Just when I sat down in one of the big yellow tents to download some photos, the pilot Stan camp opened the door to reveal bright sunlight burning through the fog. We could fly!
Our expedition leader Bill Hedman gave me a firm hand shake just before we boarded the helicopter to fly out of the site. What a great trip! Thanks so much for including me in this expedition, Bill! I can't wait to share what I've learned with the students!
Bill Hedman, leader of the whole expedition, gave us a personal send off, making the safety calls with the satellite phone as we put on our flights suits and emergency vests. The Bureau of Land Management really does everything in their power to keep us safe. We thanked Bill for including us in this incredible experience and climbed into the aircraft.
Because Ian rode in the front seat on his way out, I had the privilege of riding up there on the way back. It's always a great thrill to lift off in the R-44 and see the ground fall away. We went skimming over the tundra and Stan told us through the headsets in our helmets about his flying plans for the rest of the summer. Suddenly there were two moose below us. Three! Four! FIVE! Wow, those are some huge animals. They looked like tall, dark horses with long legs plodding through the brush below. It was a bull with four cows headed south along a river.
Once we were in the Piper Apache airplane, this was my view out the right side. Look how much the river wiggles back and forth. This is from erosion - the river constantly erodes more on the outside of a curve and deposits sediment on the inside so it snakes more and more each year.
Once we were on the ground at the Red Dog Mine landing strip, we Thanked Stan for all his great flying. Stan was steady as a rock. He was reliable and safe - a great pilot. As we removed our flight suits up walked our next pilot, Kevin. He introduced himself and shook everyone's hand. He showed us around the twin-engine Piper Apache we would fly in.
Our pilot in the Piper airplane, Kevin, obviously loves flying, He curved over the rivers below, checking out an old forest fire that was still burning after two-weeks of rain!
We put in ear plugs and buckled our belts before he accelerated down the runway and we were airborne. Kevin had fun flying us along the Noatak and Agashashok Rivers, turning left and right above the wiggling rivers below. What a flight!
This is a commercial flight, but look how small it is. The pilot took this photo and you can easily see past the passengers all the way to the back of the airplane. He let me look at his map of the winding rivers below. I spotted a few cabins.
Back in Kotzebue, John picked us up again in his white truck. We threw our big bags in the back and thanked Kevin. At the BLM bunkhouse Ian offered to play rock-paper-scissors to see who would get the first shower after 10 days. I let him go first because he has a flight to catch tonight while I will stay in Kotzebue for a few days to do a radio interview about the PolarTREC experience. It's not too late to write in with your questions using the ASK The Team tab above. Apparently some of my responses have not been uploading but hopefully we'll get that sorted out.
Back at our remote camp along the Kivalina River, I bet the team is having lunch about now. I had collected several bones, rocks and antlers which collected next to my tent door, and some of the them were left behind after my departure. Perhaps some archaeologist will see them and wonder what person left them. Oh, what stories they would tell!