We flew from Kotzebue to Kaktovik on a charter flight that our pilot described as “a three-hour, no bathroom flight”. Our plane was a Cessna Caravan 208B and it was just us and the pilot. The flight had about an hour of fog or clouds but otherwise mostly clear viewing for about two hours. We flew over parts of the Kobuk Valley National Park, the Noatak National Preserve, the Brooks Range Mountains, and the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve.

These photos are from this flight. I am not sure exactly where each was taken but I’ll give my best guesses. The first photo was most likely over the Noatak National Preserve. I loved the different colors of blue in the waters in this photo.

I’m guessing the second photo is part of the Brooks Range but I don’t know why the mountains were blue.

The last three photos should all be over the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve. This is in the North Slope and getting close to Kaktovik and the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean. It’s easy to see why there are no roads up there. This is where all the Arctic Alaskan oil comes from. We flew over the oil pipeline which is located right next to a river.