Leaving Tikigag: the flight from Point Hope to Barrow
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 10:01AM 
As always happens, the time soon came when I would have to leave Point Hope and it came earlier than I wanted or would have planned - were it not for the Era schedule. Era is the only air carrier that links Point Hope and Barrow and they only fly twice a week - Tuesday and Thursday; $410 for a one-way ticket. This will give you an idea how expensive it came be to travel about the Arctic Slope.
I wanted to stay at least through the high school graduation on Friday but I needed to be in Barrow no later than Monday, so I had to go Thursday.
At nighttime before I left, I saw Jesse Jr. walking home.
He and his brothers would now get their room back.
Many decades separate us, but Jesse and his brothers all felt like friends now.
On May 5, immediately after taking the picture of the Tikigaq Harpooner Three-Peaters, I barely caught a ride to the airport in the truck of a man who runs a little on-demand-cab service. If someone needs a ride to the airport, or anywhere else reached by the villages very limited road system, they can call and he will come and pick them up.
So Krystle called for me.
The cab was full of his family.
I thought I wrote down the names of everybody, including the dog, but I can't find them. Still, if you find yourself in Point Hope and you need a cab to the airport or someplace else, just ask anyone and they will direct you to the driver and then he and his family and his dog will come and pick you up and give you a ride and then when you ask how much he will answer, "whatever you want to pay."
Be as generous as is practical for you. His fares are not like those of a city cab driver, but come only sporadically - mostly when an airplane lands.
The cab driver's daughter, the little dog and the airplane.
Once airborne, we passed over the Lisbourne, the last bumps of the Brooks Range, which themselves are the final northward extension of the Rocky Mountains, which come to an end just before they reach Point Hope and fall into the sea.
Pans of ice floating in new ice forming below.
We landed for a brief stop in Point Lay, to drop off one passenger, plus this four-wheeler and to pick up a couple more passengers.
And here we are, landing in Barrow.
Some new readers who have come over as a result of the piece in the Lens blog of the New York Times may be feeling a little confused right now to find me flying in someone else's airplane instead of my own.
What the Times said about me being a bush pilot is true, all right, but for some reason they chose not to mention the part about how I crashed my airplane in Mentasta and, for now, anyway, must fly in other people's airplanes.
Originally, I had intended to blog my time this trip in Barrow pretty much the same as I did Point Hope and I have every bit as much material to work with. However, I had also intended to have the whole package complete at least three weeks ago and here I am, still muddling along.
Realistically, I do not have time to do a decent edit of the Barrow pictures right now, although in time I will, for other purposes than this blog. I think what I will do is, on Monday, after returning this blog to Wasilla over the weekend, I will just put up anywhere from one to half-a-dozen images from the Barrow portion and then get back to blogging the present, but only briefly most days, as I have tons I must do this summer, so, even though in my mind I have no higher priority than developing what this blog has begun, for now, I must put the huge bulk of my time elsewhere.
Thanks for traveling with me!
Reader Comments (3)
well, i didn't come over from the times, but reporters always leave out imp. details to our consternation, but your post about riding in someone else's airplane reminded me of something in the news today - women in saudi arabia protesting about wanting to drive a car. what a repressed nation despite all that oil money. oh, no! are those stones pelting my house. have a good trip to barrow, bill!!!
Bill? Do these people ever NOT have snow? Or is there snow on the ground all year round? I love how there are Dora the Explorer dresses EVERYWHERE.
Maybe by trying to post what I failed to post while I was traveling and then spreading it out over so long a time period, I have confused people.
Yes, the snow does melt. In fact, except for patches here and there, it is pretty much melted now. These photos were taken last month, in May.