From: markc@netcom.com (Mark Conover)
Subject: Artic Cruisin' Prt 1 <long>
Summary: Trip report of flight along Arctic Ocean
Keywords: Alaska Arctic Flight
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 22:29:25 GMT



Arctic Cruisin'
{ Or Why Aren't there any Polar Bears Around Here?}

Part 1 (of two) ----->

The fog obscuring the Arctic Coast on our 1991 trip over Alaska
only increased our desire to return. Last year we traveled up the
inland passage (in the air) to Glacier bay, North to the Brooks
range, Southeast to the Alaska peninsula, and back down over the
Alcan highway.  We saw most of the National Parks, but failed to
glimpse the midnight sun.

Miriam Peterson and I departed Palo Alto (25 miles south of San
Francisco) two days before the summer solstice this year, heading
north.  The LORAN in our 172RG  guided us east of the towering
Shasta mountain, directly over the  emerald blue waters of Crater
Lake, on top of the once majestic Mt. St. Helens, and into the
Seattle area for fuel and a bed.

We cleared customs in Abbotsford and continued north between the
steep walls of the Frazer River canyon to Hope and Lillooet BC
and then cut north east over the Chilcotin Mountains crossing a
spectacular glacier filed valley just west of the 10,000 ft
Monmouth Mt. We camped by the plane at Smithers airport just as a
small cold front blew through.  The next day started clear, but
became windy as we followed the Cassiar highway to Watson Lake
(including a small detour to view the glaciers at Hyder AK).
Miriam put up quite a fight with the controls to land at Watson
Lake; we opted to remain there the day. Watson Lake is a popular
landing stop along the  popular AK highway flyway.  Last year,
the FSS was extremely busy.  This year the FSS is closed down,
replaced by a lonely contract weather observer and an empty room.
The Whitehorse FSS now handles the briefings via collect calls
from "a pilot" but it really lacks the support provided with an
in person briefer.  (The weather observer was kind enough to
drive us into town to see the 10,000 signposts that evening).

We were rudely awakened the next morning at 5AM (the sun being
high in the sky) by a small plane that took off right over the
camping area at the airport (can you imagine that?).  Somehow it
took us until mid morning to depart.  Our objective was to cross
the Mackenzie Mountains and follow the Mackenzie river to its
end. The sky was clear at first, but as we travelled north, the
cloud bases got lower. (The forecast called for scattered T
storms later in the afternoon.)  As we reached the Nahanni River,
the clouds descended to near river level. We changed our flight
plan and flew south east along the river and the clouds began to
rise. Virginia falls is quite spectacular ... and further south,
the river cuts a 3000 foot gorge through the mountains. We took
refuge in Ft. Simpson as the FSS was reporting T Storms at Norman
Wells (our flight plan destination) associated with "a quasi-
static cold front" that had been over the town for a day.  We set
up our tent by our plane hoping the weather would clear by later
in the evening, but it just rained harder.

Mid next morning, the temp suddenly dropped a few degrees which
was our clue to press on ... the front had passed.  The weather
had cleared when we arrived in Norman Wells.  It's a petroleum
exploration based town spread out along the banks of the
Mackenzie.  There is a road into the town only in winter when the
rivers freeze. We followed the big river north, over some strange
looking limestone cliffs, over a few lakes that were still
frozen, and landed in warm clear weather at Inuvik. Inuvik is a
government-established city just above the Arctic Circle
literally at the end of the road (the terminus of the Dempster
Highway) and serves as a base for oil exploration in the Canadian
arctic.

Five days out from PAO our trip goal was reached as we did a soft
field landing on the long gravel strip that ends in the Arctic
ocean at the native town of Tuktoyaktuk.  DVFR (as in Defense
VFR) flight plans must be filed here because of the proximity to
the northern domestic airspace boundary. A large Distant Early
Warning (DEW) facility exists at Tuk.   126.7 is the common
communication frequency for all of Canada and is monitored by FSS
and DEW facilities, local air carriers, 747 transpolar flights
(they use this to give their required position reports on their
instrument flight plans) and N7307R. The DEW radio operators are
actually located 2000KM to the  southeast in North Bay Ontario
and go by the name of ARCTIC RADIO. At all locations through out
the north there is always someone that can be reached on 126.7
for a relay.  An Aklak Airways flight surprised us during our
exploration of the Tuk peninsula with a relayed request from Tuk
radio for our ETA. Navigation was primarily via chart and stop
watch due to the minimal number of navaids.  The 41 degree
magnetic variation kept us honest.

