Terry put us in a van and we headed north to the village of Wiseman. There are no services north of Coldfoot:
The turn to Wiseman is about 15 miles north of Coldfoot, just over the Koyukuk River:
The pipeline at the road to Wiseman:
Wiseman:
The Wiseman Community Center:
All power in Wiseman is self generated, via solar, wind or generators. Most everyone needs to stock up for the winter, including all of their food and fuel:
In addition to vegetables, they also grow flowers:
Jack Reakoff lives in Wiseman and loves to tell people about how he and others live, the history of the area, and dealing with governments and people from the city:
The Jacket is from the Gates of the Arctic National Park's Subsistence Resource Commission:
We went into Jack's house and he told us about life in Wiseman. It was fascinating and we could tell Jack was well read and well practiced on his spiel. Then we went outside, where it was raining for a walk around town.
Each fall Jack is allowed to bow hunt one bull moose, here is his collection of antlers:
Jack also hunts enough Dal sheep and caribou to make it through the year.
Jack also showed us the museum, which he seems to have taken over after another resident died. He was especially proud of the pictures he took of a wolf killing a caribou:
Now we had to go, Terry dragged us all away and we went back to the airport but the plane had not yet stopped. We swung over to the Coldfoot Camp Cafe for a potty break and were able to smell the $18.95 dinner buffet and see the menu, it smelled great. Terry said the chef is excellent and truckers and others plan to eat at the cafe due to the food quality. Terry found out the plane was landing so we went back to the airport. This time we would be going back with Bill and he didn't want to waste any time since the weather was deteriorating. Most of the trip back was on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) so Bill didn't talk much. It takes an hour to fly between Coldfoot and Fairbanks and about seven hours to drive the route.
The only bridge in Alaska over the Yukon River:
Our "certificates" for crossing the Arctic Circle:
After we got back we looked up any information on Jack on the internet and found plenty. We especially like this link with audio recordings..