981 July 10, 2023 Galbraith Lake
Good morning from the end of the northernmost road in the United States…extreme northern Alaska!
We are so very far from home. Thanks for the picture, Leanne!
We made one more trip to town.
We planned to camp out this evening and the mosquitoes have been ferocious. We decided we needed to get more protection. We walked out of the Brooks Supply Store with $39.98 worth of repellants.
There was a guy sitting in his truck outside the store. He saw our purchases and laughed. He told us to look for caribou if there are lots of mosquitoes. Those buggers love the caribou. Scientists think that herds of caribou move to escape the hordes of mosquitoes. They will expend unnecessary energy trying to get away and will even leave a place where the food source in ample. I might have something in common with those caribou!
These machines are used to build the ice roads. Ice roads leave less of an environmental footprint than gravel roads. The ice roads allow equipment and supplies to be delivered all over the 250,000-acre oilfields.
There was no sign of the grizzly bear in Deadhorse today. Black bears don’t live further north than the Brooks Range. Polar bears will sometimes make it across Prudhoe Bay on the ice pack.
The sign as we left town said that next services were 240 miles away in Coldfoot…here we go!
We heard yesterday that the majority of the musk ox herd was stranded on the east side of the Sag River. The current is still too strong for them to safely cross. Musk oxen who have crossed are in danger of being attacked by predators like grizzlies and wolves. The larger herd more successfully protects its members.
We saw a single musk ox resting in the grass. His ears were twitching, so we knew he was alive. Not sure if he was injured. He was surrounded by tons of flying insects.
A short while later, we saw this family group. There were 6 members of all sizes. There was even a baby that looked like a small pig in size. He is mostly hidden by the grasses.
What an amazing sight!
We are elated to be out here doing this together. We talk about it every day. With the exception of visiting family, there is nowhere I would rather be!
We traveled through more than one hundred miles of open tundra, dotted by lakes and ponds, and wildflowers. We saw lots of birds this morning, gulls and cranes, and geese. The land is lumpy with palsas. These hummocks of soil and vegetation are heaved up by freezing and thawing.
The pipeline is 20 years past its engineered expiration date. Designed to last until the early 2000’s it raises lots of questions and concerns. The entire line was built in 3 years but it takes a lot to keep it safely maintained. It can transport 2,000,000 barrels of oil each day but right now it is only sending 340,000 barrels a day. This is to minimize the chances of an environmental disaster. Portions of the pipeline are continuously being repaired and replaced. There is a system of constant monitoring and inspection. An agency called Clean Seas is mandated to immediately respond to any spill on the tundra greater than 16 oz.
This buried portion of the pipeline is called a sag bend. The line is designed this way to allow for animals to migrate.
We stopped at a wayside and the mosquitoes were worse than ever. Needless to say, we didn’t hang around very long.
We had a long wait for a pilot vehicle in an area of road construction.
The flagger could see that I was trying to take pictures and she walked over to let me know that there was an arctic squirrel out. She stood, chatting with us about the wildlife she has seen while working out here!
16 miles on a pitted loose gravel road behind the pilot truck!
We went down the hill at Icy Cut and the view was spectacular. The water was sparkling in the sunshine.
We started to see the mountains of the Brooks Range.
All day, we were looking for Chen. We thought we might pass him biking to Deadhorse, but we didn’t see him.
We stopped at Galbraith Lake.
The plan as far as I knew it was to stop for some lunch and maybe to put the tent up and rest before continuing on. We were worried about the mosquitoes here. They were out but it was also windy. Tim was able to situate the Jeep so that the wind was working in our favor to keep the pests away. I crawled up into the tent with a blanket and an apple and peanut butter and a book and thought we were going to rest. When I saw Tim moving the fire ring and gathering firewood, I knew we had decided to stay for the night. It is very blustery. I have spent the afternoon working on the blog from the tent. Hopefully, the wind will calm down but still be breezy enough to blow the bugs away!
The view from my perch!
Tim took lots of pictures and made a video!
