Thursday, June 29, 1989
to Arctic Circle Sunrise 3:09
Buffet breakfast at Sophie station $6 each.
7:10 to 8:15 waiting for North Alaska tour van to pick us up. After several calls learned van suspension shot and no tour. Guide stopped by hotel and explained and gave us $20 for lunch.
9:00 packed and checked out to Visitors Center. Bob decided to get haircut but didn’t leave note so here we sit until 10:15. Speece Highway Alyeska pipeline 450 Mi to Prudhoe Bay, 315 to Valdez.
Leaving 10:46.
NRASA Tracking Center 1962 to 1984. 1984 to 1989 to NOAH shutting down. 350 perm. Employees. Two monitors orbits 500 miles above Earth to have more pass time. Rec’ from 10 recorders all solar energy. 100 min. around globe- 18 passes a day. National Weather Service main user- track hurricanes, reindeer, floods, sonar from ships for rescue. Landsat tracked oil spill- shows red- photos from 500 miles. Talk with Raphael Hayes. Fairbanks in the 50s. 85 ft parabolic antenna x and y axis. Radio frequency down and reflected up 25-year-old not operating- using 40 ft one. Valley protects from frequency interference. By noon out Goldstream Road to Dredge #8- Buffet lunch $10- tour dredge- gold settles in chute- strip overburden (1928-1959) each bucket 6’. Machine shop pump 4M gallons minimum up to sluice boxes Mercury amalgam- take out sands- heat and mercury evaporates- leave gold. Dredge moved by two winches. Cost $200,000 1926, now one reduction gear. Control room- levers- 24-hour day, three shifts. Pipes with pumped water 50°. Panning gold.
Leave 2:00 view of Alaska Range
Gas 1.29 gallon
13 gallon Fairbanks Texaco
225 sunny 79°
2:30 leaving Fairbanks 440 Mi to Anchorage
240 North Pole saw Santa Claus and his house.
250 Alison Air Force Base Sac command B-52 50 field Casey 135s (actually like Boeing 707) 2 A10s ready to take off. (Fighter bomber for close)
308 p.m. leaving 4:00
4:21 p.m. turn off mile 40.2.5 Harding Lake – pic – White spruce cones.
505 p.m. mile 67 view of Alaska range and flooded to Nana river. spectacular pictures of Rouge- McKinley and river. roadside a carpet of flowers- Fireweed just starting
541 p.m. to Nana River and pipeline Crossing. view of range-
6:00 p.m. Delta Junction Visitor Center and Volcan Highway 3 pipeline Pig
624 p.m. Fort Greeley Arctic games Warm ass here during January cold spell -71° canceled.
647 p.m. arnica Point Meadows Road Iris Laos work hairbell grounds LS view of Peaks impressive.
6:50 p.m. Donnelly Dome to 10 $3,910 ft
7:00 p.m. pipeline crosses Road views of Mount Deborah in the West 12,339 Ft Hess Mountain Center 11,940 Ft South Mount Haze at 3832 ft
7:18 p.m. Delta River at bus of
Photos of Kathy and Trella and pipeline mile 126 Beaver Dam shots of sweet peas and oxytrope.
8:13 p.m. mile 135. Stopped to photograph. wandered up Road came out on river. Pipeline 575.5 Heavenly smell.
151 Kathy mileage from Fairbanks oxytrope, sweet peas and video of river delta.
827 p.m. restricted black Rapids Falls Creek
. 8:33 p.m. flood control dikes.
8 mile Pump Station number 10.
mile 585 stop to see redhead duck Beaver swam by.
8. video of castner Creek and pipeline uphill.
mile 587 pipeline.
902 p.m. beaver
. 923 p.m. unspectacular rolling hills.
9 Road build go can I Glacier on the left.
9 summ SL Summit Lake Village houses for sale along Summit lake. long tail Jaeger followed it. loon Mary says maybe Summit Lake is a crater. another loom. posts along Road salmon golcana is spawning river. Arctic turn.
Kathy mileage 196
9:40 p.m. Paxton lodge. Junction of Denali highway.