Survey Project Espenberg

After the Shooting incident several days ago it was good to get outa town and into the wilderness

Dangerous to fly from Kotzebue to Espenberg across the Sound in a helicopter. if the engine failed you likely wouldn't survive so We flew down the isthmus and around the sound and spike camped in the Ghost town of Candle. An old gold mining town who's peak was in around 1903. Job was to survey and monument three townships in the Bering Sea Land Bridge Preserve.

The Sound breaking up...

Here's Candle back in the day .... there used to be around 5000 people here... now there is only one miner/caretaker

My colleague Matt with a set of Caribou antlers in front of The Forward Operating Command Post

Sure is a lot of old stuff just lying around...

View from the field office

Bugs photo bombing my picture...

Here's our post again from the front lines. The buckets in front are from the old gold dredge.

We go through about a drum of fuel per day ...it's a 60 - 70 mile flight to the target project one way...

Here it is inside the command center. No running water so can haul water from the creek or just drink beer if lazy. Here's me...being lazy.

A little generator to charge our gear runs all night...well...until about 3 am or so and then we both wait hoping the other guy notices the silence and gets up first to refill the tank.

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