July 24: Closing up the sites

With Alok driving, Jean, Alok, Sabita, and I took the ranger out, towing Skook behind, to pick up the three sets of buoys and their anchor lines, and the running line. And to mark the anchors in such a way as to be able to find them next June. That's tricky because if we turn them up too far, the ice may grab them and pull them loose. If we don't turn them up enough, the mud may cover them. So this year we wrapped them with electrical wire that we hope will still be standing up in June, but will be smooth and skinny enough that the ice will have nothing to hold.

We waited for the tide to come in and used it to wash down all the gear. Then we took the ranger to the beach access road where Marc from Pen Auto will pick it up and get it ready for next season. David had some business in town, exploring the possibilities of bringing a major solar installation to the area. This would be a great boon for the region because electricity depends on diesel now and is very expensive for the community.

Today and tomorrow are the days to get everything down the stairs that are going down the stairs for the rest of the season. This includes garbage, anything going on the southbound barge, and luggage. After the stairs are up, we will go up and down on a line or at a relatively gentle part of the cliff. I thought Alok and Sabita might prefer to stay in town, where they wouldn't have to climb a cliff to get to their plane, but once again, they were up to the challenge and they stayed. I was glad of that. While the crew was in town playing pool at the Red Dog, I got to have another sunset. The crew, however, had some trouble. One of our crew members is under age, but I said it would be OK if he went with the others (I hated to cut him away from the others if I didn't absolutely have to), although the Red Dog staff or owner might not let him in and in that case, he'd have to come right back on the four wheeler. In Alaska, a person under 21 is allowed in a bar if he is with a parent or a spouse who is over 21, or if the bar is also a restaurant. I thought there was a good chance that it would be OK since it's actually underage drinking that the law seeks to prevent and there wasn't any risk of that. When he didn't come back right away, I relaxed and figured that since it was the mellow part of the season, and he wasn't trying to get alcohol or any other trouble, the bar staff was letting it slide. So I was shocked and horrified when I got a call from David that an officer had come to the bar and was threatening to take this crew member off to jail. Once he realized that the crew member hadn't been drinking, he just issued him a ticket. He will have to call in to respond to the ticket. This will be a lesson to both of us.