Flying in Alaska in October

Tetlin views from the school.

Last week, I spent a few days in Tetlin.  I flew from Fairbanks on 40 Mile Air to Tok (1 hr, 45 minutes, $210) and rode with my colleague to Tetlin.  

The pilot of 40 Mile was Jonathon, married to the kindergarten teacher in Tok.   I rode shot-gun in the Cessna 206, or is that an inappropriate saying on planes.   He is careful about the weather he said, especially since the plane isn't tricked out for IFR (I follow river).

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Enroute, we dropped off a few people in Healy Lake.  The private landing strip was a slash in a forest.  Apparently, there's a winter road to the Alaska Hwy when the rivers are iced over and thick.  In the summer, float planes serve this village of about 10.  No school there now. 

I stayed at Young's Motel, next to Fast Eddy's Restaurant in Tok and lived big ($98/night)  Choices are limited, but this hotel is walking distance from the 40 Mile hangar and there are no rental cars and I don't think there are cabs, so this was a win.  

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It was also walking distance to a gas station quick-shop (regular $4.93/gal) and Three Bears Outpost store, so it was a good location, just next to the Alaska Highway.  

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Senator Lisa Murkowski was meeting constituents at Fast Eddy's from 5:30-7pm on my arrival day, so I ate fast and got out of there fast.  The place was filling up by 5 with the pro-and con- mining community.  The Manh Choh mine is going in just off the road to Tetlin on Tetlin Native Land.  The plan is to send ore trucks the 230 miles to the Toronto owned Ft. Knox gold mine north of Fairbanks for processing.  

                            

Tetlin was beautiful in the cold sunshine, although attendance wasn't great at school that day.

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Teacher housing is a duplex behind the school.  It has running water even though most of the village doesn't have it.  Like most permafrost land, burying pipes is not practical, so I'm guessing this utilidor has a heat source to keep the enclosed water pipes from freezing.

Tok, a bigger community, is a 45 minute drive away and Tetlin kids go there to play on the basketball team.  Students have internet in their homes, thanks to Covid money to the school district during closures (not verified, but I think so) and Chromebooks for all students.

There's no place like home though and I was glad to see the textbook streambed channels near Fairbanks, the meandering Chena River and the braided Tanana from the window of the plane.