The Northernmost Town in the US

On Wednesday, Bob, Debbie & Tom got up early, were picked up and driven to the Fairbanks Airport where they caught an eight-passenger twin engine airplane for a flight to the town of Barrow, the northernmost town in the U.S.

Our first stop was for fuel and sack lunches in Coldfoot, a truck stop on the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road. On the way to Coldfoot, we followed the pipeline, and passed over several small villages and the Yukon River, which, at this point, is much larger than when we saw it in Dawson, YT. It’s over ½ mile wide and undulates like a snake through a large valley.

After a 45 minute stop in Coldfoot, we took off and soon were crossing the Brooks Range, rugged, barren mountains around 8,000 to 10,000 feet high. We followed a pass that took us through the “Gates of the Arctic” with high mountains on either side. Once over the Brooks Range, there was still over 200 miles of tundra, dotted with tiny lakes, most still frozen over, before arriving at Barrow.

We were met by a large Eskimo tour guide, Eli, who told us he’d just been hired the day before. That was OK, though, since he’s spent his whole life in Barrow, a town of just under 5,000 people. Barrow hasn’t seen a sunset since mid-May, and won’t until August. Of course, in the winter, they go just as long without seeing the sun at all! Eli, like most of the Eskimo population in the area, is a ‘subsistence hunter’. That means that while his family buy some groceries, they hunt for virtually all the meat they consume. He said they eat whale, seal, walrus, caribou and various ducks, geese and other game birds.

Eli took us to see a memorial to Will Rogers and Wiley Post, his friend and pilot, who were killed in a plane crash just 16 miles from Barrow in August, 1935. From there, we saw three well built and attractive schools, a senior center, a number of commercial enterprises, and the fire and police headquarters.

We saw an Air Force Station that operates a radar site on the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line which wraps around Alaska and Canada. The DEW line was built around 1960 as a joint US/Canada effort to detect missile launches from the Soviet Union. The radar system is still in operation today,

He took us to the Cultural Center and we got to hear some native songs, see some dances, and also demonstrations of a number of native skills. The Cultural Center was just across the street from a large grocery store, so we popped in there to check it out. It had most of the stuff that we’re used to, but wow, what prices! Eggs were $6.39 for 18, ½ gallon of milk was $7.00 and Ribeye steaks were $14.70 per pound. In addition to the usual grocery store stuff, they also had stoves, refrigerators, washers & dryers, furniture, and even Honda ATV’s.

Our last stop in Barrow was a short ride away, at the Arctic Ocean, where we had the opportunity to dip body parts into the ocean, which was still mostly frozen over. Debbie, of course, dipped her foot, while Bob & Tom took the more conservative approach and dipped a finger. It was cold!!

We headed back to Fairbanks on our little airplane at about 3:30 PM, passing over the Brooks Range once again before arriving in Fairbanks about 6:30 PM.
Once back to the RV Park, LaVan told us that the local Elks Lodge had “steak night” that evening, and we jumped at the chance for a good, reasonably priced dinner out.

On Thursday morning, we packed up our belongings and headed for Denali National Park, the home of the tallest mountain in North America, Mt. McKinley. More on that, later.