Fred Langa: Going to Extremes (Alaska 2010)

I can't explain why I wanted to swim in the Arctic Ocean.

There's something about boundaries that incites a mild obsession in me. Several years ago, I rode a motorcycle across North America from Atlantic to Pacific; and from sea level to 14,000' (4300m). (That trip was documented here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=310834 )

Later, a friend and I drove length of the extremely remote "Trans Taiga" road in far northern Quebec: to the furthest road-accessible point in eastern North America. (Road info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Taiga_Road ). I dipped my toes in part of Hudson Bay, in the First Nations Cree Reservation, on that trip.

I've been to the northernmost tip of Newfoundland; and on that same island, to the point where sunlight first touches North America. That "southernmost" beached buoy in Key West? Been there. Near the fence on the beach outside San Diego? Yup. And so on.

So, wanting to swim in the Arctic Ocean fits a long-standing pattern.

The Arctic Ocean is accessible at Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay (Alaska) by what is perhaps the northernmost overland, connected road in the world. There are roads further north, but I believe they're all disconnected road segments that must be accessed by air, sea, or ice.

In contrast, you can drive overland all the way to Deadhorse via the "Haul Road" built for construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the mid-1970's. It's a very remote road, but is open to the public as Alaska's Route 11, a.k.a. the "Dalton Highway" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Highway).

I began to plan the drive from my home on the Atlantic seaboard (in New Hampshire) across the US and Canada to Alaska, and then to Deadhorse by way of the Dalton.

I knew it would be a very long drive, but I had trouble grasping just how far north this would be.

MapSource's traditional Mercator projection doesn't make it look too bad.

MS Streets and Trips uses a better General Perspective projection that lets you see both the length and sheer northern-ness of the destination.

But even now having been there, I didn't fully realize how far north it is until I saw this satellite shot of the North Pole, taken about 2 weeks ago. Take a moment to orient yourself:

Now, remember this picture?

It was taken three weeks ago, here, at the red dot:

Let me remove the arrow, but leave the red dot:

Kinda puts it in perspective, doesn't it? That's way the fark up there. Yikes!

I've been back from the trip for exactly one week today. Aside from catching up with everything that piled up while I was away, I've been working through the thousands of photos from the trip, winnowing out the duds, and editing the shots that really tell the story of going to a new extreme: a drive to the Arctic Ocean. If you read along, I'll show you some interesting wildlife encounters (bear, including grizzlies; caribou; mountain goats; moose; elk; whales... and lots more); some driving adventures on high-speed gravel surfaces; camping above the Arctic Circle; a 3-hour evening ferry ride that unexpectedly turned into an 15 hour overnight voyage; and throughout the entire adventure, some truly spectacular scenery.

It'll take a while to get it all written up and posted, but I'll try to make it worth the wait.

For now, especially during a record-setting heat wave here in the eastern US, I wanted to begin with some far-northerly thoughts (above) and images (below).

Don't you feel cooler already? <g>

Lots more to come; with explanations, maps, and whatever else I can think of.

Best,

Fred