Deb and Lois arranged a tour of the 'tundra'. We all thought we were going to the point to search for wildlife at last! As the van arrived, a few of us had a bad feeling about this. It is impossible to get to the point via automobile. You have to either snowmachine, ATV it, ski it, walk it (with a gun), or sprinkle pixie dust on yourself in order to fly. The point lies approximately 2.6 miles north from where the road ends.
As we scampered into the van with "moi" as co-pilot, we began our "tour" of Barrow. We drove all over town and stopped at many points for a historical background lesson. We ventured west to the ice road (a temporary road that you must travel at your own risk to Atqasuk) for search of arctic fox. Instead, we saw massive storage bins for fuel, giant satellite dishes (Yay for AT&T..I get better service here than back home!) and the gravel pits. We took a break for lunch at Brower's Cafe, the oldest building in Barrow (built in the 1880s and it still stands). After a delicious meal, it was time for the tundra! We drove by the college and I got this knot-in-the-stomach feeling....we weren't going to the tundra...we're just going as far as you can get to the point. "This is were we are going to see polar bears," said our tour guide. We arrived at the end of the road, jumped out, lifted the binoculars to our eyes and saw...nothing. Nada, well except for a buried snowmachine. If I couldn't see a polar bear, I decided to climb a ginormous snow pile to see if I could see open water. Nope. Instead, I saw two snowmachines returning from the lead. One guy looked at me and waved, so I gladly waved back.
Then, we drove 17 miles south to middle of nowhere in search of wild animals. We saw a snowy owl and that's about it. One time, our tour guide said, "Caribou!" All of us with binoculars were glued to the window, but it was hard to see with our tour guide still driving. He finally stopped. Lois announced, "It's a box." "Here, let me look," said the tour guide. He confirmed it was a box. We went until the road ended and played in the snow. It's funny because on the drive were electrical lines and it finally ended at a gas checkpoint shed. I noticed that all of the electrical poles were numbered and it started at the shed. Many of us had trouble staying awake for the 17 mile drive because it was so bright, we had just eaten, and it was so barren. I tried to count electrical poles, but lost count at 219 as my eyes took a little cat nap.
I can't tell you how many of us were disappointed. All of us had high expectations and were expecting to actually go to the point. We had pretty much seen all of the sights so far on our tour some point beforehand (with the exception of Deb and Lois).
Overall, I'm sure Deb and Lois enjoyed their day. As a future note, never take the tour. Steve and friends from the college do a better job and it's easier on the pockets, if you know what I mean.
None of this tour was worthy of me to actually take pictures for I had seen all of it before. Sorry for being so blunt, but it's the truth. Hopefully some of the other Gusties post some pics.
Happy May Day!
Brit
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