Six hundred and thirty-ninth chapters fly into the Arctic Circle
This train doesn't go fast, and it can't get up fast. The entire railway line is built in the mountains, and there are no tunnels. You have to take a detour when you encounter mountains. Of course, you have to build bridges when you encounter water, but those bridges look so...
It seems that the funds were not very abundant when this railway was built.
The train will stop at several small stations along the way. These are supply depots and settlements established by gold prospectors in the past. The scenery is beautiful, surrounded by tall cedar forests and rushing streams at the foot of the hillside. But in winter, it snows heavily.
Mountains were miserable. There were no trains or helicopters at that time. From November to May of the following year, everyone had to stay in those cabins, unable to go anywhere, which was quite boring.
Cruise passengers like Hong Tao cannot follow the train to the destination because the second half of the railway is within the Canadian border. If they want to go forward, they have to get off the train and go through customs inspection. Those Americans may use their U.S. passports.
There is no place in Hong Tao to get a Canadian visa, so passengers on the cruise ship usually transfer to the train back here.
It took about 5 hours to go back and forth. Hong Tao had seen half of the woods and streams in his life at once. There was nothing else along the way. There were as many big trees as he wanted, and their roots were straight and straight, all the way from the foot of the mountain.
It grows to the top of the mountain. Then there are countless streams and rivers. I don’t know where they come from and where they go. Anyway, they just flow and flow.
When we returned to Skagway, it was already past lunch time, but it didn’t matter. There is a buffet restaurant on the cruise ship that is open 24 hours a day. You can go and eat at any time. Hong Tao and Irene finished their last cruise meal of the trip here.
Then they packed their luggage and said hello to Ms. Kelford. Then the staff sent them off the boat.
The airport in Skagway is at the other end of the town. The runway is like a highway. There is a small wooden building on one side, with a total of three floors. Above is the airport control tower. The first floor is the waiting room, with a total of two rows of wood.
Bench. Hong Tao and Irene have contacted the small company that Ms. Kelford mentioned by phone, and also met the captain, co-pilot, navigator, and flight attendant of this trip in the waiting room.
Also serving as a police officer, Mr. Bugg.
Mr. Bagge is about 30 years old, half a head taller than Hong Tao. He is wearing a pair of very old jeans. He has a short-sleeved T-shirt on his upper body. He does not have the temperament of a pilot at all. He is a cowboy.
Hong Tao definitely believed that he was still unemployed. Moreover, Hong Tao suspected that this man was a bit stupid. Both he and Irene were wearing warm coats and they didn't feel very warm, but he was wearing a short-sleeved top. In winter,
Wearing short-sleeved shirts is not a bitch, what is it?
If he hadn't seen his plane, Hong Tao even planned to call Kelford immediately and ask her if she had any other candidates. Although this person didn't look very reliable, by then his plane was indeed good, at least
Compared with the other two planes parked on the runway, Bage's plane is relatively new and larger. Of course, this is a relative term. His plane is larger because his plane can carry 7 people, while the other planes are relatively new.
Both planes can only seat 4 people.
"You want to see the Aurora? Then you have to go to Fairbanks. If you go to Anchorage, you have to fly to Fairbanks again. Are you sure you want to go to Anchorage?" Although Bagg looked like
Not very reliable, but he is a very nice person. When he heard that Hong Tao and Irene were going to see the Aurora, he immediately pointed out that there was something wrong with the original destination. To prove what he said, he even called someone from upstairs.
An airport employee testified for him.
Listen to the advice and have a good meal, and Hong Tao feels that what Bage said makes sense, because from the map, Fairbanks is closer to the Arctic Circle than Anchorage. It is about 500 kilometers away. Since we are watching the aurora
Well, it should be easier to see as you go north, and Bugg also said that there is not much to do in Anchorage this season, and the only national park there is closed in winter.
Bage's small plane was pretty good to ride, at least much more comfortable than Hong Tao had imagined. He didn't want to think about the transport planes he took in South Africa. Although they were all propeller planes, the noise and vibration were not loud. Hong Tao was even more excited.
What's strange is that Bugg actually allowed him to sit in the co-pilot's position. You must know that the co-pilot's position is basically the same as the real driver's position. There are also joysticks, rudder pedals and a lot of instruments, which are generally not allowed to be used by passengers.
Yes, probably because they are afraid that passengers may tamper with the equipment and affect flight safety.
The small plane did not fly high. Bage said that the weather today was good, so he could fly low so that Hu Ying and Irene could see the scenery below. Once it was rainy, the plane would have to fly above the clouds, otherwise
If you don't have good visibility, you may end up crashing on the top of the mountain.
