Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The area where the oil fields are is actually called Prudhoe Bay. The town that services it is
called Deadhorse. More of an industrial camp than a real town, Deadhorse is just 13 km /8
mi from the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean.
Looking to replenish some supplies, I asked where I could find a store. At first I was met
with a blank stare. “
No one shops for anything here
,” I was told. “
Everything we need is
supplied by the company so what would we shop for
?” Just the same, I was pointed to a
sort of store. It didn't have a sign on it, beyond a small sticker indicating that there was
a post office within. Sure enough there was a post office and there were some hardware
items and some toiletry items. I bought a roll of paper towels for $4. Each! I've no idea
why because I am sure we could have coped till we got back to Fairbanks.
Acre after acre is covered in heavy equipment - most of it rigged up to be pulled on sleds
or fitted out with caterpillar/tank tracks. Built on spongy muskeg, the “North Slope” is all
about winter. The only season when it is possible to manoeuvre heavy equipment over the
landscape is when it is frozen. In July we are mired in mud, yet inexplicably, a watering
truck is sprinkling the roads with even more water. I can only imagine the fellow has a con-
tract for dust containment that requires him to sprinkle so many gallons of water per day
on the roads and gosh darn, he is going to fulfill that contract.
We had been told that because of roaming bears “free camping” along the roadway is pro-
hibited. That said, I later saw people doing it, even pitching tents. After what we were told
about the polar bear problem I'm not sure I'd be so keen on a tent.
The workers train grizzly bears to stay away from town by spanking their butts with rubber
bullets. Polar bears, however, are relentless and exceedingly dangerous because they do not
learn avoidance. While most bears avoid humans, polar bears actually view us as a poten-
tial meal. Many of the buildings out on the oil fields have bear cages attached to their back
doors. It took me a while to figure out that these “cages” are not to contain the bears but to
protect people when they first come out of a building. By walking out into a “cage” they
can look around and ensure there are no waiting predators before heading into the open.
We park at the Arctic Caribou Inn so that we can use their facilities. It is not a hotel in the
normal sense, more a collection of hooked-up construction trailers. There are some larger
structures in Deadhorse too, but most buildings consist of these pre-fab units the size of
shipping containers that have been suspended on blocks then bolted together.
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