June 12
We were to meet NPTC club members Tom and Karen at the Anchorage airport for the 10 AM flight to Kotzebue. Gerard had decided to part ways with the group to take of business back home. Martha’s original plans had not included Kotzebue, so we did not see her at the airport (we saw Gerard at his gate for Seattle). So, still a pack of six folks going out on a plane (a seventh member, Scott, was already in Kotzebue).
Rain greeted us at the small Alaska Air terminal in Kotzebue, and I mean small… and I mean rain. We got wet. There are no jet-ramps at these small airports. And the luggage was wet. Oh, well, that is Alaska. Julian from Golden Eagle Outfitters was waiting for our arrival and loaded our bags into his pickup truck. And Scott was also in the terminal to greet us. There are about ten hangers at this airfield, and Golden Eagle is only a couple down from Alaska Air. But you have to go around a chain-link fence, so required about 300 yards of walking. The truck could not take all six passengers, plus luggage, so a couple of us volunteered to walk. In Alaska, just remember you will dry off.
Jared, the pilot for the company at the Kotzebue facility, said weather was not looking good today for the three farther out parks. But the sky north was clearing, and we might be able to get Cape Krusenstern and Noatak later in the afternoon. Julian drove us to our hotel, the Nullagvik. Lunch was at the Empress Restaurant, the best Chinese food in town. Sure enough, by 2 PM the weather had improved. We were ready to go. I asked Jerard about the tires he uses. His reply was a set of tires and wheels now runs him $22k for the de Haviland Otter plane. Ouch. He requires very soft rubber on the tires in order to land on gravel bars and sand. These are not your everyday WalMart-bought tires. For takeoff, he used the gravel lane area of the airfield instead of the asphalt runway. Asphalt will overheat the special rubber.
Only a few miles across the Chukchi Sea inlet separates the village and Cape Krusenstern. But the plane flight to a suitable landing site was a bit longer. After viewing some Musk Ox we landed near the sea. Some dead birds lay by camps which hunters had made for their activities. Shame to see this in a national park, but it is legal. The flight over to the Noatak River in Noatak National Preserve was uneventful, from an operational standpoint, which is always a relief. The views out the windows were stunning. Everywhere you go in Alaska, marvel is around every bend. The entire river valley was flooded. Jared said he has never seen this level of flooding this late in the season. New channels had been cut through the tundra, allowing the vast quantities of water to keep progressing to the sea. Thankfully, a section just inside the park boundaries had a gravel bar sitting high enough above water to allow for a landing. One cannot appreciate the short runways these bush planes need to land and take off until you have experienced the thrill. This gravel bar was a short runway. Aren’t brakes a wonderful thing.
We were back to Kotzebue in time for dinner. The Empress servings were enough for two meals, so I ate leftovers.
There are some B&Bs in town. Lisa tried one and was satisfied. The rates are probably lower than the Nullagvik, the only property which resembles a higher-end hotel.
When the Alaska Air flight landed at 11:45 AM we heard the main cable connecting the island to the south had been cut by ice. Therefore, no cell phone service, no WiFi, no cable television, etc. The airport terminal was having fits, as was every business in town. Some closed for the day. Turns out this cable handles all the electronic communications for the entire North Slope and Northwest Alaska. Nome to Barrow was down, figuratively speaking. Will be at least two months to fix. The Nullagvik has DISH, so I could watch tv and the news. Video showed divers in dry suits heading under the water to make an analysis of the situation. Do not see that every day in Ohio.