There was no fog along the Arctic coast in the vicinity of Tuk
and we were able to see quite a bit of the shore line.  The area
is quite flat with many shallow lakes that drain into the ocean.
The Arctic sea ice was broken up but very thick 2 miles off
shore.  There was quite a bit of human influence along the coast
due to the theoretical existence of petroleum resources.
Driftwood littered the shoreline even though the nearest trees
are hundreds of kilometers to the south. We had our eyes open for
caribou and polar bears but saw none. Lots of large white arctic
swans were plainly visible against the green tundra.  The famous
volcano shaped 200 foot high frost heaves called Pingos were the
only vertical relief.

We pitched our tent next to the runway and 100 feet from the ice-
covered ocean.  The clear skies permitted a great view of the sun
that remained fairly high in the northern sky throughout the
"night". We attempted to climb one of the pingos that was a few
miles south of the airport but were blocked by the water
surrounding it.

We refueled in Inuvik the next day and followed the mostly fog
covered Arctic coast west to Herschell Island (a formerly
important whaling station) looking unsuccessfully for the
reported caribou and musk-ox herds.  We followed the Firth River
upstream (south) through the scenic North Yukon National Park.
The area looks quite like the Brooks range, mostly treeless with
rugged walls and flat mountain tops.  The ADF at Old Crow, our
destination, was out and so we navigated with no radios. There
are no VORs in the area and LORAN is unreliable ... it gives a
reasonable signal indication but is off by 30 miles.  Time and
direction lead us directly down the Old Crow R to the Porcupine R
and old native town of Old Crow.

Old Crow was the nicest native town we visited.  The town
extends along the length of the runway, parallel to the Porcupine
R.  Its residents are most friendly.  Most of their houses are
constructed of logs and were decorated with moose and reindeer
antlers. (The porcupine caribou herd crosses the river in the
spring and charges right through town the locals said.)  We were
provided with a campsite in a small lot next to the river and
across from the church.

It never got quiet or dark all night. We departed in the morning
and headed up the Porcupine river.  We circled low around moose
several times for photographs.  They were relatively easy to spot
standing in lakes.  Our route took us over the Yukon River, by
Circle Hot Springs (which looks like a well established spa with
a large pool), over the mountains and into Fairbanks for an oil
change and customs (but not in that order).  Fairbanks airport
has many runways.... one for the big guys, one for us little
guys, a wet one for the float guys, a dirt one for the ski guys,
and a grass one for the heck of it.  There is also a nice taxi-in
campground.

Saturday morning, while loading the aircraft, we commented how
quiet it was for a clear day on the weekend.  At the chart store,
I overheard the word "volcano" and started questioning.  Mt
Spurr, near Anchorage, had gone off 2 hours ago and the ash was
expected to reach Fairbanks within the hour.  The FSS did not
recommend flight, but it appeared that the ash that was due in
the area was at 40,000ft.  It still looked clear outside.  We
hastened our departure towards our next destination: the Brooks
Range and Gates of the Arctic Nat Park. It's an hour flight over
tundra (some of it burnt), across the Yukon R, along the
pipeline, and over the Arctic circle to Bettles.  Bettles is the
main staging area for trips into the park although the town is
neither in the park nor in the mountains.  We were informed by
the local float plane operators that it would run about $1000 to
get dropped off and picked up in the Brooks.  That made us
reconsider our original plans for a 4 day tundra camp.  Back to
the charts, we saw that the native town of Anaktuvik pass, 40 min
north of Bettles, has a gravel strip and although it's not as
scenic as some sections of the Brooks, we could get there on our
own four cylinders.  The FSS at Bettles informed us that the ash
was continuing northwest and was expected in the area within the
hour so we decided to not fly above 40,000 ft.  The trip to
Anaktuvik pass was rather scenic as we followed drainages (and
around small afternoon showers) completely across the Brooks.
The North Slope starts 5 miles north of the town.

We checked in with National Park Service ranger John Peterson and
commenced our hike up the adjacent treeless alpine valleys at
8PM.  Three hours later we were camped in the sunlight next to a
10 meter waterfall in a gorgeous valley ... lots of mosquitos
(which 100% Deet kept away) and very colorful tundra.  We were
unsuccessful in our attempt to attain a peak summit at midnight
but the colors produced by the low sun angle were spectacular. We
saw no live animals (they probably saw us first) but lots of
caribou and dall sheep horns.  Three days later we returned to
the plane, arriving back in full daylight at 1AM.

----> Stay tuned .... for the next adventure when we hear
          Miriam say "Boy I can really feel the LATTITUDE
          up here!"
-- 

###############   Mark D Conover    ################################
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