Don't Get Eaten by Polar Bears

I'm not sure why, but the warning I hear most from friends back east is "Don't get eaten by polar bears". "Pola bears," I say. "are MARINE mammals and Fairbanks is in the INTERIOR!" No matter, I hear the warning often.

HOWEVER, David had a great desire to get near enough to a polar bear to be eaten, so off we went to Kaktovik on the Arctic Ocean for an overnight polar bear viewing trip. (Quite expensive)

We took a 6 person propeller plane to Kaktovik and David was quite perplexed that there was absolutely no security and the pilot doubled as a baggage carrier. It was also a bit disconserting that the folks who checked us in weighed our luggae as well as US!

We stayed at the home of the brother of one of the students in the RAP program who is a guide for polar bear viewing and all things Arctic. He is also a passionate advocate against drilling in ANWAR which led to some interesting discussions.

The village of Kaktovik is in the North Slope Borough which benfits from North Slope Oil taxes and land leases so it is a small, but reasonably wealthy village with no trees and right on the sea.

Robert, our host, met us right on the tarmac and took us in his truck to his house where we would stay overnight. Quite ironic that we have to go to an Arctic village to have indoor plumbing! Quite nice since Kaktovik was very windy and an icy wind blew off the sea which made it more uncomfortable than Fairbanks. Robert's grandaughter and her cute baby Athena lived with him.

Robert arranged for us to hop onto a motor boar and go out to a barrier island close to the mainland where the polar bears hang out during the day. It was freezing and windy! We were lucky enough to see a mother and two cubs. David's new camera has a healthy zoom because we were not able to get very close, but his camera let us see great detail.













Look at those paws!



Robert drove us around Kaktovik, seeing the sites and allowing us to experience a landscape without trees.







This graveyard, one of several, was near the sea. Notice the whalebone arch.

One of the places that polar bears gather is the "bone yard" where the whales are cut up and the bones are left. It is purposely away from the town to encourage the bears to keep away from people. There is an area where the new bones are and then an area where last year's bones are left. The bears come at night to feed on the remains. When we were there, we saw 6 bears, which is a low count. Robert thought that there was a dead whale about 20 miles up the beach that was keeping the bears satisfied.







The gulls in the place are huge!!!! Don't call them sea gulls! I was corrected several times!

There are two hotels in Kaktovik that cater to researchers and the tourists that come to see the bears. Waldo Arms is by far the one with more character, but dubious comforts. It is made of a series of Atcos and looked quite derict, but had a cozy gathering area and quite genial hosts (Waldo and his wife).

At night Robert took us to a high point where we watched brilliant green auroras swooping across the sky from horizon to horizon (no treeline to obsucre the sights). The night was so clear and the auroras so bright that they lit up the sea with their reflections! No photos, alas.

We had a great time at Robert's as he was a wonderful host. Even though the quilt that was to cover us never made it to the drier we were cozy because he was careful to turn the heat way up at night to keep us warm. And we had huge meals: breakfast of pancakes, eggs, fruit and spam; lunch which included beluga muktuk and dinner of caribou ( which, unfortunately was a little tough because Robert accidentlaly defrosted a big hunk of beluga instead of caribou roast, so he quickly defrosted a caribou haunch and made it into a stir fry which probably wasn't what that cut of meat was meant for).

We were to leave at 3 pm the next day and although the morning broke windy but sunny as the take-off time neared the snow was swirling and the sky lowering. Luckily our plane came in. We got to the airstrip early and the pilot loaded the plane, and because all 6 of us were in our seats 15 mintues before take-off...up we went! No one even asked our names...they figured out who we were because the pilot seemed to know everyone BUT us!The pilot is loading the baggage, which in our case included a cooler full of beluga for Robert's sister in Fairbanks.

The hairy thing about the landing strip is that it doubles as a road to the boneyard and at one point we actually pulled off and let a plane land while we were travelling around Kaktovik!

