Remember that room i stayed in near the Yukon River? The room in Deadhorse made that first room look luxurious. It had it's own bathroom, but i didn't want to walk around in it without socks on. Although i was extremely tired, i still woke up all night long due to the endless sounds of heavy machinery outside and a super cruddy space heater that would only turn on if the room was 15 degrees colder than you wanted it to be, and then only turn off if it was 15 degrees too hot.
These are well heads. Normally they would be exposed but up here they have to be covered for protection from the cold.
It was still foggy in the morning. I went up to the front desk to find out how to get to the ocean and found a guy i knew who was working there. That was crazy because although i knew he worked on the slope, i had no idea where, and here he was. He was great about helping me out and soon had me signed up for the "tour", then took me to lunch and out on the town to look around a little bit.
Typical architecture
This Arctic Fox was browsing the gas station. The entire time it was around it would never face me. I wonder if that's how it keeps from getting caught when it's trailing behind a Polar Bear.
Deadhorse is definitely an industrial operation. There is nothing to do or see except work in progress, 24 hours a day. Driving around kinda feels like if you just decided to drive unannounced into a massive mining operation or a major shipping port and then started to wonder if you were actually even allowed to be there. One of the interesting things i noticed, and later had pointed out to me, is that everything up there is mobile. Some buildings seem to be made of welded together shipping containers. Other times you'll spot a big warehouse with the doors open and notice giant wheels against the inside walls, so that when the time comes it can be rolled somewhere else.
Pumping gas was bizarre. Environmental restrictions are so tight that you first have to drag a yellow escape raft-looking thing under your vehicle to catch any gas that may drip off. Then you open a thick metal box to get the gas nozzle. Then you have to open this very heavy iron door up some stairs to get into a small room with a pay telephone keypad and a basic digital screen where you scan your card. I'm guessing the door is so thick and heavy so that it will be sure to stay closed in the winter. The actual gas pump is isolated in it's own room but you can stare at it through a window to see how much gas you're pumping.
Two weeks before my arrival, several thousand Caribou walked through town and hung out for 3 days. These stragglers were taking their time eating a weird plant that was not grass.
Finally, i got my tour to the ocean. This old gruff guy drives you around, explains a few things that are going on and eventually takes you to the beach, where he sits in his car and watches you closely while you "relax". He had been pretty upset about those motorcycle guys getting naked the other day but i assured him i wasn't going to do that. It was still foggy but the sky above the fog was looking blue. They said you hadn't been able to see the icepack for about two months. I waded in up to my knees and...... it WASN'T the coldest water i've ever been in. Any lake in the mountains with icebergs floating in it is definitely colder, but, if i came back in early spring, or whenever liquid water first starts showing up around here, i might change my mind.
FINALLY! THE ARCTIC OCEAN! Only 2,600 miles to Norway from here.....
With a fresh tank of gas, and the tour over with i got out of town fast, with the intentions of getting back to the mountains to take a more leisurely look around.
Someone suggested i put up some comparative links of the area for scale. The following two google maps pages are the same scale:
Deadhorse Area
compared to the Northeast Coast of the USA
Next Time: Prehistoric Beasts
