that has no business being there. But it does serve as a landmark for plane pilots that may be lost. And also an ideal spot for the Native Alaskans to view the caribou herds and to plot an ambush to catch them for food and clothing. They would use every bit of the animal.

Back home after then16 hour journey, arriving at 11 pm, it is still daylight. We recently passed the summer solstice, where the true midnight sun is overhead in the far Northern Hemisphere.  The Earth's axis is currently angled toward the sun, and the Arctic Region receives 24 hours of daylight.

In winter, the axis is pointing away from the sun, and those 24 hours are in darkness. Many inhabitants have seasonal depression and have vitamin D deficiency. 

So I wind the day down with the midnight sun (and my handy dark eyemask) in Fairbanks and bid adieu. 

Next, the wilderness tour. Didn't I tell you it would be wild?