Above the Arctic Circle once again

I started off the New Year with a ‘quick’ trip up to Selawik Alaska for meeting with the tribal leaders on our plans to refurbish their water treatment plant and add some water and sewer service to 8 new homes added last summer to the community.

There was a large group of us flying up from Anchorage leaving for the airport around 4 am to light snow mixed with rain.  We gathered at the boarding gate in the airport with everyone mostly quiet as we waited to board the plane around 5:30.  Once on board the plane several people took the chance for a quick nap since we were not due to return to Anchorage until almost midnight.  The rest of us chatted briefly or listened to music on our iPods.  We landed in Kotzebue which is a small spit of land on the Arctic Ocean along Norton Sound.  We deplaned from Alaska Airlines and made our way over to Bering Air for our charter flight to Selawik.

Everyone dressed in their arctic gear and boarded the plane in the darkness of the long nights this far north.  There is only one hour a day now that the sun actually rises above the horizon before quickly sliding back down so darkness envelops the landscape.  In the dim cabin light from the planes instruments it looked like eight soldiers quietly sitting there ‘mission ready’ as we made our way across the frozen tundra.  The only break from the dull lightness of the snowscape was the small dark breaks from the many ponds or small streams running everywhere.  The constant whine of the engine cut through the darkness as we made our way eastward until the pilot turned on the airport lights several miles ahead of us.  The two runways looked like small diamonds reflecting on the white snow as we descended toward runway 3 with a landing like many in the bush . . . firm and somewhat bumpy.

As we made our approach to the village it seemed to come alive as there were several snowmachines heading to meet us.  This is a normal occasion as almost every flight into the village brings with it food and supplies the lifeline of the community. 

We walked from the airport to the water treatment which was over a mile away.  The temperature on this day was almost summer like at 5 degrees with light winds.  We walked in the tracks of the snowmachines which is much like walking in deep sand.  Your feet sink up to about the top of the ankles in the fresh snow as we crossed the river leading to the plant.  We could walk over the bridge but it is a harder walk with the ice and snow on the boardwalk.  We needed to stop at the water intake on the far edge of the river and take a water sample which is a pain in winter as you have to take all of the insulation off the pump housing and pull the pump to retrieve the sample.

We walked through the village and it seemed like every dog in town is barking wildly at the ‘new scents’ wandering by.  These hardy mushing dogs live outside in the elements and are aware of things going on around them.  It seems like a loud communication between the different packs in each yard of the houses within the village.   The barking cadence would rise or fall depending how close we were to the yard they were kenneled in.

The day was spent between working on items in the plant and walking to different offices within the village for meetings with the different tribal entities.  There was a meeting at the community center where townspeople showed up to voice their complaints or concerns  about frozen lines on some of the houses and meeting at the tribal council office to go over the plans for the work to be done this season to the water plant.

While we were in the plant I came outside just after noon to take some pictures around the plant that I will need to have the crew complete demolition work to get the new filter bank inside.  We are above the Arctic Circle so this time of year just after Winter Solstice the sun rises only for an hour each day only giving about two and a half hours of light. 

It was strange to see many of the village people came outside and socialize during this brief period of daylight.  Soon everyone was back inside as darkness overcame the village once again.

Our flight back to Kotzebue was to pick us up at 5:30 pm so we headed to the airport around five.  The wind was up now and snow was blowing making the walk harder than the morning stroll.  The children and many of the adults were out in force on the river running snowmachines and 4 wheelers from one side of town to the other.  There must have been thirty or forty machines some pulling sleds with smaller children riding in them.

As we looked towards the west we could see two planes heading for us and several people showed up to take the supplies or mail back to the main part of town.  Supplies were loaded into sleds or the one ‘vehicle’ in town, a Mitsubishi truck on tracks.  This is the first time I have seen this vehicle since mostly its sleds and 4 wheeled vehicles all year.

Both planes landed and one was loaded with supplies so there was a line of people pulling off the boxes and supplies out of the plane and into the sleds. 

I took a couple of pictures in the darkness. 

After a bit we boarded our plane and headed out to Kotzebue where the weather was closing in, making landings impossible.  We had to circle in several holding patterns before we finally made our landing.

We headed back to the Alaska Air terminal to catch the late flight back to Anchorage but soon after we checked in we heard the announcement that the flight had tried to land but diverted to Nome and would try to pick up those passengers before trying to come back to Kotzebue.  Almost an hour later we were told that the flight was canceled and they would be in the morning to try again.

We were all tired and went to the hotel several blocks from the airport where we checked in, dropped off our backpacks and walked up the street to one of two places to get something to eat.  Everyone had a mixture of sustenance that ranged from hamburgers, Asian too fu, to Italian pasta.  There was something for everyone.  While we ate there was a big screen television which the waitress was switching between South Park and something called Bridal Plasty where women who were getting married competed for plastic surgery or lipo suction before their wedding.  Who knew that something like that existed?

We finished dinner and walked outside and across the street to the ocean.  It was frozen solid as far as we could see in the darkness but we walked out on the ice briefly before heading back inside the hotel and a warm bed.  The beds were not comfortable and no one had hot water the next morning so there were not a lot of happy people when we headed back to the airport.  We finally made our way out of Kotzebue in blowing snow and made the short flight to Nome where we sat and watched the ground crew service the plane in blowing 40 knot winds and snow. 

There was one person on the ground crew who stood by the nose of the plane for 45 minutes waiting for the flight to be ready to take off.  He waited while luggage was unloaded, passengers went into the terminal, and stood post while the crew de-iced the plane.  Finally the engines were started and we were ready to taxi back out into the darkness when he waved his flashlights and turned and calmly walked back to his office.  With the wind chill it had to be minus 40 or more but he stood there not fidgeting in the cold.   

The flight back to Anchorage brought us into town just after noontime and it was back to the office with everyone tired, somewhat dirty, and hoping for an afternoon with no major problems to finish the day.  It was a successful trip but one with an unexpected turn which is what makes traveling in such a large state an adventure each time you head out to the next place off the road system.

First trip of the New Year with many more to follow as we bring the Native villages out of the third world into more modern times with clean water, sewer systems, and clinics to treat them without having to be sent to hospitals in the city.

Ice