Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Brooks Mountain Range
In the summer of 2020, an archaeological survey was needed for a plot of land on the Chuchki Sea. To get there my coworker and I traveled from Fairbanks through Gates of the Arctic National Park to Prudhoe Bay. I was able to photograph the unique landscape from the vantage of the helicopter. Traveling by helicopter was a lot of fun, you fly low enough to get great views, and flying through the Brooks Mountain Range was a once in a lifetime trip.
We flew out of Fairbanks and had a great view of the city, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Yukon River.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
Our transportation for the day.
Wildfire scars.
The Fairbanks International Airport
The Yukon River
The Yukon River
Traveling north through the Brooks Range gave some amazing views of the mountains. We mostly followed the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as they snaked their way through.
The sun shined through the clouds as a squall passed by.
The mountains were beautiful.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
The Brooks Range extending into the distance.
Location sings where we stopped to get fuel.
Location sings where we stopped to get fuel.
One of the many rivers snaking through the mountains.
Me at a refueling station next to the helicopter.
Some of the amazing rock formations along the way.
After leaving the mountains we continue north to Prudhoe Bay, it was a stark contrast coming out of the rugged mountains and seeing the flat land of the North Slope. It was also the middle of July, but it was cold enough that it snowed one day, and there was still ice in some of the shallow lakes.
Rusted drums on the Arctic Coastal Plain with the Brooks Range in the distance.
Bird taking flight on one of the many shallow lakes.
Sea ice still hadn't completely melted.
Interesting sea ice formations.
One of the many braided rivers along the coastal plain.
Prudhoe Bay oil refinery.
Caribou herd on the North Slope tundra.
Trans-Alaska Pipline snaking through the North Slope.
Rain squalls in the hills as the Brooks Range transitions to the flat coastal plain.