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Here are some of the photos from my 2004 trip to Toolik:
The size and beauty of the Alaskan North Slope was no less awe inspiring during my second summer at Toolik. Here, some off-duty researchers fish for grayling near the inlet stream of Toolik Lake. (photo by Stephanie Juice)
At no other point was the sheer size of the great state of Alaska more evident than at the summit of what Toolikers have dubbed "Mystical Mountain." Even in this photo its hard to make out the human figure at the summit. I haven't ever felt as small as I did looking back down that valley.
This is the view back towards the south from the summit of Mystical Mountain.
I was fortunate to meet many adventurous souls during my time in Alaska. Here, a man who could look and act the part of a true "mountain man" poses near the summit of Flat Top Mountain in the Brooks Range with his broom stick for a hiking pole.
Even in all of this vastness, there is still an abundance of insects and other small wildlife. This dragonfly is one of the prettier, less annoying of the bunch. The mosquito density on the North Slope is rumored to be second only to the Everglades in all of North America.
Here's a view of Toolik Lake from a nearby hill, dubbed "Jade" by Toolikers. The camp is visible on the east side of the lake near the Dalton Highway.
Welcome to Tent City! This where those of us lived who didn't want to rough it in the dorm trailers! That's my tent just right of center with the bright green tarp. Although it seldom rained all summer, we all used tarps to help protect our rain flys from the damaging consequences of 24 hours/day UV rays!
Ok, so we all got a little bored with the night life at our remote field station... so we created St. Georges Pub to give us all a place to hang out at night. The place was stocked with shuffle- board, foose ball, darts, and several card tables. The only downside was the BYOB requirement.
I spent a Sunday afternoon assisting Chris (the guy in the upper right) in building this foose table from scraps we found around camp! That guy is pretty inventive. Last year he built a sailboat out of scraps in his spare time!
The Trans-Alaskan pipeline runs from the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay, in the north of Alaska, all the way down to Valdez on the south coast. Here, a runner works at completing a half- marathon that follows the path of this great engineering feat.
I was only able to explore this one "small" region of Alaska during my visits. If I puzzled at the size of this one region, I can only imagine what the rest of the state is like. I hope to find out someday.
Go back to my 2003 Alaska photos.
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