Our New Home

We had always planned to stay at our first rental home for two years and then move to another place in Fairbanks. Our first home was in the "hills", about 20 miles from town and, as we got busier and busier, we realized that it was too far out to navigate easily with one car. We were always debating whether to stay in town if we had something at night or make the long drive home and back just to have dinner. And then there was the issue of Fred, who had to be fed and walked. And even though I had Emily, who was our wonderful dog sitter, there were always issues late at night.

So we started looking for a place either in town or near the University. We were handicapped by the dog since many places did not allow pets, and we were very particular about where we lived since it had to be close to work or town. So, we ended up in the dread DRY CABIN, within walking distance of the University. The shower thing is not too bad since I always took showers either at my gym, or in my building where there is a shower. And now David takes a shower at work too. Many folks have dry cabins so many offices accommodate them by providing showers.

It is a 20 x 20 full log cabin with a full upstairs and a balcony and a greenhouse!

The outhouse thing isn't so bad yet since there is only a little snow on the ground and at the coldest it is about 19. Wonder what it will be like when it is 50 or 60 degrees colder. Does pee freeze?

Our kitchen is nicely equipped with a 40 gallon holding tank under the sink so every week I go to the natural springs in Fox, about 15 miles from us to get water in 7 gallon jugs that we empty into the holding tank and then use a foot pump to pump water out a spout to use in the sink. HOWEVER, it drains into a 5 gallon bucket under the sink that has a tendency to overflow if we are not careful. David is in charge of toting it outside to the disposal area.

The cabin is fully equipped with all the essentials...internet and a wood burning stove!

All in all, we are quite happy here. Even Fred.



Upstairs



View from our front window



View from the balcony

A Visit to the Bush

I was lucky enough to be able to go to Nome and Kotzebue right after Sage left AK and right before we moved into our cabin. I went to both the Northweat campus in Nome and the Chukchi campus in Kotzebue to recruit Native students for the Resilience and Adaptation Program, of which I am coordinator. I went with one of our students who had lived and married in Kotzebue and knew everyone!

Nome is known as the end point for the Iditerod Sled Dog race, famous for the burled arch that all mushers ride under to finish.  Nome is not a Native village and seemed quite established.  It is about as far west as you can go in AK.

Here is the main street.





Nome was a major gold mining town  

Wyatt Earp actually came to Nome and started a business supplying miners.  We visited the remains of his house way out in the "country"! 



 

My favorite restaurant in town was a combination laundramat and Mexican restaurant.  We did not eat there since it was a bit funky!

 Notice the washers and tables!

We were lucky enough to go with someone who lives in Nome to pick blueberries.  There are fields and fields of blueberries. Yummy!  AND...there are  musk ox among the blueberries.  The woman we were with loves to gather quiviat, the underhair of the musk ox that is highly prized as very, very soft and very, very warm hair which is very, very expensive).  She is allergic to the stuff so she gave it to me!  How lucky am I.  I will spin it and make it into a scarf for David. 

Nome is part of theDEW Line, not necessarily needed at this point, but still active. There are also remnants of bunkers from World War II!!!

Nome had  great wooden statues looking out onto the sea!

And some quirky ways! 

Only Barge Fresh Beer for me!



A reasonably short plane ride away was Kotzebue, a Native village which was quite different from Nome. 

Notice the prehistoric bone just parked in someone's front yard.

 The weather is usually cold and cloudy and the one main street is right at the sea!  Kotz. is on a spit in the Arctic Ocean.  and is quite poor.

 



 This is the new nurses' home at the hospital.  Notice that it is made of ATCO trailers with frame over them!!

  

 





 These are the traditional fish camps that folks go to in the summer to prepare for winter by fishing and then drying the salmon.

 

 

It certainly is not cheap to live in Kotzebue.  

 

 





 

The people in both Nome and Kotzebue were wonderfully friendly and made us feel quite welcome.  We met many students who were interested in continuing a discussion about enrolling in RAP and and I started learning about bush life.  I was certainly glad I went.