Today, we took a journey down the Richardson Highway to Paxson and then a few miles on the Denali Highway… My, oh my, what wonders!! The mountains you see in the following pictures is the Alaskan Range. As we got closer and into the mountains, there is still a lot of snow and most of the lakes are frozen. Some of the rivers are starting to flow but wait until you see how thick the ice is yet on these rivers.
The pipeline follows this road all the way to Valdez.
Heat pipes:
Where the pipeline goes underground in thaw unstable ground, heat pipes are inserted into the ground to remove heat and prevent thaw.
The pipeline at the Denali Fault line:
The pipeline here was built so that it could withstand an 8.5 earthquake with ground displacement up to 22 feet horizontally and 5 feet vertically – WOW!
We saw LOTs of caribou. At first we thought they were moose but, well, you decide – :-). On our way down, we came across one couple and then a few miles further we came to another couple. On the way home, we saw a whole herd. Some of our pictures (and those who know me, know that for every one here, there is another 15 on my computer – :-)):
Isn’t this incredible!!!! When we were here in 2007, we did not travel this part of the Richardson Highway – just not enough time…. So it was great to see it today. We did check out a couple State Parks and Recreation Areas in case we decide to come back this way.
The weather here is still warm which is causing problems for those along the rivers (melting too fast). We are seeing pictures of ice jams, flooding, etc. on the news. Keep all those people in your prayers.
We also confirmed today that we will be moving to Creamer’s Field in Fairbanks on Friday (8th). Our official start date is the 15th but this will give us time to get set up, time for training, and time to get to know the area – can’t wait.
Until tomorrow.
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