Far Out

I have officially been in Bettles, AK for more than 24 hours.

Yesterday we packed our things from the bunkhouse we were staying at in Fairbanks and headed to Wright’s Air Service to catch our flight. I spent a decent amount of time re-situating my things to have the baggage I knew was going on the plane with me to be under 40 pounds. The other baggage I stuffed into a box to send as freight. This meant it may or may not end up on the same flight as me. I had about 70 pounds of stuff including clothes, electronics, backcountry supplies, and a few things of non-perishable food. That’s a lot of stuff! And I had already sent 10 flat rate boxes and two larger boxes with crafts, food, clothing, and backcountry supplies. Mostly the boxes were food though.

Anyways, I paid for freight of my extra weight and checked in and gave my other bags to the lady working at the passenger counter. As we waited for the airplane and pilot to be ready and loaded we ate some delicious muffins that were given to us. I spent some of the time making sure things I wanted to be able to access were downloaded to my phone, such as music and some workouts.

I called my boyfriend and not long after we were called to board the plane. We met the pilot outside the small prop plane and boarded the small 8-seater aircraft. I made sure to grab a window seat as the sun had been working to fight off clouds and I was hoping for a view. We taxied shortly after a safety briefing.

I was incredibly excited, but I couldn’t help but ask myself what I was doing! Was I insane?! I think that that might still need some mulling over, but I think only time will tell.

As we took off, sweeping views of the Alaska Range to the south greeted us. Clouds added dimension to the views, draping over the mountains as if they were teasing us. We turned north, and I watched the last large (relative) civilization leave my view.

We flew northward following near the Dalton Highway. Clouds added dimension to the vast landscape that lay before us. I stared at amazement at the small meandering rivers and the landscape they created. I felt glad for their wildness. A large meandering river came into view before us and I was told it was the mighty Yukon River. The massive river spread across the landscape meandering wildly into the distance.

We continued north over vast wetlands with thousands of lakes and small meandering rivers. A wall of mountains came into view and I knew I was seeing the Brooks Range for the first time. The snowcapped mountains gleamed in the sun. We turned west toward Bettles and made our approach.

After a soft landing on the gravel airstrip we taxied to our drop off location. There we were greeted by locals and lodge employees. We unloaded all our things from the bottom of the plane and loaded them into the truck. We then proceeded to our new office to pick up the boxes we had shipped up.

After a tour of our new living quarters we unloaded the back of the truck and put our things away. For an hour we unpacked and reorganized before we met back up for the grand tour of Bettles and Evansville. We drove down to the float pond and helped a pilot move and unload his float plane before heading back into town to meet the Bettles Lodge employees. We drove down to the river to soak in the view and then headed back up to town. We then went over and viewed Evansville. On our way back we stopped to view the post office and then concluded our tour back at the office.

I checked out a few books from the visitor center library and headed back to unpacking, organizing and putting away the things I had. I think I have a good system going.. but its hard to organize without bins. I had plenty of boxes to use though. I washed my sheets and made my bed and then made myself some dinner.

After dinner we headed down to the river to hang out with a few other people from town and burn some driftwood. We heard some hilarious stories of things that have happened over the years in the town and met some people we hadn’t met already. At 2200 we headed back home as the sun looked like it might be ready to drop below the horizon at some point.

So far things are looking good for my summer in Bettles. The weather has still been cold enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay, so we have been soaking up the outdoor time while its bearable. I can’t wait to see what the summer brings.