We hoped we would see polar bears, but knew it was unlikely. They are occasionally seen near town, but if they get close are hazed aggressively to give them a healthy fear of town.

By midnight before our flight out we had tried twice to get a ride to Point Barrow, learning that the road is currently covered in deep sand and only specialized vehicles can make it past the road closed sign. (Our excellent taxi driver – formerly a Buddhist monk – went a bit past the sign, gently proving we couldn’t go out to the point in your average vehicle.) We saw plenty of other cool thing and met nice people, just no bears.

Fortunately we met fellow tourist Katie also taking midnight sun photos at the arch. She had learned of a new business which takes tours to Point Barrow in a jacked up suburban. Vernon (Amaulik) and Joni started 71 North Tours just this weekend! We signed up for a tour Sunday morning which would be back in time for the flight out, even though that meant only 5 hours of sleep.

I strongly recommend 71northtours.com. Vernon is a respected Inupiat whaling captain. He told us about annual whale camps set up even beyond the Point, several miles out on the ice. He leads traditional hunts in a lightweight sealskin umiak where they quietly paddle so close to the whale they see its lungs expand. They feel a reverence for the whales that give themselves to sustain the tribe. C has thoughts on this on his Facebook page, including this, “I believe whaling is why they live not just how they live.”

71 North is not marketed as a polar bear tour, but being so far from town we saw 4 polar bears (C may have seen a 5th). I was surprised the one on the bone pile was so skittish. Vernon said that if they are very hungry they stand their ground and are more aggressive but that these are getting plenty of seal plus the whale bones. If you have Facebook check out C’s videos. A thrilling morning!