I flew to Barrow on Wednesday to meet a friend from New Orleans who is leading some meetings at my church. Over the five and a half years that I have lived in Atqasuk a few of my family members have visited me here, but this was the first time that a friend had dared to venture above the Arctic Circle. Needless to say, I was pretty excited! I'm not usually a big fan of air travel, but this flight to Barrow was something I was looking forward to.
If connected on a map, the villages of Atqasuk, Wainwright, and Barrow form a geographical triangle which is the regular flight pattern of the airlines servicing our area. So my flight to Barrow began with a leg to Wainwright some seventy miles away. Flying low, we were graced with sightings of several small herds of caribou and, at one point, we saw a few that appeared to be running away from something. Passengers on the other side of the plane said that a wolf was chasing them. I missed the wolf, but the caribou were really fun to see, running full-stride, almost in unison...very different from their usual quiet grazing.
Wainwright is a coastal village, so much of that final leg of the trip toward Barrow was spent flying along the edge of the Arctic Ocean. The patterns of drifted snow and cracking sea ice were mesmerizing. My photos, taken through an ice-fogged window, don't do justice to the artistry of the wind and the cold.
Although I'm not crazy about flying, I have to admit, that the view from the air is often an inspiration. The advantage of a little elevation affects perspective as nothing else can. The seemingly haphazard arrangement of snowdrifts can be painfully jarring when experienced from the seat of a snow machine, but from the air the obvious pattern makes perfect sense. Arctic wind spends most of the winter cutting and carving, shifting and moulding, piles of frozen moisture. The final product is difficult to fully appreciate from the ground.
As I trudge up and down those challenging drifts that comprise my daily walk, I want to remember, I need to remember, that elevated view and appreciate the coherent beauty of a seemingly haphazard landscape that can only be understood one step at a time.
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Another view of the sea ice...
Fuzzy view over my pilot's shoulder...
Approaching Barrow...
Almost there...
A smooth landing at the end of a smooth flight...can't complain about that!
Uneventful flight...my favorite kind!
