Permafrost outreach 2009

After bumping into Lance Mackey in the Polar Cafe this morning, just before he pulled his snow hook to start the All-Alaska Sweepstakes, we snowmachined the road to Teller from Nome, a total of 71 miles.



On this highway, not plowed in winter, snowmachines float a little better than trucks. The trail was rough in the middle, busted-up sastrugi, but was smooth close to Nome and for the last 20 miles into Teller.




On the way, we saw lots of Gold Rush relics, including this dredge and the house where the dredge people lived while they were mining.



We made it to Teller in a few hours. This graveyard is the high point in the town, which is on a peninsula surrounded by salt water. Kenji spoke with John Weemes' science class and kids from almost the entire school who asked him great questions. Principal Jay rustled us up some grub, and we're mighty thankful for his hospitality. Tohru had drilled a frost tube while Kenji was speaking. When Kenji went to drill the permafrost borehole, he found that the drill didn't work!

With no backup after a logistics messup back in Emmonak, Kenji was bummed. "If we can't fix the drill, it's the end of the trip," he said. We moved on to Brevig Mission, just six miles from Teller, and Kenji here tries to fix the drill. After watching him solve every one of the considerable problems thrown his way during this trip, Tohru and I had a feeling the drill would somehow be just fine.



Later that evening, in Brevig Mission:



And so, the trip goes on. Yes! We're getting into a good travel groove now, and from here it becomes even more interesting, as we attempt to get to Wales, Shishmaref, Deering and Kotzebue. These sections will all be more challenging because villagers don't travel them too much. In Kenji we trust.

Here's what we have covered since March 16th, about 470 miles in all:



posted by Ned. for more trip photos, see alaskatracks.com