Permafrost outreach 2009

Today was a busy day meeting people.

Since Galena was a bigger town, we really wanted to try to fix the problem with the hitch on the sled. Luckily the auto shop at the Galena Interior Learning Academy was able to help us with it and the hitch is now securely fastened. We broke four bolts so far and we only had two more spares, so this fix was quite a relief.

We also got gas last night. 30 gallons of gas was about $150... These 4 stroke machines get reasonable gas milage, and we are guessing about 10 miles per gallon. They are also vbery smooth on the long straight away with lots of power. I'm sure the packed down trail really helps too. The trail from Manley to Kaltag was well marked and well travelled, probably something to do with the Iron dog race.

Now, the battery situation with one of the machine is still a concern, but not a major problem, especially since we aren't expecting anymore -40 temperatures. Maybe the battery is not charging correctly because of the cold...? The one machine that kept on stopping for unknow reasons seemed to be cased by a loose battery cable. After tightening the nut we didn't encounter that problem today.



So, from Galena to Koyukuk was about a 2 hour ride, with snow and ice core sampling along the way. Koyukuk is one of the smaller villages we are visiting. When we got there the school was locked! As we were almost giving up, the door opened and a guy came out. It was lunch time and the doors were closed during lunch hours. What a relief! Josie was the principal and she is originally from Koyukuk. Kenji talked to the older students about our trip and permafrost for about 30 minutes, and we were on our way to Nulato.




After another 2 hours or so, we arrived in Nulato about 3PM. The Nulato school is hosting the district basketball tournament for the next couple of days, and some of the teachers we met from Tanana and Ruby were also there. Some kids form those villages were also snowmiching there to watch the games. Here we met principle Robert. We shook hands and promised that we will meet again.


One interesting thing about the schools we visited is that they all have displays of old pictures of the village or art work from the local artists, along with trophys.






Since Kaltag was only another 36 mile from Nulato, we decided to hit the trail while we still had plenty of day light. By this time the temperature felt much warmer, well it must be compared to -30, and it was mostly tail wind so it was smooth riding to Kaltag. Kenji picked up one stranded snowmachiner 5 miles out of Kaltag. As we arrived in Kaltag the sun was starting to set, and we quickly found Principle Mike Day. He welcomed us into the school.



It is nice to actually meet the people we were communicating with by E-mail or telephone, and to be able to put the faces together with their voice or messages. Without all of their support our trip is impossible, and we thank all of them for their help. We are also meeting many more people than we originally contacted on this trip, and that's a bonus.

Tomorrow, we will try to drill a permafrost station here and maybe stay one more night. Since it is the weekend coming up, schools will be closed and we also need to find out about the trail condition a little more before we make the longest stretch of travelling.