Located 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 500 miles north of Fairbanks, Barrow is the northernmost settlement in North America. A handful of package tours from Fairbanks and Anchorage, which include reservations on regular Alaska Airlines flights and a tour of Barrow upon arrival, will get clients there, but, if packages are full, agents can book clients on a flight from Fairbanks and arrange for an independent land tour with Alaskan Arctic Adventures.
The midnight sun over Barrow
|
A visitor to this small town of 6,500 residents is immediately struck by the permanently gray sky, muddy roads and plain architecture. Technically a desert, snowfall in Barrow amounts to about 15 inches per year. The "warm" desert weather means 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, with winter temperatures dropping to 50 below. Government offices, North Slope oil field operations and a tourism industry exist alongside Inupiat culture. Subsistence living plays a large part in the town’s native community.
As soon as I arrived, Will Saganna, of Alaskan Arctic Adventures, took me to the Inupiat Heritage Center to watch the Barrow Native Dance Club present cultural dances, songs and games. Girls in native dresses and mukluks (boots made from sealskin or reindeer skin) sang and pantomimed traditions, like scraping sealskin, paddling a boat and chopping wood, all to the beat of sealskin drums.
The performers showed us toys and games made from animal parts — including games where participants catch caribou vertebrae on a seal bone stick and spin a piece of baleen (hornlike material from a whale’s mouth) on a rope to make a whirring sound.
Here, I bought a carved baleen pendant from Inupiat artists that, interestingly enough, features a snow owl, the Northern Lights, an igloo and a meat-drying rack.
Then, we drove to Point Barrow — three miles past the spot where typical tour buses are allowed to go. In our van, with specially inflated tires, we drove over the soft Arctic "sand," until we were as close to the end as we could go.
The Bounty of the Land
The more Saganna and I talked that day, the more I came to appreciate Barrow — particularly the native subsistence living that includes whaling, fishing and hunting.
Saganna also showed me snow owls, another integral part of Inupiat heritage. Barrow was originally called Ukpiagvik, or "the place where we hunt snow owls." A large sign explained that "the Inupiat settled here primarily to hunt the great bowhead whales, but their diet was supplemented by the harvest of nature’s other gifts, including the snow owl ... Even with the conveniences of the 21st century, it is the gathering and sharing of our native foods that binds our families, friendships and spirits together..."
Saganna then showed me the outdoor display of a huge bowhead whale skull harvested in 1983 and pointed out other whale bones left along the beach. As part of a small team, Saganna goes whaling each October in a 20- to 24-foot boat that travels about 70 miles out into the Arctic Ocean in swells up to 14 feet. According to Saganna, 22 whale strikes (controlled by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission) are allowed each season. Last spring, the community landed nine.
Always looking to preserve nature and help each other, the motto of Saganna’s people is: Only catch what you need; give in abundance to those who need. In fact, wildlife is plentiful around Barrow. Birders may know that Barrow is one of the top destinations in the world for the rare Ross’s Gull, the yellow-billed loon and the unusual king and Steller’s Eider ducks. Other critters roaming these parts include white, red and blue foxes, lemmings, wolves, wolverines and weasels. The Arctic Ocean provides an ideal environment for polar bears, seals and walruses, as well as Arctic char and king and silver salmon.
The Inupiat people are quiet, warm and very proud of their heritage. When I asked Saganna what he thought of the outside world, he said, "When I say ‘hi’ to people [outside of Barrow], they seem cold and suspicious. Not like home."
Whether its friendly locals, abundant wildlife or the thrill of the relatively unexplored, a trip to Barrow will please your most adventurous clients.
The Details
In order to get to Barrow independently, we came to Fairbanks two days before our Fairbanks-to-Vancouver Princess cruise-tour began. The Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau helped tremendously with Barrow information and arrangements.
Alaskan Arctic Adventures (AAA) Barrow
Offering two-hour ($85 per person), four-hour ($95 per person) and full-day ($100 per person) ground tours. There must be at least four people for the all-day tour and two people for the two- and four-hour tours.
907-367-3449
E-mail: [email protected]
Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau
800-327-5774
www.explorefairbanks.com
Northern Alaska Tour Company
The Barrow Adventure is a one-day trip from Fairbanks to Barrow ($499 per person).
800-474-1986
www.northernalaska.com
Princess Cruises
800-774-6237
www.princess.com
Touring the Arctic
Visitors will find the Arctic Circle demarcation just 198 miles north of Fairbanks. A variety of tours from the city known as "The Gateway to the Interior and the Arctic" provide a range of experiences, including drive-yourself, fly-ins, guided tours and packages to Arctic destinations.
Arctic Outfitters offers gravel-road-ready auto rentals, accommodation arrangements, travel package, and tours of Alaska’s Arctic.
Clients can take a flight with Warbelow’s Air Ventures, a company billing itself as "the premier air tour operator in interior Alaska year-round, including guided Alaska Native village tours, scenic flights, wildlife-viewing, or, ride along to remote villages with one of our experienced bush pilots on any of our mail flights."
On a variety of one-day outings, visitors can fly-drive, drive-drive or just fly roundtrip with Go North/Alaska Travel Center. This operators offers combinations that include crossing the Arctic Circle and receiving an official Arctic Circle Adventure Certificate; viewing the mighty Yukon River and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline; visiting an Arctic Circle Trading Post or Alaska Native village; and returning to Fairbanks under the light of the Midnight Sun. (Drive-Drive, $169 per person; Fly-Drive, $319 per person; Fly-Fly, $319-$349).
Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost settlement of North America, is an extra-special Arctic destination. Tours like the Barrow Adventure offered by The Northern Alaska Tour Company provide a day trip to and from Barrow in a 737 jet operated by Alaska Airlines, plus a guided ground tour of the community’s residential and commercial areas, a native cultural show at the Inupiat Heritage Center, getting close to the frigid Arctic Ocean and seeing where the snowy owls roost. ($499 per person). And, since variable weather conditions on the Arctic Coast are always a factor, many companies offer alternative tours, such as flying into the village of Anaktuvuk Pass for a true Alaska Native experience. ($459 per person).
Alaska Tours offers a variety of Arctic opportunities (some departing from Anchorage), from three- to four-day excursions to 11-day journeys from the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean.
You can also fly-in to lodges or villages for wilderness guided experiences like float trips, backpacking, camping, fishing, hunting and hiking.
"The Arctic is part of what we offer visitors to the Fairbanks area, a life list experience," noted Karen Lundquist, vice president of marketing for the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Complete with bragging rights at no extra charge.
Here are some Arctic tour operators:
Alaskatours.com
www.alaskatours.com
Alaskan Arctic Turtle Tours
www.wildalaska.info
Arctic Circle Tours
www.arctictreks.com
Arctic Wild
www.arcticwild.com
Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau
www.explorefairbanks.com
Go North/Alaska Travel Center
www.gonorthalaska.com
Northern Alaska Tour Company
www.northernalaska.com
Out in Alaska
www.outinalaska.com
Warbelow’s Air Ventures
www.warbelows.com
Yukon Adventure Company
www.yukonadventurealaska.com
Only Online
Scroll down for more places to visit above the Arctic Circle.