After flying for a while, Hong Tao felt that he and Irene had spent more than 3,000 US dollars on the ferry ticket too much. Looking from the plane, it cannot be said that the valley below is full of glaciers. Anyway, you will see one soon.
.Looking down from the sky, it is easy to distinguish between snow and glaciers. Anything that is blue like glass is glaciers, while white is snow.
"Look, this is the real Alaska. It's snowing in front of us. We're going to get higher." After taking off for a while, the sea was no longer visible on the left side of the plane. At this time, Bage pointed downwards, and then began to slowly
started to climb.
Hong Tao looked to the west of the plane. The ground scenery here was completely different from that of Skagway. There was no green at all. White and black were mixed. The white should be snow and the black were woods. Gradually, from
Nothing could be seen on the plane. The sky below became gray and covered with cumulonimbus clouds. There was no clear sky around and above. There were gloomy colors everywhere. It was getting dark.
In fact, when the cruise ship arrived in Skagway, Hong Tao had already felt the obvious climate change here. To say it was cold, Skagway was not too cold. As long as it was not windy and he wore a warm coat, he and
The two sets of high-end cold-proof clothes that Eileen bought are not used. However, it only gets light after 8 o'clock in the morning here, and it gets dark before 5 o'clock in the afternoon, so the daytime is a bit short.
However, after two hours of flying north on the plane, Hong Tao and Irene not only put on their cold-proof clothes, but the weather outside changed again. It was only less than 3:30 in the afternoon, and it was actually getting dark.
It was still high in the sky. If it landed on the ground, it would probably be dark too early. After more than 3 hours of flight, the small plane finally landed at the Fairbanks airport in the dark, and it was only afternoon.
4:30.
The airport in Fairbanks is not fundamentally different from the small airport in Skagway, but the people here seem to be thicker-skinned, and they actually put up a big sign on the small terminal that reads:
Fairbanks International Airport!
At this time, pilot Comrade Bagg had completed his mission, but he did not leave immediately. He said that almost no one would fly here from Skagway this season, so he did not want the plane to fly back in vain. He wanted to stay here.
Find a cheap hotel to stay in for two days and see if there are people going to the Arctic Circle camp or people who happen to be returning to Skagway or Anchorage, so you don't have to travel back and forth.
"What does Arctic Circle Camp mean?" Hong Tao's curiosity arose again.
"It's just a stopover for truck drivers. It's already within the Arctic Circle. Some tourists are willing to go there and have a look." Bag asked Hong Tao to take out the map and click on a place north of Fairbanks.
Judging from the map, it is more than 400 kilometers away from Fairbanks.
"Are there any hotels with better conditions here? Is it better to see the aurora?" Hong Tao felt that the further north he went, the more he had truly been to Alaska, so he began to discuss the feasibility of going there with Bage.
"There is only one hotel with three rooms in total, one shop, and one post office. Except for an Inuit village nearby, there is nothing much to do. You can probably go ice fishing, snowmobiling, and dog sledding.
, as for the hotel room, I
I think it's pretty good. There's heating, hot water, pay TV, and it's quite clean. Oh, by the way, there's a hot spring there where you can go and take a dip." When Bage saw that Hong Tao wanted to go, he immediately became energetic.
, began to talk about the situation in that camp with great concern.
"Well, let's do this. Don't wait here. Let's set off right away and go to the camp you mentioned. We'll stay there for about two days, and then you'll send us back to Anchorage. What do you think?"
When Hong Tao heard this, he thought, isn't this great? We have almost everything we need. As for the hotel, as long as it's clean and warm, that's all.
"No problem, I'll go refuel and report the voyage, please wait for me for a while!" When Bagger heard that the deal was coming again, he was as happy as a child. He jumped up and down and ran to the control tower, looking back while running.
, for fear that Hong Tao and Irene would run away.
In less than half an hour, Hong Tao and Irene took off again. This time they couldn't see any scenery, and the sky turned completely dark. Hong Tao had nothing to do and started chatting with Bag about the knowledge of flying, such as
How to use instruments to identify the direction in this dark night, know your flying altitude, how to use the pulse signals emitted by the airport and navigation station to locate the position of your aircraft, etc. It’s not that Hong Tao wants to learn to fly a plane, it’s mainly because night flying is too boring
Well, I have to find something to do for myself.
At 8 o'clock in the evening, Bage's small plane landed on a runway that made people tremble. After getting off the plane, Hong Tao realized that this was not a runway at all, but the surface of a small lake. The locals tidied up the lake.
Create a relatively flat area, and then set up two rows of lights on both sides, even if it is a runway. Medium and large aircraft cannot land here, and they cannot land and take off when it is snowing or windy. Even in good weather, only
Only pilots who are familiar with this place can come here.
