Alaskan M(oo)sings: Bettles: Get To Bettles (09-02-2023

We are up early and ready for an adventure! By 6:40am we are enjoying the Lodge's breakfast buffet. By 7:35am we are on the way to Wright Air Service.

At Wright Air we join the line to check-in. When our turn comes our luggage gets weighed and WE get weighed! Our luggage limit is 40 pounds. People don't seem to have a limit. No one that I'm aware of got told they couldn't fly because they weigh too much. I think total weight of the passengers plus luggage is taken into consideration when loading cargo. These planes carry supplies to villages and the bush (i.e. not on the road or ferry system) and I believe cargo is added as the weight of passengers and luggage allows. Also, passengers may be assigned seats according to their weight in order to balance the plane. Anyway, BB and I successfully check in.

Wright Air Services

We have a little over an hour before our plane is scheduled to depart. It is overcast and rainy. We hope the flight isn't cancelled.

Wright Air Service is a busy place. A variety of people for what appear to be a variety of reasons hope to fly today. We find seats near a group of hunters. They are going on a 13-day hunting trip. It is obvious they are very excited. They will be dropped off somewhere in the wilderness, then float down a river until they reach their pickup spot. Seems like they plan to hunt anything that moves. I hear them mention hunting moose, caribou and wolves. Somehow in our conversation cranberries come up. Turns out the leader of the group is a big cranberry farmer in Wisconsin. (The website is Rooted in Red). We learn that more cranberries are grown in Wisconsin than in Maine. (What?). And they are a better-quality berry than the ones grown in Maine. The man (Rocky Biegel?) tells us about festivals and special events the cranberry farm sponsors. It sounds like fun. I see a trip to Wisconsin to visit cousins and cranberry farms in my future.

The hunters. The Cranberry Farmer is second from the right.

Eric Fox, Bettles Lodge proprietor, told us that three other Lodge guests, Allen, Pamela and Braden, will be on the plane with us. BB and I envision a family, a mom and dad with a teenage son. We see others that look like tourists, but not a group that looks like parents with a child or teenager.

We also see people that appear to have come to Fairbanks for supplies. They are bringing boxes of paper products, food supplies, etc. in as cargo.

Our flight is on time. Our plane is a Cessna Caravan. Seats can be removed if needed to allow more cargo space. There are 7 passengers on this flight plus the pilot.

Our Cessna Caravan.

An in-flight selfie.

We are in the clouds for the majority of our flight. Looking out the windows is like looking at a white board. Our Dad was a pilot. He flew single engine planes recreationally. We grew up going to airshows, hanging with Dad at the airport on a Saturday and watching him study for his instrument rating. I know enough about planes and flying to not panic. HOWEVER, knowing there are mountains in the area and not being able to see them has me a little unsettled. Also, it is interesting to see the pilot take out his snack and eat it and then later stretch back with his hands behind his head. Just not what I expect to see.

It is an uneventful 90-minute flight to Bettles. Eric greets us and loads us and luggage into a van and drives us the short distance (tenth of a mile?) to Aurora Lodge. He gives us our room assignments and tells us where the bathrooms are located. We are to take our luggage to our room, use the bathroom if necessary and meet back in the lounge for orientation.

Historic Bettles Lodge

Aurora Lodge

Eric explains the meal schedule, points out games, puzzles and movies available for our use and goes over some safety precautions. Watch out for bears and other wildlife. Don't walk on the runway. Tell someone where you are going.

Back in the van we go for the tour of the town of Bettles. We don't get far because it's almost lunch time. We are in the van the short distance to the historic Bettles Lodge. The kitchen and dining room are located in this building, along with a small bar, lounge area and gift shop. The second floor is additional lodging. This building has internet. Lunch is chili and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Lunch over, back in the van we go for our tour of Bettles. Bettles is 35 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the Koyukuk River. Old Bettles, which is no more, is located about 5 miles west of new Bettles. The original village of Bettles was founded in1898 during the Alaskan Gold Rush. It was named after Gordon C. Bettles, who established a trading post there. An airstrip was built 5 miles east near Evansville, a native village, during World War II. The village of Bettles moved to its current location to be near the airstrip. Population in 2023 is 21.

The historic Bettles Lodge and Aurora Lodge are on the airport's edge. The National Park (NP) has two visitor centers here, one older, smaller one and a newer bigger one built to replace the smaller one. Both have been closed for several years. At one point Bettles had enough children to support a school. The school building is closed and overgrown. Bettles has a weather station. Eric pointed out several buildings that he uses as employee housing, storage or workshops. Many buildings are obviously abandoned.

The New NP Visitor Center - Closed. It is across the street from Aurora Lodge.

The Old NP Visitor Center - Closed

The Weather Station

The School - Closed

The tour ends about 2 miles from town by a lake where float planes land and take off.

After the van ride we go for a walk. Our first stop is at the Koyukuk River. Water level is high.

The new gang at Bettles Lodge, L to R, Sal, Pamela, Allen and Braden. BB and I were wrong about these three being a family. They chuckled when we told them this. Braden is a solo travel. Pamela and Allen are a couple from Anchorage.

L to R: BB, Sal, Braden, Pamela.

After the walk we have an hour to relax before heading to the Lodge for dinner. The menu tonight is pulled pork barbeque over cheesy polenta and green beans.

The dining room.

After dinner we return to Aurora Lodge. On the way we stop by the boot shed to see if we want to use Lodge boots instead of out boots tomorrow on the NP tour. We don't want to get ours dirty!

Wet boots are hung outside to dry.

More choices inside.

The sky is pretty tonight.

Looking at the airport from in front of Bettles Lodge.

We watch a movie on Gates of the Arctic NP. The movie has beautiful scenes of the Park. It also includes information on the nomadic life of the natives that lived in the area. It is interesting and sad to hear how changing from a nomadic to sedentary lifestyle impacted them. How the native people used stone people to drive the caribou herds also fascinates me.

One Lodge employee's (Jason's) job is to stay up until 2:00am and check the sky every 10 minutes for the aurora borealis. He will wake us up if the aurora shows up tonight. He recommends we set up a schedule to check the sky between 2:00 and 4:00. We do. Braden takes 2:00 to 2:45. BB and I take 2:45 to 3:15. He asks the type of phones/cameras we have, recommends settings and ways to make the pictures more interesting and reminds us to charge our phones.

We go to our room and have the lights out by 10:30.

Wake up to noise in the hall and knocks on doors. It's 11:30. We haven't been asleep long. The aurora is out! We put clothes on over our PJs, grab our phones and head outside. We are outside over an hour watching it. Jason moves between us, giving advice on looking at the aurora (DON'T look at the full moon!), helping with camera settings and using the tripods and giving recommendations of photo composition.