Next morning we drove to Prospect Creek, about 35 miles south of Coldfoot on the Dalton Hwy. We parked at the runway at one of the Trans Alaska pipeline pump stations and were picked up by a small bush plane that flew us to Bettles. A whole 10 minute flight. Cody was super psyched as it was his first flight on a small plane.
Brian, our pilot, suggested we wait a while before taking off as there was a sight he believed we should not miss. It turned out to be a helicopter carrying an Otter plane that was being brought to the road system so it could be repaired. The helicopter pilot was planning to drop the plan on a parked trailer but soon realized he took on more than he could handle.
Next, we arrived in Bettles and checked in with the Gates of the Arctic (in yellow)Park's Ranger. We switched to a Cessna 185 with tundra tires that took us to a gravel bar on the North Fork of the Koyukuk River. The North Fork rises on the south slope of the Continental divide in the Brooks Range.
We left Bettles about 12:30 pm. It was a sunny day and the temps were in the mid 80's. We had a 40 minute flight to a gravel bar right at the Gates of the Arctic. Facing north, we had the Frigid Crags to our left, and Boreal Mountain to our right. The plane left us and we realized we were left to survive with our knowledge, our skills and our supplies. YIKES!-- So, we set up camp and started exploring the area. It was here where we decided to leave some of the gear we would not need for our hike, like our Xtra Tuffs, and planned on picking them up on the way back once we were rafting the river.
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| THESE ARE XTRA TUFFS |
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