Alaska Summer 2023

[Sir Henry]

Tomorrow I fly up to Fairbanks for two weeks of fun and fishing. I’ll be visiting an Army buddy and we will head north along the pipeline. I’m not really sure where we will be going because my only job is to show up.

Last fall I flew up and will did some hunting. It’s funny because I’m not even there and we talked on the phone last night about coming up in the dead of winter. Most people leave the -20F Wisconsin winter to head south. I would be leaving -20 and heading to -40F.

[daytime dave]

I hope you enjoy it Gene!!!

[Sir Henry]

I made it through security but had a pocket knife in my luggage. I no longer own the knife.

I also spent $14.03 on these two items.

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[Vaquero]

Safe travels, Gene. Hope you have a great time.
Sorry about the knife.

RP

[Sir Henry]

Safe travels, Gene. Hope you have a great time.
Sorry about the knife.

RP

Thanks. It was a lowercase kabar from the 50’s.

[North Country Gal]

Have a great time, Gene. Love to see some pics, if you get a chance.

[JEBar]

do hope you have a great trip .... looking forward to following it through your reports

[BigAl52]

Ground Control to Major Tom. Have a good time. I hate the airlines they totally do not give a damn about the customer anymore.

[Hatchdog]

-20 to -40, probably not even feel it.

Enjoy your trip and your expensive snacks. Cream Soda, only second to Root Beer. I’ve never been a cola fan.

[Sir Henry]

Sunset was at 12:40 am and then it rose at 3:07 am. Even when it was down it wasn’t all that dark. When my friend picked me up around 9 pm he received a phone call and had to report in full uniform at 10 pm or as he says 22:00. Apparently a 50 cal machine gun went missing in the field and everyone had to walk the fields looking for it. Remember all that light I was talking about. Welcome to Army life.

We will be going salmon fishing this weekend. He is a resident and can fish. I’m not and can’t net salmon but I can watch. Then we are headed north above the Arctic Circle and will be where the sun never sets for about three months.

We always have a blast either hunting, fishing or camping in the wild.

[markiver54]

What a very interesting trip! Enjoy !!

[Sir Henry]

Day 1: we visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North today the went fishing at a small nearby lake. My friend caught two right away and then they stopped biting.

Tomorrow we leave the city for three days of camping and fishing.

This is the life!

[Sir Henry]

Last night we stayed up till 2 am. It’s hard to think about going to bed at midnight when the sun is still up.

[Sir Henry]

Day 2: we headed south on AK2 along the pipeline to Fielding Lake to camp and fish for three days before heading back to Fairbanks.

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Internet is slow.

[Sir Henry]

Days 3 and 4: we continued to fish several lakes with poor luck. My friend caught two and I caught one. No one else’s was catching fish and there were a lot of fishermen for the holiday weekend.

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We followed the pipeline South about 170 miles.

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It was really a nice road and drive. Tomorrow we will have a barbecue with a few friends. On the 5th we will reset and on the 6th head north along the pipeline to Prudhoe Bay. This will be the first time being above the Artic Circle for both of us. We will end up driving about 700 miles of the 800 mile pipeline.

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[BrokenolMarine]

When I was a youngin' my stepfather and his brother went up to Alaska to weld on that pipeline in the 60s. They were paid more in six months than they would have made in two years working in Tampa, where we were living at the time. They said it was so cold that another welder caught his jacket sleeve on fire and didn't realize it until he had badly burned his arm. Never felt it. Even back then, everything was super expensive, so they ate a lot of spam, peanut butter straight from the jar and drank water to save the money they were earning. (For about the first two weeks.) Then they just paid for stuff and ate well to combat the cold. Still made really good money. They were offered a huge bonus to stay on at the end of the six months, but packed up and came home.

One thing they admired, was the pipeline put spaces every now and then for the wildlife to go UNDER the pipeline. "Underpasses."

[The Wiz]

Did you notice, with the pipeline ,any problems due to the perm frost melting because of climate change?

[Sir Henry]

When I was a youngin' my stepfather and his brother went up to Alaska to weld on that pipeline in the 60s. They were paid more in six months than they would have made in two years working in Tampa, where we were living at the time. They said it was so cold that another welder caught his jacket sleeve on fire and didn't realize it until he had badly burned his arm. Never felt it. Even back then, everything was super expensive, so they ate a lot of spam, peanut butter straight from the jar and drank water to save the money they were earning. (For about the first two weeks.) Then they just paid for stuff and ate well to combat the cold. Still made really good money. They were offered a huge bonus to stay on at the end of the six months, but packed up and came home.

One thing they admired, was the pipeline put spaces every now and then for the wildlife to go UNDER the pipeline. "Underpasses."

I’m amazed at how hilly the terrain is where it’s built. I rises and lowers hundreds of feet at least in the 170 miles that I’ve already seen. Plenty of places for wildlife to cross

Note: I said hilly because that is where the pipeline is although the hills are between high mountains.

[Sir Henry]

Did you notice, with the pipeline ,any problems due to the perm frost melting because of climate change?

The southern part doesn’t have permafrost. I’ll look for it when we do the northern section. We still have 500 miles to see going north.

[Sir Henry]

I bought a travel guide which includes the Dalton Hwy. It’s quite detailed so we will know what’s ahead. The road was sections like the roller coaster and oh shucks curve. Except it’s not shucks.

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It’s a large book and I took the picture in the window sill. My friends house has 18” walls.